Frost’s Britta Curl-Salemme suspended 1 playoff game for illegal check to head

The PWHL suspended Minnesota Frost forward Britta Curl-Salemme for one game after delivering an illegal check to the head in Game 1 of Minnesota’s first-round playoff series against the Montreal Victoire on Saturday.

Officials gave Curl-Salemme a major penalty and a game misconduct after her hit on Montreal forward Kaitlin Willoughby, which occurred late in the second period. In its review, the PWHL Player Safety Committee determined that Curl-Salemme “made no attempt to play the puck as she raised her forearm to make direct contact with Willoughby’s head, where such contact was avoidable.”

In a video breakdown of the play, the hit was described as retaliatory. Just before Curl-Salemme’s hit on Willoughby, she was knocked down at the blue line by Montreal forward Catherine Dubois. As the video shows, Curl-Salemme gets up and makes direct contact with Willoughby’s head.

“It is Curl-Salemme’s responsibility, in this situation, to avoid contact with Willoughby’s head,” the video explains. “Instead, Curl-Salemme makes no attempt to play the puck when she chooses to finish a high, retaliatory, illegal body check that makes her opponents head the main point of contact.”

Earlier in the period, Curl-Salemme was also involved in a post-whistle scrum with Abby Roque, who arrived at Montreal’s postgame media availability with a black eye; Roque said she got it “somewhere” in the dust-up with Curl-Salemme. Roque and Curl-Salemme were assessed minor penalties on the play.

In their review of this incident, the Player Safety Committee determined that “Curl-Salemme grabbed and pulled Roque’s facial protector, sending her opponent to the ice with a degree of violence that warrants supplemental discipline.” For that, Curl-Salemme has been fined $250.

This is Curl-Salemme’s fourth suspension — and third for illegal head contact — since joining the PWHL last season.

Now, the Minnesota Frost will face Montreal for Game 2 of their semifinal matchup Tuesday without one of their most productive players; Curl-Salemme finished third in league scoring with 29 points in 30 games.

After Saturday’s game, a 5-4 overtime victory for Minnesota, Frost coach Ken Klee defended Curl-Salemme. “She’s not out there trying to hurt anyone.” Klee said that, if she were to face supplemental discipline, there would be a “next player up mentality.”

“We rely on everybody,” he said. “Britta is a great player for us, but we have a lot of great players.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.