Britta Curl-salemme suspended one game, fined $250 after two incidents
Minnesota Frost forward britta curl-salemme was suspended for one game and fined $250 on May 4, 2026 after the PWHL reviewed two incidents from Game 1 of the Walter Cup Playoffs against the Montréal Victoire. The ruling hits Minnesota’s lineup for its next playoff game and adds another mark to Curl-Salemme’s disciplinary record.
Curl-Salemme and Roque
At 4:47 of the second period, Curl-Salemme and Abby Roque drew minor penalties for roughing. The league’s Player Safety Committee said she grabbed and pulled Roque’s facial protector and determined Roque was sent to the ice with a degree of violence that warranted supplemental discipline.
The same game brought a second review at 19:12 of the second period. Curl-Salemme received a major penalty and game misconduct for an illegal check to the head on Kaitlin Willoughby.
Game 1 penalties
The committee said Curl-Salemme made no attempt to play the puck as she raised her forearm to make direct contact with Willoughby’s head. It also ruled that the contact was avoidable. Those findings led to the one-game suspension and the $250 fine announced on May 4, 2026.
This was her first suspension of the 2025-26 season, but it was not her first supplemental discipline. Curl-Salemme had already been fined $250 for a cross-checking incident on Mar. 15, 2026, and she had three separate one-game suspensions in the 2024-25 season: one for high-sticking on Jan. 2, 2025, one for an illegal check to the head on Mar. 9, 2025, and one for an illegal check to the head in the playoffs on May 7, 2025.
PWHL Rule 23.6
The league’s Rule 23.6 says a player who receives two game misconducts in the physical fouls category during a playoff series is automatically suspended for her team’s next playoff game. The game misconduct from this incident will remain on Curl-Salemme’s accumulation record for the rest of the series, leaving Minnesota to manage the next game without a forward whose playoff history has already brought repeated discipline.
The PWHL Player Safety Committee is chaired by Jayna Hefford and also includes Chris Burkett, Cassie Campbell-Pascall, Meghan Duggan, Mike Murphy, and Matt McMahon. The league said fines collected support girls’ hockey programming and equipment access initiatives.
