Inferno Report: Blades worst-er in 9-0 rout

The Calgary Inferno had yet another successful week and dominating weekend over the Worcester Blades.

Let’s check out the past week in Inferno news.

Inferno defender Brigette Lacquette continues to prove that she’s more about the game. On Oct. 25, Lacquette received a 2018 Dreamcatcher Award in the “sports” category. This award is presented annually by the Dreamcatcher Charitable Foundation which, as described on their site, is a “foundation designated to provide support and address situations unique to the First Nations community. The Foundation will supply grants to individuals with a goal of developing youth as future community leaders.”

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Lacquette is known for her work in the community, especially working in schools with Indigenous youth.

Earlier this year, Lacquette became the first First Nations athlete to play for Canada’s women’s Olympic hockey team. A couple of months ago, Lacquette was announced as a recipient of the 2019 Indspire Award. The Indspire Awards provide national recognition for role models from local Indigenous communities.

This weekend, the Inferno crossed the border to play the Worcester Blades, who relocated from Boston this past offseason. And they absolutely dominated.

The Blades, since winning the Clarkson Cup in 2015, have only won four games. No, that isn’t a typo. Their season doesn’t seem to be heading in a great direction, either. Let’s check out this weekend series.

It was a little hard to keep up with these games since neither was technically streamed, just an amateur stream from the media people with the Blades (bless their hearts).

Rookie goaltender Annie Belanger made her CWHL debut on Saturday. She was the Inferno’s first overall pick at the 2018 draft after the first two pre-draft signings.

The first period mainly started out with a lot going on in the neutral zone. The Inferno defence continued to prove how strong they are and barely let the Blades even set up. It was a scoreless first period and the Inferno limited the Blades to just four shots all period.

The second period picked up for both teams. It was somewhat of a back-and-forth game for the first few minutes before Kelty Apperson got on the board at the 6:45 mark. This was Apperson’s first goal of the season with an assist coming from Lacquette.

About five minutes later, Kacey Bellamy scored one from the point for her first goal of the season and her first as a member of the Inferno. Assists came from Brianna Decker and Zoe Hickel, who seem to all be connecting on goals together. I guess this is what they mean by the American dream?

With less than four minutes remaining in the period, Blades forward Kaitlyn Spurling had a breakaway against the Inferno but Belanger stopped it. The Inferno then took a penalty, and just 20 seconds in, Blayre Turnbull had a shorthanded breakaway to make it 3-0. The period finished 3-0 for the Inferno but they weren’t satisfied yet.

Just 1:20 into the third period, Venla Hovi made it 4-0 with an assist from Lacquette. Three minutes later, Lacquette scored the fifth goal of the game which brought her to a three-point night.

The Inferno won 5-0 while outshooting the Blades 47-17, including dominating third period of outshooting them 20-5. Belanger also recorded her first win and her first shutout in her first game.

Let’s head to Sunday where I started to feel bad for the Blades.

The Blades started out with some good pressure in the offensive zone, but that was basically the only good thing about their game on Sunday. They went on the powerplay slightly before the midway mark, but it was clear they were somewhat lacking some chemistry, and have been all season.

At the 14:02 mark, the Blades took a penalty and while on the powerplay, the Inferno’s leading scorer, Decker, finally got on the board for her fourth of the year. About 30 seconds later, Apperson made it 2-0 which ended the period.

As the game went on, the Inferno got stronger and didn’t let up one bit (take note other Calgary hockey team).

The start of the second period was a successful one for Calgary. Even though the Blades switched goaltenders to Lauren Dahm, Turnbull opened the scoring just 1:09 into the period with two more goals scored within the next three minutes. It became a 5-0 game just five minutes into the second period. The fourth goal came from rookie Eden Murray, sister of Inferno defender Kelly Murray, who scored her first CWHL goal.

Later in the period, Blades forward Megan Grieves had a breakaway attempt which hit the post. The weekend was just not a good one for the Blades because a couple minutes later, Rebecca Johnston made it 6-0.

The Inferno headed into the third period 6-0 while the Blades made another goaltending switch back to Mariah Fujimagari, who started the game. Thirty seconds into the period, the Blades hit another post, because nothing was going their way.

The goaltending switch didn’t seem to work since Dakota Woodworth scored just 1:30 into the frame for her first of the season. Seven goals wasn’t enough for this team as they scored two more goals in the final minute of the game from Brianne Jenner and Halli Krzyzaniak. This game finished 9-0 with the Inferno outshooting the Blades 67-23.

The Inferno had nine different scorers and 15 different players with points on Sunday, with Decker and Hovi each having three-point days. Belanger also recorded back-to-back shutouts and leads the league with two of them.

This 9-0 win was the largest win in Inferno history. Their previous was almost exactly two years earlier when they won 8-0 against the Boston Blades. The next highest was a 7-0 win a year earlier, also in Boston. I guess the Blades playing the Inferno in October is not always a fun time for them, hey?

The Inferno, Toronto Furies, and Markham Thunder have partnered with the Grindstone Award Foundation to introduce the charity skills clinic. Each team will have a two-day clinic where their players will showcase their on-ice talents and provide in-depth knowledge of the game to aspiring female hockey players. The Inferno’s clinic will take place later this week and there’s still time to sign up. Details can be found here.

The Inferno get the next two weekends off for the Four Nations Cup. There are already eight Inferno players confirmed between Team Canada and Team USA. Team Finland has yet to release their roster, but we can probably assume that Hovi will make the team.

The Inferno are hosting a viewing party on Nov. 10 for the gold medal game. Details can be found here.