There is a special place in professional hockey, perhaps more than any other sport for the villain — players that fans love to hate and that players hate to play against.
Villains aren’t goons, they’re almost always talented players with a penchant for getting under an opponent’s skin. They’ll take penalties, but draw them, as well, while toeing a line between being smart and being reckless.
And all the best villains help their teams win, which is why they’re villains in opposing rinks.
Minnesota Frost forward Britta Curl-Salemme (77) scores on Ottawa Charge goalie Gwyneth Philips (33) during the third period of a PWHL hockey final game, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Ottawa. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP)
With the puck set to drop Saturday in Game 3 of the PWHL finals at Xcel Energy Center, one can’t help but wonder if Minnesota’s Britta Curl-Salemme has become the nascent league’s first official villain. During the first two games in Ottawa, the forward was booed by the sellout crowd at TD Place nearly every time she touched the puck.
She was suspended a game for a high elbow on Toronto’s Renata Fast in the Frost’s 4-1, first-round series victory. On Thursday, she scored the tying and winning goals in Minnesota’s 2-1 overtime victory to send the series to St. Paul tied 1-1.
That’s a couple of big boxes ticked.
Asked Friday if she has become the PWHL’s first villain in its second season, Curl-Saleme said, “I’m sure some people think that. I try not to get too involved with outside noise or perspectives. I just don’t think that’s helpful for me or our team or what I’m trying to do on the ice.”
On the other hand, the rookie wing who won a national title at Wisconsin said if that’s the case, so be it.
“If that’s the way it shakes out and I’m doing my job, and I’m doing what I’m proud of and the things that I’m supposed to be doing, then that may be it,” she said. “But, I’m not too worried about it.”
Even in Minnesota, Curl-Salemme can be polarizing. When the Frost used their second-round pick to draft her last June, there was some immediate criticism of her social media history, some of it since deleted but including an extant tweet that appears to endorse a group focused on keeping transgender women out of women’s sports.
Shortly after the draft, Curl-Salemme released a two-part video on her x.com account responding to the backlash, saying in part, “I specifically recognize some of my social media activity has resulted in hurt being felt across communities, including LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals, and I just want to apologize and take ownership of that.”
Curl-Salemme was asked Friday if she thought the animus she receives is because of the way she plays or might be in some cases left over from the social media posts.
Ottawa Charge goaltender Gwyneth Philips (33) is scored on by Minnesota Frost’s Britta Curl-Salemme, not shown, during overtime of a PWHL playoff hockey game in Ottawa, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
“I can’t really speak to the reasons behind it or anything,” she said. “I’m sure it’s annoying as hell being an opponent, or being an opposing fan, the style that I play. I kinda try to embrace that, obviously to a certain point. I want to be a nuisance, and I want to make it hard to play against me. So, yeah, I’m sure that’s part of it. But that’s not why I do it, either.”
Curl-Salemme saved the Frost from a 2-0 series deficit Thursday when, with goaltender Maddie Rooney on the bench and a six-on-four advantage, she scored off a net-front rebound with 15 seconds remaining.
In overtime, she beat Gwyneth Phillips — the playoffs’ best goaltender so far — with less than 4 minutes left in the overtime period to send the series back to St. Paul tied 1-1.
“It’s a huge credit to her that she can focus on it; it’s not easy to play in the hostile environments we play in,” Frost coach Ken Klee said. “It’s a big credit to her that she can remain calm and still finish in that moment, because she got cross-checked, I think, about 10 times in that shift, and one time a stick got broken on her back. Yet she’s still right there and laying it on the line for her team.”
As for her style occasionally crossing the line, she said it’s been a learning experience after playing NCAA and international hockey, where checking isn’t allowed. She has been suspended for one game three times as a rookie.
In the PWHL, players are allowed to use their bodies to check, but there are myriad ways to do it wrong, as well.
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“I’ll be honest, it’s been tough at times,” Curl-Salemme said. “I think I was excited to able to just play in a league that allows more physicality because I think it suits me, but it’s also (difficult) kinda letting go while also kinda holding back a little bit. So, you’ve got to be able to find that line of how do I stay in control and do it in a way that’s not going to hurt my team or an opponent.
“Because things happen in a physical game, and I’m never going out on the ice trying to hurt somebody or do something stupid. That’s obviously never the intention, but it’s going to take a little bit of maturity in my game and just figuring out how to play that way, and I think I’m improving at it and it’s something that I’m trying to focus on, too.”
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