Inferno: Weekend Wrap

The Inferno were back on the road this weekend after the league madated break for the Four Nations Cup to which the Inferno had sent nine representatives. As the squad reunited, they headed to Mastercard Center in Toronto for a weekend series against the Furies. Let’s take a look back at the action!

Game 1- CGY 7, TOR 4

Game one turned into a wild affair, including both teams combining for five goals in the third period. Although Toronto’s Natalie Spooner opened the scoring for the Furies, the Inferno left the 1st period with a 2-1 lead and would never relinquish the lead. Offseason acquisition Rebecca Johnston not only earned 1st Star of the Game with a four point performance of 1 Goal and 3 assists, she also notched an important milestone, reaching 100 career points in the CWHL. Calgary outshot the Furies 30-22 overall, which lead to TOR pulling goaltender Shea Tiley for Elaine Chuli in the 3rd period on the way to a 7-4 Inferno victory.

Game 2- CGY 3, TOR 2

The Inferno were off to the races early in Sunday’s contest, as Brianne Jenner opened the scoring and notched her second goal less than three minutes later.

Rebecca Johnston would continue her solid weekend, adding another goal to her overall tally in the second period, bringing her to 2 goals and 3 assists over the two games.

Inferno rookie Netminder Annie Belanger saw her fourth straight start, and collected her fourth straight win. Belanger was stellar, including holding off a shorthanded breakaway in the final frame en route to stopping 25 of 27 shots against in the game.

Final Thoughts:

With an explosive weekend, Rebecca Johston has rocketed into 3rd in overall league scoring, and is the only Inferno skater in the Top 10 in CWHL scorers. She currently racking up points at a 1.50 PPG pace!

The balanced scoring throughout the rest of the roster remains intact, featuring two skaters each with 9 and 8 points, while three players have 7 points apiece.

In net, Annie Belanger has seen four straight starts after Alex Rigsby opened the season with 4 consecutive games of her own. The numbers are pretty consistent between the two, save for Rigsby’s single loss to Les Canadiennes de Montreal on opening weekend.

Up Next:

The Inferno return home to Calgary for a rematch weekend against their hated rival, Les Canadiennes. While the Inferno finally snapped an extended regular season losing streak against Montreal in Game 2 of the season, their prior struggles against Les Canadiennes have been well documented. We’ll see how things shape up next weekend, as Saturday’s game goes at 7:30PM at Winsport, and Sunday the 25th is a 10:30AM puck drop. Saturday will be available for live game streaming on thecwhl.com/watch

Check back with M&G to see how our Ladies In Red fared against their rivals from La Belle Province!