Plymouth native Simms primed to shine for USA’s Olympic hockey team
Plymouth native Kirsten Simms is a forward on the Team USA women’s hockey team. (Photo by Andrea Cardin/IIHF)
A native of Plymouth — and the daughter of a Northville educator (Karen) and former South Redford School District administrator (Bill) — was so accomplished as a 10-year-old hockey player, she competed on a Compuware Tier I boys team.
For the next couple of weeks, Simms will be playing against strictly women as a member of the 2026 USA Olympic hockey team.
A 2022 graduate of Salem High School, Simms is a senior member of the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team, for which she scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the 2025 NCAA National Championship Game.
Quite a resume
If that’s not enough of a resume-booster, Simms also scored the game-winning goal in the national title game for the Badgers in 2023 — as a freshman.
Simms, whose mother Karen is a teacher at Hillside Middle School in Northville, played 10U and 12U hockey for the Compuware Tier I boys team based in Plymouth.
She excelled at the 16U and 19U levels playing for Detroit-based Little Caesars and Selects Academy, which is based in Rochester, New York.
In 37 games with USA Hockey, she has tallied 30 points (11 goals and 19 assists).
Early memories
In an interview on the USA Hockey website, she listed her first hockey memory as: “Playing in cross ice 3v3 games every weekend.”
Simms describes her style of plays as “creative” and her favorite movie as — no surprise here — “Miracle”.
In her post-playing career — which may be several years down the line given her youth and skill level — she would like to serve as a hockey trainer or coach, the website states.
In case you get an opportunity to watch the USA women’s hockey team during the Olympics, which started Thursday, she wears No. 9, which may or may not be a coincidence considering it’s the same number worn by all-time great Gordie Howe.
