海角社区官网forward Natalie Spooner (24) celebrates her goal against Minnesota during first period PWHL playoff hockey action in 海角社区官网on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. 海角社区官网star forward Spooner is out for the Professional Women’s Hockey League playoffs with a knee injury. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
海角社区官网forward Natalie Spooner (24) celebrates her goal against Minnesota during first period PWHL playoff hockey action in 海角社区官网on Wednesday, May 8, 2024. 海角社区官网star forward Spooner is out for the Professional Women’s Hockey League playoffs with a knee injury. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
海角社区官网star forward Natalie Spooner is out for the Professional Women’s Hockey League playoffs with a knee injury.
The PWHL team placed Spooner on long-term injured reserve Wednesday after she was checked into the boards by Minnesota’s Grace Zumwinkle in Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinal Monday.
Spooner collapsed to the ice following the hit and managed to crawl back to the 海角社区官网bench.
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Spooner led the league with 27 points in 24 regular-season games. Her league-leading 20 goals were nine more than the next closest skater.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big loss for us, obviously Natalie has been an important part of our success all year,鈥 PWHL 海角社区官网general manager Gina Kingsbury said in a statement. 鈥淲e have no doubt Natalie will continue to have an impact on our team, just in a different way.鈥
The 33-year-old from 海角社区官网added one goal and one assist in three playoff games.
In a corresponding move, 海角社区官网activated forward Jess Jones, who played five games during the regular season.
海角社区官网leads Minnesota 2-1 in the series and can book its ticket to the Walter Cup final with a road win Wednesday night.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 15, 2024.
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