Column: Britta Curl-Salemme Suspension Not Enough

The playoff hockey buzz in the city of Toronto on Wednesday night was immaculate as both of the city's top-tier professional hockey teams were in action. The Toronto Sceptres hosted the Minnesota Frost in the first game of the 2025 PWHL Playoffs, while the Maple Leafs took on the Panthers for their game two.

The Sceptres were up three goals halfway through game one and a crowd of just over six thousand people at Coca-Cola Coliseum were waving their rally towels and loving every second of the performance their team was putting on for them.

Four minutes after the Sceptres scored their third goal of the night, the Frost found themselves on the board thanks to rookie forward Britta Curl-Salemme. Minnesota’s power play marker from Curl-Salemme was her second goal with the player advantage this season and her first career PWHL playoff goal. It was a jolt that Minnesota needed to get back into the game, especially with a rowdy Toronto crowd against them.

It took less than one minute for Curl-Salemme to absolutely destroy every bit of momentum her power play goal brought to her team. As the puck made its way up the boards to Toronto's Renata Fast at the point, Curl-Salemme decided to introduce her left elbow to Fast’s chin.

An entirely intentional and extremely dangerous non-hockey play sent the Toronto crowd into an immediate frenzy. As Curl-Salemme made her way to the penalty box and the replays started playing on the jumbotron, the chants of “Kick her out” echoed through the Coca-Cola Coliseum. After the officials reviewed the play, Curl-Salemme received a five-minute major for a check to the head penalty as well as a ten-minute misconduct. The Frost went to kill the five-minute major while Curl-Salemme spent the rest of the night in the dressing room. 

From a pure hockey standpoint, Curl-Salemme is a very skilled hockey player. She was tied for third in points by a rookie skater with 15 points in 28 games, and second in rookie goal scoring with nine goals. In her time in college she had 179 points in 180 NCAA games with the Wisconsin Badgers. What she did in game one of the playoffs is not something a very skilled hockey player should be doing.

On Friday afternoon the PWHL announced Curl-Salemme had received a one game suspension for an illegal check to the head. In the PWHL Department of Player Safety Committee’s video explanation, they note that the head contact Curl-Salemme made came from her shoulder and on Fast and that the contact to the head was completely avoidable. They noted that both requirements of Rule 48 (Illegal Check to the Head) were present on the play.

In the PWHL Department of Player Safety Committee’s explanation video, the two key points on the suspension decision were that it was an illegal check to the head and that Curl-Salemme has a history before this hit with her two suspensions in 28 regular season games. With the official decision of Curl-Salemme receiving a one-game suspension on the play, she now has become the first player in PWHL history to be suspended three times.

This five-minute major call wouldn’t be such a big issue if it wasn’t for her history. Her first career PWHL suspension came in a regular season game against Boston on January 2nd when Curl-Salemme high-sticked Theresa Schafzahl in the head and neck, resulting in a one-game ban. During a regular season game between the Sceptres and the Frost on March 9th, Curl-Salemme caught Megan Carter with a hit to the head. A couple days after the game, she received her second one-game suspension.

During Minnesota head coach Ken Klee post-game availability, he told the media that he didn’t get a look at the hit. "Just one of those things," he said.

When asked again on Thursday morning, he defended his rookie forward. "For me it's just, it's one of those hockey plays. It's nothing malicious, obviously it was a stiff penalty that she received and it was tough."

"Britta's a hard player; I mean there's other players in the league that play hard as well," Klee also said of the incident Thursday morning. "Other players have had multiple incidents, Poulin is one of the top players in the league, she's had multiple incidents." 

What Klee neglects to mention is that in over 150 professional games, Marie-Philip Poulin has never once been suspended. She’s received two separate fines in the PWHL, but has never been given a suspension as a professional hockey player during her history in the CWHL, PWHPA, and now the PWHL. The Montréal captain has shown the world how to play hockey the “hard” way perfectly.

Suspending Curl-Salemme was the correct move. In my opinion, one game for a repeat offender in under 30 games played one game is not enough. I’m unsure if the PWHL Department of Player Safety Committee views the concept of a playoff game to be larger than a regular season game, but that shouldn’t matter.

This is now three dangerous and unnecessary hits to the head from one single player. With the rise of CTE in former hockey players and high contact athletes, the need to protect players and their brains should be at the top of the PWHL Department of Player Safety Committee’s list.