Olympic curling: Men’s curling USA vs. Canada results and recap
The United States men’s curling squad took on Canada in one of the semifinal matches in the Olympic curling tournament Thursday morning.
Fresh off a major comeback in the round robin phase, the United States had a tall task in the semifinals as it drew a powerhouse Canadian team that finished second in the round robin. Canada had won the last three gold medals in curling coming into this Olympics. The USA had to win its last three matches just to make this portion of the tournament. To find itself in position to win a medal was incredible and the team was carrying some serious momentum into the match.
This match started out as a low-scoring affair and it would stay that way throughout. Each squad was only able to win one point each through the first three ends, but there was a difference in the USA. In previous matches, it didn’t always seem to be on the same page. The team would discuss shots over and over, with each member of the team thinking different things. Today found them as a more united front and the shots reflected that, even though the scoring wasn’t high. After all, Canada is certainly no pushover. End four continued the trend of a tight match with Canada only being able to score a single point to eke ahead, 2-1.
End five almost saw the match swing in a major way. The USA tied the game at 2-2 but came within inches of a monster score of four. Skip John Shuster barely missed knocking a Canadian stone out of play that would have given the USA four instead of one. As it was, tying the match certainly wasn’t a bad thing. The seventh end saw another blank but the eighth end was when the United States really put the pressure on Canada. It was able to swoop in and take two points from the Canadian squad to go up 4-2 with two critical ends left.
End nine saw Canada gaining a point to get the score to within one but they can’t help but feel they missed an opportunity. They had a shot to tie it but Canadian skip Kevin Koe just couldn’t quite pull off the shot. The decisive 10th end saw Canada put the pressure on the USA for the final throw. Shuster had to make one last shot to pull off one of the bigger upsets in Olympic curling history and he nailed it. The USA moves to the gold medal game on Saturday.
The United States curling team made history today as it has never done better than a bronze medal in the event. It’s now assured at least a silver and could walk away with its first gold ever. The USA is red-hot and is capable of beating the Sweden team that beat them 10-4 in the round robin. The United States has a lot to be proud of and there could be more to come.