Despite undergoing a surprising coaching change Dec. 6, the Calgary Inferno remain a top contender for the 2019 Clarkson Cup.
On Jan. 5, the Inferno will return to action after the CWHL’s holiday break in a game against the Markham Thunder. The Inferno have won three of their four meetings against the CWHL’s reigning champions this year. Markham isn’t the only team that has had trouble measuring up against Calgary.
The Inferno are currently on top of the CWHL’s standings with a 13-2-1 record and 27 points. The Toronto Furies snapped Calgary’s two month, 13-game long streak without losing a game in regulation, but the Inferno responded with a 6-0 victory the very next day. It was a statement victory from a team that has found a way to live up to a lot of hype.
MORE: Biggest surprises from the first half of the 2018-19 CWHL season
Before the 2018-19 season began, Inferno general manager Kristen Hagg — who played with the club for two seasons — put together a roster stacked with talent.
In the world of women’s hockey, we can’t seem to escape discussion and debate about #OneLeague, and that is one of the reasons why the Inferno’s roster this year is so noteworthy. The Inferno have nine Olympians who competed in Pyeongchang in 2018, including four from Team Canada and three from Team USA. In many ways, this Inferno team could be seen as a preview of the kind of rosters we would see if the CWHL and NWHL ever merge.
Brianna Decker, one of Team USA’s captains at the Pyeongchang Games, is among the American stars playing for the Inferno. This season, she opted to play in Calgary instead of returning to the NWHL, where she played for two seasons prior to the Olympics.
“We just got familiar with each other and we obviously play with a lot of great players from our national teams and it’s been great, she [Rebecca Johnston] moves the puck really well, same as Zoey [Hickel], it’s been pretty easy playing with them,” Decker shared in a recent Inferno press release.
Hagg played a pivotal role in building what is arguably the best roster in the world of professional women’s hockey. She recently talked with the Sporting News Canada about her team’s success, how the Inferno are moving forward with Shannon Miller out of the picture, a major challenge that awaits Calgary at the end of the regular season, and much more.
Editor's note: Portions of the interview have been edited for brevity and clarity.
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Sporting News: The Inferno just went on a 13-game streak without a loss in regulation. Were you expecting this kind of success before the season began, or has this start exceeded your expectations?
Kristen Hagg: I guess I’d say that I’m not at all surprised that we’ve had this kind of success. Going into the season I was looking at the other rosters and I saw a lot of strength across the league. Just knowing how competitive things have been — particularly with Montreal in the past and having to play them four [times] in the first 14 games, I would have expected that we would have dropped a few more. And maybe drop some games to some of the other teams as well, because there really are some strong rosters.
At the same time, I’m not really surprised because of the experience we have on our roster. We definitely [have] a lot of players who know how to win and are very skilled. We’ve been fortunate that they’ve all come together so well and are playing well as a unit. Our success has just followed that.
SN: On paper, what do you think this team’s greatest strength is? Is it all the offensive depth or is it the stacked blue line which might be the best Calgary has ever had?
KH: I think it’s our talent across the roster … [Alex Rigsby’s] performance has been overlooked a bit so far just because we have been so offensively dominant. The style of play we have does give up some prime scoring opportunities, and she’s come up big for us at key times. We’re also getting offensive and defensive contributions from the back end.
The other thing is we were missing some people [in Calgary’s early December series against the Markham Thunder] in our top-nine forwards, and because of our depth we have players who can slide into those positions and play really well. Our performance was no different than it had been the previous weekend when everyone was present.
SN: Do you feel like Montreal is the toughest matchup for the Inferno? Are they the team that you can’t help but measure yourself against?
KH: Yeah, it’s kind of always been that way. I think part of it is psychological, to an extent. Even in the year where we won the Clarkson Cup and beat them, we had not had a lot of success against them that season.
[Emerance] Maschmeyer, even in the two games we beat her in Calgary, has played outstanding, so they have that. They also really can come back on you and know how to take advantage and score goals. It doesn’t matter how well your goaltender plays, they have the kind of offensive players who will score when they get their opportunities.
I would say they are the most difficult competition for us … they have that bit of an edge. They’re always difficult to play.
SN: There’s been so much said about the U.S. Olympians who joined the team that it feels like Brianne Jenner and Rebecca Johnston have been overlooked, even though they’re leading the offense. Does it ever surprise you just how good and consistent Jenner and Johnston are for Calgary and Team Canada?
KH: It’s never a surprise. I’ve been having this conversation with people — they’ve both been such consistent, solid performers for our team in the past. When I was playing in Johnny’s first year with the team, she won the league scoring title. I watch her now and the year she’s been putting together is pretty incredible. She looks so dominant on the ice. She’s playing on a separate unit from Jenner, even though they were together at the Olympics for Team Canada, and they’re both having a lot of success.
Jenner is all over the ice, in every single game. They’re both so noticeable. Maybe because of the attention that’s been drawn to our team — and all of that hype — their performances are getting a little bit overshadowed, but anyone who’s watching our games will notice them.
SN: Do you feel confident about the Inferno’s leadership and current coaching staff moving forward without Shannon Miller?
KH: I am confident about this group and what they can accomplish. These are world-class players. Having Shannon at the start of the season was definitely beneficial to us in many ways … but I have not had any doubt about what this team can do moving forward [without her]. They’re professionals and they’re resilient.
We’ve got an unbelievable amount of leadership even beyond the leadership group that was named [this year]. We had a completely different group of leaders last year who are still on the team. We have the type of room that’s full of people who know how to steer the ship.
Amazingly, with the amount of talent that’s in there, we have a pretty ego-free locker room. It’s really something. You’d kind of expect certain people to think, "I want the spotlight" or something like that, and here we’ve got the best players in the world and they’re [all] performing and doing what’s best for the team. They’re all first-class individuals.
SN: Are there any new faces on the team, like rookie forward Rebecca Leslie, who have surprised you this year?
KH: I had heard a lot about Leslie before and she was among our top recruits. I anticipated that she would fit into our top-six and perform for us. Obviously, we’re thrilled with the performance that she’s having.
One of the players who has really been catching my attention week after week is Kaitlin Willoughby. She’s a very determined player, just scratching the surface of what she can do. Right now, she’s playing more of a depth role on the third line, but she has the ability to play further up in the lineup. She’s still fresh out of university. I think she can be a significant contributor moving forward.
SN: The Inferno wraps up the regular season with three games in China against the Shenzhen KRS Vanke Rays in China. The timing of that travel can’t be easy. Is that something you and the team have talked about, not having that road trip being a distraction? If you could have shaped your own schedule, would you have drawn it up this way?
KH: Yes, you’re very correct. We did not want to go to China at that time for multiple reasons. Our team actually leaves for China at the end of the Canada-U.S. series, which we anticipate having a lot of players involved in. They are going to be traveling out to China as soon as they finish that series. It’s a long enough journey to get out there, let alone from Detroit where the series is finishing up. All of that travel really does kick your butt.
It wasn’t ideal for a number of reasons. The schedule’s been built so that we have a weekend off when we get back [from China], but at the same time we don’t particularly want [that]. We want to be in a rhythm going into the playoffs. I talked to Meg Hewings (the general manager of Les Canadiennes de Montreal) about her team going to China at the end of last season. They were kind of bagged in the playoffs. It’s definitely something that can impact you. With that said, the schedule is not going to change. This is the situation that we’re in. We’re going to have to perform our best and not get hung up on how it can hinder us.
Again, [we have] the type of group that isn’t going to allow an obstacle like that to stop us from what we want to accomplish.