The Toronto Furies were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in Toronto, Ontario, as members of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The Toronto Furies played their home games at the Mastercard Centre in Toronto. The team was established in 2010 as an expansion team called Toronto CWHL during a league-wide restructuring. The team adopted the name "Furies" after the 2011 Clarkson Cup.
The club won the 2014 Clarkson Cup championship in 1–0 overtime victory over the Boston Blades.
In 2019, the CWHL ceased operations, as well as all teams that it directly owned including the Furies.
History Prior to the 2010–11 season, the Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) underwent a structural reorganization. The CWHL considered the restructure a relaunch of the league. Among the changes included the Mississauga Chiefs, Ottawa Senators and Vaughan Flames teams ceasing operations, adding a new team in Toronto. The relaunch also branded the five teams after their respective locations, simply calling the new teams by their locations such as "Toronto CWHL". However, the CWHL teams that were playing in previous markets were commonly referred to as their former names, and the new Toronto team was sometimes called the Toronto Aeros after a former NWHL team that ceased operations in 2007 or Toronto HC. The league held its first player draft on August 12, 2010, although it was only for the three Greater Toronto Area teams as the league decided that since they do not pay a salary, it would be unfair to force players to be based outside their hometown. The new Toronto team protected former Mississauga Chiefs' Jennifer Botterill and Sami Jo Small and acquired many of the former Chiefs' players in the draft.
The Toronto CWHL team finished the 2010–11 regular season in fourth place and qualified for the 2011 Clarkson Cup by defeating fellow CHWL expansion team and third-place finisher, the Boston Blades two games to none in playoff. The team then defeated the Brampton Thunder 3–2 and the Minnesota Whitecaps 6–0 during the Clarkson Cup round-robin to advance to the championship game. Toronto then lost 5–0 to the Montreal Stars. The team adopted the Toronto Furies name after the season ended. The decision behind naming the franchise Furies was featured on an episode of History Television's program What's In a Name? aired on September 12, 2011. Players voted on one of five names suggested by fans. The five names that fans suggested included: the Toronto Force, Toronto Tornadoes, Toronto Snipes, Toronto Furies and the Toronto Vamps.
Two Furies players became the fourth and fifth women to play 150 career games in 2013–14. On November 16, 2013, Kristy Zamora reached the milestone. On November 23, 2013, a 4–2 victory over Brampton provided Meagan Aarts with her 150th game.
During the 2013–14 CWHL season, there were a handful of milestones which the Furies reached. On February 9, 2014, a victory against the defending Clarkson Cup champion Boston Blades provided Furies goaltender Sami Jo Small with the 60th victory of her career. With the win, she became the first CWHL goaltender to reach the 60 wins plateau. A March 8 game against the Brampton Thunder resulted in Meagan Aarts earning the 100 point in her CWHL career.
The Furies defeated the Boston Blades by a 1–0 tally in overtime to claim their first Clarkson Cup title in 2014. The tournament was played at Markham Centennial Centre. With the victory, Natalie Spooner became the first woman in hockey history to claim the gold medal in the Olympic Winter Games and the Clarkson Cup in the same year.
During the summer of 2016, Kori Cheverie retired from the Furies with three franchise records: points (82), games played (152) and power play goals (14). In addition, she holds the league record for most consecutive games played with 152.
On June 11, 2018, inaugural member Sami Jo Small was named general manager of the Furies. Among her first moves was signing Courtney Birchard as their new head coach. In addition, Ken Dufton was named as an advisor to the team. On the free agent market, Small signed goaltender Elaine Chuli and forward Shiann Darkangelo to contracts in August 2018.
On March 31, 2019, the CWHL announced that the league was folding on May 1, 2019. The Furies' organization released a statement saying that it would continue to try and have a team despite the folding of the league. The competing National Women's Hockey League then announced it was in negotiations for placing a team in Toronto but ultimately was not able to launch for the 2019–20 season. The NWHL later awarded Toronto an expansion team for the 2020–21 season with the Toronto Six.
