Billy Simms, a junior and forward for the Cleary men’s hockey team looking to capture the #1 position in the WHAC, has plenty more to cheer about. His little sister, Kirsten, just won a gold medal in the Olympics! (The game against Canada for the gold went into overtime after the USA tied the score at 1 to 1 with two minutes left in the last period of regulation play. Megan Keller from Farmington Hills scored the gold medal-winning goal.)
At age 21, Kirsten is one of the youngest teammates on the USA women’s hockey team. Billy, along with his family, was able to see her step onto the ice in her first game as an Olympian and score the first goal!
“I didn’t realize how big this was until I saw her on the ice for the first time representing our country. It was such a cool moment for me. I was so proud of my sister,” he announces.
Billy and Kirsten grew up in Plymouth and began playing hockey at preschool age. “Our dad watched a lot of hockey and asked us if we wanted to play, and that’s how it all started,” Billy explains. “We both knew hockey was going to be our sport.”
Kirsten played in some of Michigan’s top boys’ leagues until she was 14 when she switched over to women’s competitive hockey. Billy and his dad knew before then that she had the potential to be an Olympian. “She was always in the driveway shooting pucks or stick handling in the garage,” Billy says. “She spent a lot of much time and effort to be a competitor.”
Billy continued his hockey career in AAA travel and then onto the Juniors where he broke his leg and expected his hockey career to be over until he met Wes Smith, a Cleary hockey star (and recent graduate) who was coaching skill training clinics alongside Billy. He invited Billy to skate with the Cleary team. “I liked the coaches and the team and wanted my degree. It all fit together,” he observed.
Billy has one more year at Cleary before he earns his degree in Project Management. He hopes to get into the field of finance and wealth management, and continue to play a little hockey on the side for recreation.
In the meantime, his sister is celebrating gold medal honors with her team in Milan, Italy, and already has hopes to compete in the 2030 Olympics and get drafted into the US women’s professional hockey league after she graduates from the University of Wisconsin, where she plays for a nationally ranked women’s hockey team. The university has won two out of the last three national championships and is hoping to capture its third this year.
“We were fortunate to grow up in Michigan where hockey programs and training are strong,” Billy finds. “There is a lot of good hockey, good coaches and plenty of opportunities right here in Michigan and Livingston County.”
Kirsten is one of only two Michiganders on the USA women’s hockey team.
When he had an opportunity to talk with her at the Olympics, he told her, “Enjoy the moment and have fun!”
Kirsten worked hard to earn her spot on the USA team. She competed in the 10U and 12U Compuware Tier 1 boys league, one of the toughest leagues in the state. From there, she joined the 16U and the 19U Little Caesars league, another top competitor, where her team was runner up in the national championships (16U) and national champions in 2022 for the 19U team. Kirsten represented Team USA in the Women’s World Championships in 2020 (gold medal), 2022 (silver medal), 2023, 2024 (silver medal) and 2025 (gold medal).
As a player for the University of Wisconsin women’s hockey team, she scored the game-tying and game-winning goals in the national championship game (2024/25 season), and she scored the game-winning goal in the national championship game in the 2022/23 season.
Now, she can add a gold medal winner to her impressive resume.
