Lou Orlando
The New York Sirens’ uphill climb to the No. 4 seed just got a little bit steeper. Sirens captain Micah Zandee-Hart will miss New York’s final home game of 2025-26 after being issued a one-game suspension Tuesday afternoon by the PWHL Player Safety Committee.
Zandee-Hart received a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for an illegal check to the head in the third period of New York’s 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Frost on Saturday. The Sirens defender cut across the front of Frost forward Katy Knoll, delivering a high blow with her left elbow.
Knoll was slow to get up and briefly headed to the Minnesota locker room.
“In their review, the Player Safety Committee determined that Zandee-Hart delivered a high and forceful check that made her opponent’s head the main point of contact on a play where such head contact was avoidable,” the PWHL announced in a statement Tuesday.
Zandee-Hart is a repeat offender in the PWHL after receiving a $250 fine for a cross-checking game misconduct in New York’s season opener against the Ottawa Charge. She is the second Sirens skater to be suspended in April; Emmy Fecteau served a one-game ban Sunday against Minnesota after an illegal body check on Seattle Torrent forward Mikyla Grant-Mentis.
Zandee-Hart leads all PWHL skaters with 50 penalty minutes this season.
Micah Zandee-Hart out for pivotal game against Toronto Sceptres
With four games remaining, the sixth-place Sirens (31 points; 8-2-3-13) can’t afford any missteps the rest of the way. Ottawa owns a five-point cushion on the PWHL’s final playoff spot with 36 points (7-7-1-12). The Toronto Sceptres sit in fifth place at 34 points (9-1-5-11) with a game in hand on the Charge.
The Sirens begin a three-game stretch against Toronto and Ottawa on Wednesday, needing points to stay alive in the playoff race. An already shorthanded New York squad will now be without its top defender.
Zandee-Hart is the only Sirens blue-liner with a positive rating at plus-two, playing top-pair minutes alongside Maja Nylen Persson. The one-game suspension snaps a streak of 75 consecutive games played by the Sirens captain, dating back to Jan. 20, 2024.
New York is already without two of its top goal scorers in Taylor Girard and Kristyna Kaltounkova, both of whom are on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) with lower-body injuries. Zandee-Hart produced New York’s lone goal Sunday, firing a long shot from the point past Frost goalie Maddie Rooney for her second career tally in the PWHL.
Coach Greg Fargo will likely turn to rookie defender Dayle Ross in an increased role, but Zandee-Hart won’t be an easy figure to replace. The Sirens captain is a steady presence in front of the net and also saw power-play time Sunday against Minnesota, quarterbacking the second unit.
Kaltounkova is eligible to rejoin New York’s active roster after surpassing 21 days on LTIR on Tuesday, though the Sirens have not indicated that the 2025 No. 1 overall pick is close to returning. The 24-year-old leads the team with 11 goals in 21 games.
