Nineteen-year-old Kirsten Simms scored in overtime to lift the U.S. over Canada 1-0 as the Americans closed out group play undefeated at the world women’s hockey championship in Utica, New York.
Simms, a University of Wisconsin sophomore, beat Canadian goalie and former Badger Ann-Renée Desbiens at the three-minute, 38-second mark of overtime.
It marked Simms’ first goal in her first world championship. She became the youngest American to score against Canada at an Olympics or worlds since 2015 (Megan Keller, 18).
Simms had an even bigger goal last year, scoring the only goal in the 2023 NCAA Championship game against Ohio State as a freshman.
Kirsten Simms with the OT winner for USA 🙌#USACAN #womensworlds @usahockey pic.twitter.com/o00zOQIqUK
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) April 9, 2024
Aerin Frankel stopped all 26 Canadian shots on Monday.
The five highest ranked teams in the 10-team worlds were all grouped together and given automatic spots in the quarterfinals.
The U.S. earned the top seed in the quarters, which are Thursday. The semifinals are Saturday and the gold- and bronze-medal games on Sunday.
Canada is the No. 2 seed, ensuring it will not play the U.S. before the medal games. The U.S. and Canada have met in 21 of the 22 world championship gold-medal games.
The U.S. won last year’s world title after Canada won worlds in 2021 and 2022 and the Olympics in 2022.
