UTICA, New York — Kirsten Simms scored 3:38 into overtime to help the United States win 1-0 against rival Canada on Monday. This win also secured the Americans the Group A title in the women’s world hockey championships.
Aerin Frankel made 26 saves for her second shutout of the tournament, and the defending world champion U.S. finished Group A play with a 4-0 record. Simms is one of four new players on the American team, and is coming off a successful season at Wisconsin where she led women’s college hockey in scoring.
Ann-Renee Desbiens stopped 29 shots, including the first six she faced in overtime as Canada (3-1) finished second in Group A play.
The Americans move on to the quarterfinals on Thursday, where they’ll play the third-place team from Group B, which will be determined after the preliminary round finishes on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Canada will face Sweden in the quarterfinals, which is a rematch of last year’s world championship quarterfinals that Canada won 3-2 in overtime.
Both teams played three-on-three in overtime, and Simms scored during a three-on-one break after Canada’s Brianne Jenner fell and lost the puck in the U.S. zone. Caroline Harvey led the rush up the left side and centered to Simms, who managed to get a shot off despite having her stick pulled by Canada’s Jocelyne Larocque.
Larocque’s back-checking changed the direction of the puck, which surprised Desbiens and beat her low between the skates.
The game was a back-and-forth battle, which has become the norm in the long-standing rivalry between the two major powers in the sport. The United States has won 10 gold medals compared to Canada’s 12, and now has an 18-17 record against Canada in world championship play. The teams are currently tied with 98 goals each against each other.
It’s highly likely that the two nations will meet again in the tournament final on Sunday.
With the assist, Harvey not only set up her college teammate, but also made up for a missed opportunity to open the scoring on a two-on-one break 2:45 into the third period.
Driving up the right side, Taylor Heise faked a shot, which fooled Desbiens, before passing the puck across to Harvey, who missed the open side by lifting the puck over the net.
Some 20 seconds earlier, Desbiens got across to her left to stop Abbey Murphy, who was set up by a Heise pass at the post.
Canada was outshot 7-0 in the extra period, but had several chances to score, all of which were denied by Frankel.
With six minutes left in regulation, Frankel deflected Emma Maltais’ hard shot from the left circle. Additionally, she made a good save on Natalie Spooner’s shot on a two-on-one break with 3:30 left in the second period.