Calgary, Alta - The Calgary Inferno went to Brampton this past weekend to take on the Thunder with the need for one win in order to clinch a home ice advantage for the first round of CWHL Clarkson Cup Playoffs next weekend. After a 3-2 loss on Saturday night, the team bounced back on Sunday with a 5-4 win.

For the first time in the history of the CWHL, teams will host a best of three playoff series on their home ice. Montreal Les Canadiennes, who finished first in the league with 42 points will host fourth place Toronto Furies with 14 points. Calgary will host the third place Thunder who finished just one point back with 33 points. The winners of those series will then play in the Clarkson Cup Final hosted in Ottawa at the Canadian Tire Centre on March 13.

The two teams have battled hard throughout the season. The Inferno won the first two games against Brampton at home, the next two in Brampton were an overtime and shoot out loss. This weekend in Brampton saw the teams split with Calgary securing the second place finish with yesterday's win.

Additionally, both teams have scoring leaders on the top 10 list. Brampton’s Jamie Lee Rattray sits in sixth spot on the list, her teammates Laura Fortino and Rebecca Vint are in eighth and nineth place. Calgary’s captain Brianne Jenner is sandwiched between them in seventh and rookie forward Elana Lovell rounds out the top 10.

As for the Clarkson Cup Final, The Canadian Women’s Hockey League (CWHL) and the National Hockey League’s Ottawa Senators (@Senators) announced a two-year agreement on January 25 that will see the Senators bring the CWHL’s Clarkson Cup Final to Ottawa and Canadian Tire Centre in both 2016 and 2017. The 2016 Clarkson Cup Final will be held from March 11-13 and will include the CWHL Awards Gala and CWHL Community Day events before culminating with the Clarkson Cup Final.

Game 1: February 26, Markin MacPhail (Rink A), WinSport: Game time 6:30pm
Game 2: February 27, Markin MacPhail (Rink A), WinSport: Game time 6:15pm
Game 3 (If necessary): Markin MacPhail (Rink A), WinSport: Game time 12:15pm

Tickets for the 2016 Clarkson Cup Playoffs are $20 a game, and $45 for the entire Best-Of-3 Series and can be purchased by visiting http://store.cwhl.ca/. Clarkson Cup Final tickets are $20 and can be purchased at http://www.capitaltickets.ca/

Weekend Game Summary

On Saturday, the Inferno couldn’t get even or ahead of the home ice Thunder. In the losing effort, the Calgary Inferno were led by Blayre Turnbull, who registered two goals. Turnbull scored the first of her two goals at 10:12 into the first period to make the score 2-1 for Brampton. Hayley Wickenheiser assisted on the tally. Turnbull's next goal made the score 3-2 with 12:12 left in the second period with an assist to Brigitte Lacquette. It was too little too late and Calgary was defeated. 

On Sunday, the Calgary Inferno let multiple leads slip away before eventually digging out of a three hole to pick up the win. Calgary Inferno got the win behind a great game by Rebecca Johnston, who had two goals and one assist.  Brampton scored three unanswered goals started by Jenna McParland who put the puck home at 14:14 in the first period. In the final period, after knotting things up at 4-4 on a power play goal by Laura McIntosh at 3:56 in the third Meaghan Mikkelson-Reid scored the game winner at 8:03 in the third period.