The
Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL) announced on April 19, 2011, that it would merge with the
Western Women's Hockey League (WWHL) for the 2011–12 season. The merger featured one team based in
Edmonton and
Calgary as a combination of the former WWHL franchises the
Edmonton Chimos and
Strathmore Rockies. The team would play their games in various locations around Alberta. Strathmore Rockies founder,
Samantha Holmes-Domagala, joined the sponsorship division of the CWHL to look after the requirements of the expansion team. On July 21, 2011, philanthropist Joan Snyder donated $2 million to
WinSport Canada with the goal of ensuring priority rink access to female hockey players at all levels and help expand the CWHL with the creation of Team Alberta. Part of the donation covered the new addition to the Athletic and Ice Complex at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary and serve as the future home to
Hockey Canada. It also included four hockey rinks, one of which was called the Joan Snyder Rink. Team Alberta would benefit with the allocation of free practice time, a dressing room exclusive to the club. The Joan Snyder Rink give priority to women's hockey bookings, but it also served as the Team Alberta's home rink. The first general manager was
Samantha Holmes, while the first head coach was Jason Schmidt. On July 21, 2011, the franchise participated in its first CWHL Draft. With the third overall pick in the
2011 CWHL Draft, Team Alberta selected
Meaghan Mikkelson. With the first pick overall in the
2012 CWHL Draft, the team selected
Hillary Pattenden. On October 28, 2011, Team Alberta played its first game in the CWHL versus the
Burlington Barracudas. Laura Dostaler scored the first goal in Team Alberta history in a 4–2 victory. Other goals were scored by Meghan Hunter, Jenna Cunningham and Courtney Sawchuk. On September 23, 2013, after two years without an official name, the team was announced as the Calgary Inferno at the
Calgary Flames' arena,
Scotiabank Saddledome, prior to a pre-season game between the Flames and the
New York Rangers. Goaltender
Delayne Brian was recognized as the Most Valuable Player of the Clarkson Cup playoffs. On February 2, 2014, Danielle Stone broke two scoring records in Calgary Inferno franchise history. She began by topping Samantha Hunt's franchise record for most points in one season of 14 in a 2–1 shootout win against the Montreal Stars. In the same game, she set a new record for most points in one season by an Inferno rookie. In that same game,
Jessica Wong logged a goal, providing her with seven points in the first five games of her CWHL career, a new franchise record for the Inferno. At the
3rd CWHL All-Star Game in 2017,
Jillian Saulnier and
Jess Jones both scored a hat trick, becoming the first competitors in CWHL All-Star Game history to achieve the feat. ==Season-by-season==