By BILLY HEYEN
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As Caroline “KK” Harvey, Haley Winn and Kirsten Simms put on their USA jerseys Monday afternoon, they discussed whether each had washed them. After all, they were the jerseys the trio wore in Slovakia in a celebratory dogpile and when gold medals were placed around their necks.
The answers on washing were mixed, but what was more lasting came next: Each again donned a gold medal.
The Webster-native Winn, along with Harvey and Simms, are members of the Selects Academy at Bishop Kearney’s hockey program. Each played for the USA U-18 Women’s National Team that won the IIHF World Championship in Slovakia on Thursday. The teammates spoke as part of a press conference at BK on Monday afternoon, and each couldn’t help but smile while recalling the last few weeks.
“It was obviously a very surreal experience,” Winn said. “When we won gold, obviously it was a great end of the trip. The whole trip was a great experience, no matter if it’s your first or third time putting on the jersey, every time it’s the same feeling, it’s so surreal. Like KK said, really humbling, and it was great to end out with a gold medal.”
For Harvey and Winn, it was their second time playing in the World Championships, while Simms joined them for her first experience. Last year, Team USA lost in the final to Canada.
This time around, Team USA lost 2-1 to Canada in the preliminary round, along with victories over Finland and Russia. They defeated Russia in the semifinal to advance to another meeting with Canada, a chance to avenge the prior losses.
“I think it gave us the extra push, the extra motivation we needed,” Winn said. “One of our coaches plays in the Olympics, so she had a lot of experience with those kind of games, and she said to us after the game we lost, ‘It’s hard to beat a team twice.’ I think that really helped us get the confidence we needed even though we lost the game before.”
Regulation wouldn’t be enough to decide the championship, and Team USA opened overtime with Canada in a 4-on-3 advantage, the same situation that Canada scored the winner in last year, Winn said. The pressure was higher, all three Selects players said, as the sudden-death overtime period meant the first puck to find the back of the net would decide the gold medal.
Nearly 17 minutes into the extra period, Fairport-native Kiara Zanon (who plays for the Kingston Jr. Ice Wolves in Canada after playing for Selects the last three years) found herself on the end of a pass from Maggie Nicholson on a break and slotted it home. Harvey trailed the play as a defenseman, while Simms and Winn watched from the bench. The moment the puck flew into the goal, Team USA responded as one.
Gloves were thrown in the air. Players leaped over the boards and onto the ice from the bench. Team USA dogpiled.
“It was all a blur, everyone just came jumping on and it was just awesome,” Winn said. “It was such a cool feeling.”
After the players rose out of their pile, there was one more order of business, the matter of the medal ceremony. Team USA had the gold medals placed over their heads one-by-one. Then, with Team USA lined up along the blue line, the United States national anthem played.
“It’s definitely a day we’ll remember for the rest of our lives,” Harvey said.
“It’s the best feeling I’ve probably ever had,” Simms added.
“Just screaming the anthem at the end on the blue line is just the best feeling in the world,” Winn said.
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