Season-by-season records Year GP W LOTLSOL GF GA PtsFinish Playoffs 2010–11 26 8 13 0 5 83 98 21 4th Lost 2011 Clarkson Cup championship game, 0–5 vs. Montreal Stars 2011–12 27 9 13 2 3 75 105 26 4th Eliminated in 2012 Clarkson Cup round-robin 2012–13 24 10 13 1 0 60 72 21 4th Eliminated in 2013 Clarkson Cup round-robin 2013–14 23 10 10 1 2 70 61 23 4th Won 2014 Clarkson Cup championship game, 1–0 (OT) vs. Boston Blades 2014–15 24 8 13 1 2 51 88 19 4th Lost 2015 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 0–2 vs. Boston Blades 2015–16 24 6 16 1 1 59 87 14 4th Lost 2016 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 0–2 vs. Les Canadiennes 2016–17 24 9 11 3 1 52 58 22 4th Lost 2016 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 1–2 vs. Calgary Inferno 2017–18 28 9 17 1 1 56 99 20 6th did not qualify 2018–19 28 14 14 0 0 64 77 28 4th Lost 2019 Clarkson Cup semifinals, 1–2 vs. Calgary Inferno
Coaches Sommer West, 2012–2017 Jeff Flanagan, 2017–2018 Courtney Kessel, 2018–2019
Scoring leaders
Year-by-year Season Leader (F)GPGAPts Leader (D)GPGAPtsPPGSHGGWG2010–11 Jennifer Botterill 25 14 30 44 Britni Smith 29 8 21 29 Tessa Bonhomme (4) Three tied with 1 Tessa Bonhomme (3)2011–12 Mallory Deluce 20 12 9 21 Tessa Bonhomme 24 4 12 16 Kori Cheverie (6) Three tied with 1 Mallory Deluce (4)2012–13 Rebecca Johnston 24 8 17 25 Tessa Bonhomme 24 4 5 9 Six tied with 1 Natalie Spooner (3) Natalie Spooner (3)2013–14 Carolyne Prevost 23 11 12 23 Michelle Bonello 22 2 10 12 Carolyne Prevost & Alyssa Baldin (4) Carolyne Prevost (1) Katie Wilson (3)2014–15Jenelle Kohanchuk 21 7 10 17 Megan Bozek 22 3 7 10 Carolyne Prevost (4) None Carolyne Prevost (3)2015–16Natalie Spooner 22 17 13 30 Michelle Bonello 24 0 8 8 Natalie Spooner (5) Natalie Spooner (2) Kori Cheverie (2)2016–17Natalie Spooner 20 13 7 20 Renata Fast2245 9Julie Allen &
Michela Cava (3)Natalie Spooner (2)Natalie Spooner (4)2017–18Carolyne Prevost28101222Katie Gaskin21088Emily Fulton (5)Carolyne Prevost (2)Emily Fulton (3)
Draft picks These are the first selections for every respective draft that Toronto participated in. Draft year PlayerPickCollege 2010 Tessa Bonhomme 1st OverallOhio State Buckeyes 2011 Jesse Scanzano 5th OverallMercyhurst Lakers 2012 Rebecca Johnston 2nd OverallCornell Big Red 2013 Katie Wilson 2nd OverallMinnesota Duluth Bulldogs 2014 Megan Bozek 2nd OverallMinnesota Golden Gophers 2015 Emily Fulton 2nd OverallCornell Big Red 2016 Renata Fast 2nd OverallClarkson University2017Kristyn Capizzano2nd OverallBoston College 2018Sarah Nurse 2nd OverallUniversity of Wisconsin
Awards and honours Sommer West, 2014 CWHL Coach of the Year Mallory Deluce, 2015 Isobel Gathorne-Hardy Award Christina Kessler, 2014 Clarkson Cup Most Valuable Player Britni Smith, First Star of the Game, 2014 Clarkson Cup finals Christina Kessler, Second Star of the Game, 2014 Clarkson Cup finals
See also Toronto Aeros Mississauga Chiefs Scarborough Sting
References
External links Toronto Furies on CWHL Website