Posted by Megan Seling
https://www.thestranger.com/sports/2026/03/19/80529328/i-want-megan-carter-to-punch-me-in-the-face
Whenever someone (inevitably) says to me, “Women’s hockey just isn’t as physical as men’s,” I laugh and say, “You obviously have not been paying attention to Megan Carter.”
by Megan Seling
It was in the third period of the Torrent’s inaugural home game that Megan Carter cemented her status as my favorite Torrent player to watch. The team was down 3-0 against two-time PWHL champions Minnesota Frost, with fewer than five minutes left to turn things around. More than 16,000 hockey fans were packed into Climate Pledge Arena, and they were all vibrating with anticipation for the Torrent’s first game, first goal, first win, but the excitement and the optimism were draining out of the arena, drop by drop, with every tick of the clock.
Then Carter, to quote legendary fictional hockey player Shoresy, “Set the fucking tone.”
Before coming to Seattle, Carter had already earned a reputation as a physical player when she made her PWHL debut with the Toronto Scepters in the 2024–2025 season. And she had a history with Frost player Britta Curl-Salemme, too. Last season, Curl-Salemme was suspended for one game after elbowing Carter in the head, and the two players collided at least a couple of times during the Torrent’s home opener. Shit appeared to be brewing.
And then, when the Torrent were just a few minutes away from losing their first game on home ice, Carter and Curl-Salemme started shoving one another. I didn’t see who started it. But I saw Carter finish it when she wrapped her arms around Curl-Salemme’s head and dragged her down to the ice. The refs broke it up before things got any uglier, but in that move, Carter made it clear that she would not be taking any more shit from Curl-Salemme.
Climate Pledge Arena erupted into cheers as thousands of hockey fans—new and old—rose to their feet, appreciating the undeniable evidence that women’s hockey can be just as physical and fun to watch as men’s. Seattle loved to see it. (That Curl-Salemme had a history of liking transphobic social media posts may have had something to do with that.)
Today, Carter leads the team in hits, and whenever someone (inevitably) says to me, “Women’s hockey just isn’t as physical as men’s,” I laugh and say, “You obviously have not been paying attention to Megan Carter.” But people are starting to catch on, thankfully, and they are especially loving Carter and Torrent goalie CJ Jackson’s commitment to sleeveless game day outfits.
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Seattle Torrent (@pwhl_torrent)
After a recent Torrent practice, I sat down with Carter to learn more about how she developed her physical style of play—at just six years old!—and of course I had to ask her about any beef with Curl, too. She gave a very diplomatic answer, but don’t worry, she also shared some arm workout tips.
You lead the team in hits—you have a very physical style of play. That's something that people praised you for in Toronto, too. When did you start to develop that? Were you like a little six-year-old crunching people? Did that come with confidence and experience?
I think it just came with size and being a strong body out there. A lot of times it started with me being one of the bigger kids out there and running into a smaller kid, just by happenstance. We run into each other, and guess who falls. Not me. [Laughs] That led to a lot of penalties in my young years. It kind of stuck when other players started catching up [in size], and that was the direction that women's hockey was going in. It's like, “Wow, okay, I'm pretty good at this. I can refine this to be disciplined.” There are ways to finesse that and work around that, so it kind of happened just by nature of me.
Does it lead to any grudges on the ice?
Honestly, I play very free, and I think it's just part of my game. I've never had anyone hold any grudges against me, either, because they just know I'm gonna play hard, but I'm gonna do it in a clean way and within the rules, and I'm not, you know, head hunting or doing anything where someone’s gonna get injured. I think there's a mutual respect. And I welcome when other players play hard against me, because it allows me to play hard against them. That's what the fans want to see. That's what we want to see for the game. And for young girls to see the physicality and to see it being carried out in a proper way within the rules of the game is really important, because we're role models in more ways than one.
You mentioned it's what the fans want to see. I think that’s specifically true with the hit on Britta Curl-Salemme in an early game against Minnesota. You took an elbow to the head last season, and she was suspended for a game. Was that retaliation?
No, no. She's a player who also plays very physical, and just by nature, the two of us tend to run into each other, and it is a big interaction, because there's two big bodies running into each other.
I have to ask, because the Seattle fanbase especially likes your interactions with Curl-Salemme because so many of them don't agree with her off-ice politics. Is that anything you want to talk about, or can talk about?
Yeah, I don't bring any of that into the game. When I'm on the ice, I really try to just focus on what's within the glass. I just want to respect the game and play the game that I love, and whatever happens out there happens.
