Inferno beat Furies in three-game series, will face Montreal in Clarkson Cup

The Calgary Inferno lost Game 1 in their series against the Toronto Furies, but they came back to win the next two and are heading to the Clarkson Cup.

The first period started off quite slow for both teams. The Inferno especially looked slow out there and weren’t making great passes in the first half, but they picked it up a lot in the second half and had plenty of chances. With under a minute to go, Brianna Decker found the puck, fell to her knees, shot it, and gave the Inferno the first lead of the game, with assists from Rebecca Johnston and Blayre Turnbull. The Inferno outshot the Furies 10-8 that period.

The second period saw a better and more energized start for the Inferno before the Furies answered back. Carolyne Prevost went short side and got a great wrist shot to sneak the puck past Alex Rigsby for the tie game. Everyone needs to blame the scorekeeper for that goal because she told Prevost to score during the first intermission and I still haven’t forgiven her for it.

After that goal, the Furies seemed to get a fire lit under them. The Inferno then went on the penalty kill and had a successful kill with a few shorthanded chances, and after that, seemed to get a bit more energy again. With under three minutes remaining in the period, Turnbull shot the puck which Brianne Jenner tipped right in front to regain their lead.

“It was off the rush, so I was just trying to get to the net for Blayre,” said Jenner. “I knew she was driving wide so I just tried to drive the net and put my stick on the ice and she found me.”

The period finished 2-1 for the Inferno as they outshot the Furies 17-5 in the second frame.

The third period started out with an early powerplay for the Inferno. As the PP was expiring and Megan Quinn was coming out of the box, she was almost fed on a breakaway before Kacey Bellamy slid across the ice and took away that pass. That play was a big reason this game stayed in favour of the Inferno.

With a little over 10 minutes remaining in the period, Zoe Hickel had a cross-ice pass for Decker who got the one-timer for her second goal of the game. The rest of the period saw some great chances for the Inferno. With under three to go, the Inferno took a penalty and it looked like the Furies cut the lead to one, but the whistle went before the goal, so it was waved off.

Add an empty net goal for Bellamy from across the ice and the game finished 4-1 for the Inferno with them outshooting the Furies 35-18.

With Les Canadiennes’ 5-0 win over the Markham Thunder earlier in the day, we’ll see those two teams battle it out at the Clarkson Cup on March 24. Hey, is that a rivalry or something?

“We’re excited,” said Jenner. “There’s obviously a rivalry there. I think we were prepared for any opponent, but I think we were excited when we heard it was Montreal.”

The Inferno and Les Canadiennes saw each other in the Cup final in 2016 and 2017 when they each took one game. The Inferno won four of six games in the regular season against Montreal this season.