When Game 2 of the best-of-five series between the Toronto Sceptres and Minnesota Frost resumes on Friday night at Coca-Cola Coliseum, it will be without Frost rookie Britta Curl-Salemme.
The league announced on Friday that it had suspended Curl-Salemme for a “high and forceful check” to the head of Toronto defender Renata Fast. She was assessed a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct, which ended her night.
Fast, who has arguably been Toronto’s best player this season, took some time to get back to her feet. She resumed play, and head coach Troy Ryan said on Thursday that “everything’s fine” with Fast.
Toronto’s captain, Blayre Turnbull, made it clear that she didn’t like the play.
“I thought it was a pretty ugly hit,” she said after the game.
In reviewing the hit, the PWHL’s Player Safety Committee determined that Curl-Salemme made Fast’s head the main point of contact on a play “where such contact to the head was avoidable.”
It’s the third time this season that Curl-Salemme has been suspended, as the league looks to crack down on hits to the head. She missed one game in January after a high-sticking incident, and another in March for another illegal hit to the head.
The day before her most recent suspension was announced, Minnesota Frost head coach Ken Klee defended his player, describing the hit as a “hockey play.”
“She’s not a malicious player or a malicious person who’s out trying to get someone,” Klee said.
But Klee said Curl-Salemme is “trying to learn from it and keep knowing where that line is.”
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Finding that line and adjusting to it has been a focus for everyone in the league, from those enforcing the rules to the players who have to follow them. But being suspended on three separate occasions in one PWHL season is something only Curl-Salemme has under her belt.
Her team will pay a price. Curl-Salemme scored one of only two goals for the Frost in the first game. Now, they’ll have to try to even the series without her.
Game 2 begins at 7 p.m. ET on Friday inside Toronto’s Coca-Cola Coliseum.
A rookie with a powerful shot
The Sceptres’ 3-2 victory on Wednesday was fuelled by another rookie: Julia Gosling, who registered two goals, including her first career goal at five-on-five.
Gosling has size and a powerful shot, but took a little while to grow into her role with Toronto this season.
Even as she’s gone through that adjustment, Toronto’s top-ranked power play has been at its best with Gosling in the bumper position. She scored four power play goals over the regular season, tied for second in the league with good company: teammates Hannah Miller and Daryl Watts, as well as Montreal’s Laura Stacey and Boston’s Hilary Knight.
What makes her shot special? According to Sceptres teammate, Natalie Spooner, it’s both the quick release and how hard it is, which can catch goaltenders by surprise. Spooner had been shouting at Gosling from the bench to fire the puck ahead of her first goal.
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“In this league, if you can play in different scenarios and different lines and with different people, I think it will just make you the most successful,” Gosling said. “Today I got it done and I think it’s just been building over the season.”
Toronto celebrated the win on the ice on Wednesday, but they know exactly how hard it is to end a series. The team was up 2-0 on Minnesota last year before losing in five games, a memory the Sceptres have been keen to wipe away and not dwell on.
It’s a different team this season, one that’s been through more adversity, particularly when it comes to injuries. The next step is to prove the team can have a different outcome.
“Our team has always found ways to win or to get points no matter who’s in the lineup,” Spooner said. “I think that’s something that our team has really been able to build upon going into these playoffs and having confidence in that it may not be a pretty win every night, but we’re going to be grinding it out and finding those ways to win.”
Victoire searching for 1st playoff win
The top-ranked Montreal Victoire is still looking for its first playoff win after losing 3-2 to the third-place Ottawa Charge on Thursday. The Victoire was swept 3-0 by the Boston Fleet in last year’s playoffs.
“I had to take a deep breath before coming in here because it hurts,” she said. “Losing hurts. Especially in the playoffs when you want it that bad.”
The positive? Both of the Victoire’s power play units found the back of the net, despite struggling at points during the regular season.
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Even though it wasn’t the team’s best game —head coach Kori Cheverie pointed to details like missed clears on the penalty kill, on top of taking too many penalties — Stacey felt Montreal stayed with Ottawa throughout the game. Do that for 60 minutes and Stacey suggested her team would look “scary,” just as they did at points throughout the regular season.
“They have to find a way,” Cheverie said. “We as a collective have to find a way.”
Darkangelo’s development
Both teams tend to win when their captains score, and both the Victoire’s Marie-Philip Poulin and the Charge’s Brianne Jenner found the scoresheet in Game 1.
This time, it was newly-minted Ottawa Charge assistant captain Shiann Darkangelo who made the difference, scoring the game winner in the third.
Darkangelo was acquired by Ottawa at the trade deadline last year to help the team close out games, a weakness identified by GM Mike Hirshfeld.
She’s done exactly that over the Charge’s playoff push and now into the postseason. Darkangelo has 10 points in her last nine games, including four goals.
“She’s a big leader for us,” Jenner said after Thursday’s game. “She plays the game the right way, 200-foot player. We’re just seeing her get rewarded for that play.”
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Rookie goaltender Gwyneth Philips, thrown into the starter’s position after an injury to Emerance Maschmeyer, also made a difference.
She stopped several good opportunities from Montreal. The top line of Poulin, Stacey and Jennifer Gardiner registered a total of 18 shots combined.
A lot has been made about the Victoire’s decision to pick the Charge as its opponent, a power the top-seeded team receives. But players and coach with the Charge brushed aside the idea that getting picked could affect their mindset or motivation.
“It’s not about who we’re playing or where we’re playing,” head coach Carla MacLeod said. “It’s that we are playing, and we’re playing Ottawa Charge hockey right now.”
Ottawa and Montreal will play Game 2 on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET at Place Bell in Laval, Que.