It got a lot of cheers in the stands. [Laughs]
[Laughs] Fans can take it however they’d like.
I also want to ask about the no-sleeve arena entry. Both you and CJ have gotten very popular on Instagram for your sleeveless walk-ins. How did that start?
So CJ is an awesome character. Loves to not wear sleeves working out, and loves to flex and show the biceps off.
I mean, they’re good guns!
As they should! They’re great guns!
You work hard for those!
Exactly, right? All of last year, we got to know each other in Toronto, too, and they always complimented me, “You need to take your sleeves off. It’s about time!” And I'm like, “No, no, I'll just cover them up for now, they're not as good as yours, whatever.” [Laughs] Anyway, so we had a walk-in—we're roommates—and so I had told them that I'm gonna be wearing a sleeveless shirt. And CJ’s like, “Perfect. If you’re not wearing sleeves, I can't wear sleeves.” And I just have to go with it. It got a lot of attention from the first game, and we're like, “Okay, fans love it. We love doing it. We love showing off the guns. Why not just roll with it?” And so we had some sleeveless things in our closets, and then slowly started running out of things…
At some point, you’re just cutting the sleeves off of things!
Which is what we've come to now. And some people have given us shirts to cut off, too, which is pretty cool. We went thrifting the other day to find some outfits.
Can you drop the arm routine? What does arm day look like for Megan Carter?
Honestly, it’s a bunch of things. Training in hockey, everything is more focused on the functionality piece of it, versus just the aesthetic. But there's a lot of primary lifts, whether it's bench press, chin-ups—of course, we like to add a little bit of what we call arm farm at the end.
What is arm farm?
Bicep curls, tricep extensions, all the pretty exercises…
The glamour muscles.
Exactly [laughs]. We never shy away from those where they’re an option.
Well, now that you know people are paying attention.
Oh, yeah. Like, over the Olympic break, every time we were in the gym, we're like, ‘We gotta do it for the walk-ins!”
Do you remember your first shift on the ice and how you felt before taking the ice as a Torrent player in a new city, versus now, now that the team is established? Fans are coming to practices and cheering for y'all just in the scrimmage! How has that feeling evolved over the season?
Obviously, coming to a new place, you never know how fans are going to receive you, how they're going to show up. I was here in August for a youth camp and an adult camp—I helped out coaching, running some drills, and stuff—and once I saw that turnout, I was like, “We're gonna be fine. We're in great hands.” I was super excited. When I flew home back to Toronto, I was like, “I can't wait to get back there in November.” So I knew from day one we were gonna have a great fan base, a great community. In that sense, I'm not surprised to see so many fans showing up to our practices, selling out Climate Pledge Arena. That was absolutely amazing, and a dream come true. Over time, as you get more comfortable with your teammates, the system, like everyone was new, the coaching staff, the players…
And you had something like, what, 14 days of training camp? What did you do to familiarize yourself with the city, but also with the team? How did you bond and ensure that you’ll have some kind of consistency and synergy on the ice?
I think, honestly, just having small conversations and trying to get to know each other as people. And we've all played against each other or with each other at some point, so that eases that transition, for sure. But I think this group is really special. Everyone cares about each other off the ice. We've always had a belief in the team and in ourselves and each other. So that's really special, because sometimes when things aren't quite going the way that you want them to go, it's really easy to point fingers and almost throw in the towel, right? But that's not the case here, and we're confident that we're gonna turn this around and do this for each other, do this for our fanbase, do this for the city. We went to the Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl celebration, and that was very motivating, because we know the city would do the same thing for us. We want that, and that's still the vision.
Would you wear sleeves in the parade?
You know, I think I wouldn’t be able to. Or I’d have to tear them away or something.
Last question, and it's kind of a goofy one: Hilary Knight has the cheese curds on the menu at Rough & Tumble. What would the Megan Carter menu item be at Rough & Tumble?
Oh, this is hard. [Thinks for several seconds] Maybe like a maple pulled pork slider, because it has a little bit of the Canadian in it, and something that’s simple, you know what you’re gonna get, and enjoyable.
Is that your style of play?
Yeah, honestly, just try to be reliable, simple, and do what I can.
I was thinking chicken wings, a nod to the arms, but maybe CJ gets those.
No, Ceej needs the hot dog, the little cocktail wiener things.
https://www.thestranger.com/sports/2026/03/19/80529328/i-want-megan-carter-to-punch-me-in-the-face
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