This past weekend was much less exciting than the last, and featured two series sweeps. Brampton took down Boston, while Calgary extended its lead against Toronto.

With Les Canadiennes off, the Inferno accrued a six-point lead in first place. But Les Canadiennes have now, along with Calgary, clinched a playoff spot. The weekend's results helped the Thunder leapfrog Toronto into third place, where Brampton has a three-point lead.

News and Notes

  • Les Canadiennes and Calgary are the only two teams that have clinched a playoff spot at the moment.

  • The Blades were without Tara Watchorn and Maggie DiMasi.

  • The CWHL's Q&A with Kayla Tutino

  • CWHL Q&A with Meaghan Mikkelson-Reid

  • CWHL Q&A with Jenelle Kohanchuk

Brampton Thunder vs Boston Blades

Brampton won the weekend 12-0 over the Blades. Saturday's match was an 8-0 victory that featured goals from six different players. The Thunder opened with a four-goal first period, thanks to Shannon MacAulay, Jess Jones, Jenna McParland, and Rebecca Vint.

Jones added two more goals later in the game to complete the hat trick, while Liz Knox made 16 saves. Both Lauren Dahm and Jetta Rackleff saw playing time for the Blades. Damn made 14 saves on 19 shots, while Rackleff stopped 20 of 23 pucks.

"We made some great plays and were able to get to the goalie early," Brampton head coach Tyler Fines said.

Boston's defense fared a little better on Sunday as Brampton won 4-0. The Thunder responded to a scoreless first with two goals in the second and two more in the third.

"Saturday, we fell behind early in the first and we were just down. We were playing some [defenders] that don't have as much experience at this level, and Brampton took advantage of that and kind of stormed us in the first period, put up four," Blades head coach Brian McCloskey said. "I thought [Sunday] we did a much better job out of the gate playing without the puck in defensively, limiting their second-chance opportunities, and limiting their rush advantage plays."

Erica Howe saw Brampton's net on Sunday, making 25 saves in the shutout. Dahm stopped 46 pucks for the Blades.

"We're playing much better hockey than we were in the first month of the season," McCloskey said.

Toronto Furies vs. Calgary Inferno

The Inferno scored nine goals, almost split evenly across both games, and held Toronto to just a single goal. On Saturday, the Furies scored first, but Meaghan Mikkelson scored twice -- both assisted by Bailey Bram and Rebecca Johnston -- to give Calgary the 2-1 lead. The Inferno tacked on two goals in the opening 10 minutes of the third period for the 4-1 win.

Geneviève Lacasse made 26 stops for Calgary, while Christina Kessler made 30 saves.

Five different players scored for Calgary the next night as the Inferno shut out the Furies. Blayre Turnbull, Jill Saulnier, Jessica Campbell, Katelyn Gosling, and Bram all scored for the Inferno. In a continuation of the rotation, Emerance Maschmeyer saw some playing time and made 18 saves on 18 shots, while Sonja van der Bliek stopped 28 pucks.

"I think this weekend showed a lot of our things that we need to work on and that's keeping our feet moving through the neutral zone into the offensive zone," Toronto head coach Sommer West said.

Three Up, Three Down

↑ Brampton's offense: The Thunder scored 12 goals on the weekend, their best offensive outbreak this season. Eight different players scored for the Thunder.

"We made some great plays and were able to get to the goalie early," Brampton head coach Tyler Fines said.

↑ Jess Jones: Jones had a hat trick on Saturday and totaled five points on the night. The forward hasn't scored in every game of late, but when she has, she's had multi-point efforts.

↑ Brampton's defense: The Thunder held the Blades, who had been hot in recent games, scoreless on the weekend.

"Brampton's defense with Larocque, Fortino, Birchard; they have probably one of the strongest and most talented defensive cores," McCloskey said. "We still got chances, but their goalies are solid too and they just made saves."

↓ Boston's defense: The Blades gave up 12 goals on the weekend, an increase from recent weekends when they had been better at preventing chances.

↓ Penalties: After a weekend filled with a lot of penalties, the infractions seemed to dip down this week. In the Calgary-Toronto series, the teams combined for nine penalties, while the Boston-Brampton series featured only ten penalties.

↓ Power play goals: In that same vein, teams haven't scored many power play goals this season. Only four power play chances were converted on the weekend -- one by Calgary and three by Brampton.

Coming up Next

  • Toronto Furies vs Boston Blades: January 28 at 5:00 PM (Eastern Time) at Walter Brown Arena; January 29 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time) at UMass Lowell

  • Les Canadiennes vs Brampton Thunder: January 28 at 6:30 PM (Eastern Time); January 29 at 1:00 PM (Eastern Time) at Brampton Memorial Arena