The Professional Women's Hockey League issued the harshest suspension in its three-year history on Monday by banning New York Sirens forward Taylor Girard for four games after she left the bench to join an altercation.
The skirmish happened in front of the Sirens' net at the final buzzer of New York’s 2-1 win over Montreal on Sunday. Video shows Girard crashing into Montreal defender Maggie Flaherty from behind and knocking her to the ice. Eight players — four from each team — were issued 10-minute misconducts, with Girard the only player receiving an additional 20-minute penalty for leaving the bench.
Under league rules, the first player to leave the bench illegally faces an automatic four-game suspension. The suspension stood upon a review by the PWHL Player Safety Committee.
Previously, the league’s longest suspension was two games issued to Seattle defender Aneta Tejralova for an illegal check to the head during a game against the Sirens last month.
Girard is not eligible to return until New York hosts Boston on March 5, in the Sirens' second game following the league's month-long Olympic break.
The 27-year-old Girard is in her third PWHL season, and second with the Sirens after being acquired in a trade with Boston a year ago. Her five goals rank second on the team. Girard had previously not been penalized this season, and now leads the PWHL with 30 penalty minutes in 13 games.
The altercation took place during a PWHL neutral site game played at the NHL Washington Capitals’ home arena. The game drew 17,228 fans and set a record for largest turnout for a professional women’s hockey game in the United States.
AP women’s hockey: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-hockey
FILE - New York left wing Taylor Girard moves the puck up the ice during the first period of a PWHL game against Minnesota in Detroit, March 16, 2025. (David Guralnick/Detroit News via AP, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces began firing tear gas at Palestinian trade school in East Jerusalem Tuesday, marking their second targeting of a UN facility.
Earlier, forces demolished portions of the main compound of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA.
Roland Friedrich, the group’s West Bank director, said Israeli forces had arrived at a vocational school for young Palestinians in Qalandia, on the outskirts of Jerusalem. More than 300 young refugees receive job training in technology and welding.
The raids are the latest in Israel’s long-running campaign against UNRWA, which it has banned from Israeli territory and accuses of being infiltrated by militants – a charge UNRWA denies.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli crews on Tuesday started bulldozing the Jerusalem headquarters of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, pushing forward with its crackdown against an organization tasked with delivering humanitarian services to millions of people across the region.
Israel has long accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency of collaborating with Hamas — a charge it denies — and last year banned it from operating on its territory. But Tuesday’s demolition marked Israel’s latest and most dramatic step against UNRWA.
Roland Friedrich, the group's West Bank director, said UNRWA had received word that demolition crews and police arrived at their east Jerusalem headquarters early in the morning. Staff has not operated out of the facility due to danger and incitement for almost a year, but Israeli forces confiscated devices and forced out the private security hired to guard the facility.
“What we saw today is is the culmination of two years of incitement and, measures against UNRWA in east Jerusalem,” Friedrich said, calling it a violation of international law guaranteeing such facilities protection.
UNRWA's mandate is to provide aid and services to some 2.5 million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, as well as 3 million more refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. The group has for years maintained infrastructure in refugee camps and also run schools and provide health care. But its operations were curtailed last year when Israel’s Knesset passed legislation severing ties and banning it from functioning in what it defines as Israel — including east Jerusalem.
The agency said the demolitions could imperil operations at its vocational center in Qalandia and heath facility in Shua'fat, where it continues to provide education and health services.
An Israeli flag was seen hoisted above the facility in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where some Israeli politicians arrived on the scene to celebrate the organization's fate. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called it “a historic day.”
The demolition marked the culmination of years of criticism from Israel and its leaders, who contend that UNRWA harbors pro-Palestinian leanings and maintains ties or employees members of militant groups like Hamas. Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than two years ago, it has ramped up such attacks, accusing UNRWA of being infiltrated by Hamas and saying the militants used its facilities and seized aid. It has provided little evidence for the claims, which the U.N. has denied. The International Court of Justice said in October that Israel must allow the agency to provide humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
Since Israel passed the law banning the agency last year, its facilities — schools and health centers — and its headquarters have repeatedly been closed, raided or left unprotected. Israel has contended the agency perpetuates Palestinians’ refugee status, while UNRWA supporters have said Israel’s attacks on the agency are aimed at sidelining the issue — one of the most contentious dividing Israelis and Palestinians.
“This comes in the wake of other steps taken by Israeli authorities to erase the Palestine Refugee identity,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA's commissioner-general, said in a statement on X. “This must be a wake-up call. What happens today to UNRWA will happen tomorrow to any other international organisation or diplomatic mission, whether in the Occupied Palestinian Territory or anywhere around the world.”
Under President Donald Trump, the United States cut funding for the agency in 2018. President Joe Biden restored it in 2021 and later paused funding in 2024.
Israel's ban on UNRWA dovetailed with broader efforts to deregister aid groups operating in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. Israel has passed laws requiring nongovernmental organizations not hire staff involved in activities that “delegitimize Israel” or support boycotts, demanding they register lists of names as a condition of being allowed to work.
Israel told dozens of groups — including Doctors Without Borders and CARE — that their licenses would expire at the end of 2025. The organizations say the rules are arbitrary and warned that the new ban would harm a civilian population desperately in need of humanitarian aid.
Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
People watch the demolition of a UNRWA compound, the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees, in east Jerusalem Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli bulldozers demolish a UNRWA compound, belonging to the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees, in east Jerusalem Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli bulldozers demolish a UNRWA compound, belonging to the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees, in east Jerusalem Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israeli soldiers take up positions during an army raid in the West Bank city of Hebron Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
