Minnesota head coach Ken Klee defended his ejected forward, Britta Curl-Salemme in a media conference saying her hit on Toronto's Renata Fast was "not malicious" and calling it a "hockey play."

Curl-Salemme was ejected from game one of the PWHL playoffs for a check to the head of Fast. Curl-Salemme received a five minute major and a game misconduct for the play which occurred with 5:23 remaining in the second period, less than a minute after Curl-Salemme scored Minnesota's first goal of the game.

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

Should Curl-Salemme receive supplementary discipline from the PWHL, she'd be the first player to receive three such disciplinary decisions. Her first came in early January when Curl-Salemme used "her stick to recklessly and dangerously make contact with [Theresa] Schafzahl in the neck and head." For that incident, she received a one-game suspension. In March, Curl-Salemme was suspended for one-game again when she "extended her elbow upward and outward as she delivered a high hit on opponent Megan Carter, making her head the main point of contact."

"I just know we're trying to get those high hits or any contact to the head out of the game," said Toronto head coach Troy Ryan. "So I'm just glad that they were able to watch it on video and keep it as a major, because my understanding is that probably will be reviewed again today."

With a history of head contact, it's likely the league's PWHL Player Safety Committee will hand down a stiffer punishment this time around. Klee however, believes it was just a hockey play with no intent.

"For me it's just, it's one of those hockey plays," Klee continued. "It's nothing malicious, obviously it was a stiff penalty that she received and it was tough."

Klee said Curl-Salemme was just trying to do her job on the ice, and that she, along with other college players continue to learn where the line is for contact in this league having never experienced "full contact" before this season.

"She's a good player, a great player, a great person, she plays extremely hard," Klee said. "She's an asset to our team as she would be to any team."