2014 OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES


Team USA included (front, l-r) John Shuster, Jeff Isaacson, Jared Zezel, John Landsteiner, (back, l-r) Coach Tim Muller, Craig Brown, and Coach Al Hackner.


Team USA included (front, l-r) Erika Brown, Debbie McCormick, Jessica Schultz, Ann Swisshelm, (back, l-r) Coach Derek Brown, Coach Bill Todhunter, and Allison Pottinger.


USA misses Olympic playoffs By Terry Kolesar, Editor


second straight Olympic Games. USA Men


I Led by three-time Olympian and 2006 bronze


medalist John Shuster (Duluth, Minn.), the U.S. men battled to secure a berth to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in December 2013 at the Olympic Qualification Event. Shuster and teammates Jeff Isaacson (Gilbert, Minn.), Jared Zezel (Hibbing, Minn.), John Landsteiner (Duluth, Minn.), and Craig Brown (Madison, Wis.) grabbed the final spot in the field for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. Having secured the last spot, Team USA came into the Games as an un- derdog with high hopes for making the podium. Much like in Vancouver four years earlier, the Americans lost several close games in the round robin and finished the week with a 2-7 record for ninth place. Sweden’s Niklas Edin rink earned the top


playoff seed aſter finishing the round robin with an 8-1 record. Te Swedes, however, would fall in the semifinals to Great Britain’s David Murdoch team, 6-5. Canada’s Brad Jacobs rink swept past China’s Rui Liu, 10-6, to earn the other spot in the gold-medal game. Canada would then domi- nate the championship final and defeat Great Britain, 9-3, to earn the country its third straight Olympic gold medal in men’s curling. Sweden


8 )) usacurl.org


t was not the Olympics that Team USA dreamed of in Sochi, Russia, as neither side advanced to the medal rounds for the


topped China, 6-4, to win the bronze medal. USA women


Te American ladies, led by three-time


Olympian Erika Brown (Madison, Wis.), came into the 2014 Olympic Winter Games ranked fiſth worldwide and had high expec- tations to make a run at an Olympic medal aſter a fourth-place finish at the 2013 World Women’s Championship. Te team was com- posed of seasoned curlers with lots of inter- national and Olympic experience. Brown and her team of four-time Olympian Deb- bie McCormick (Rio, Wis.), Jessica Schultz (Minneapolis, Minn.), Ann Swisshelm (Chi- cago), and Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.) never got the offense going in Sochi and only picked up one win in the round robin to finish 10th


. Canada’s Jennifer Jones rink made history


by becoming the first team to go through the competition undefeated as they finished the round robin with a 9-0 record and then stam- peded through the playoffs to bring home the gold medal. In the semifinals, Canada defeat- ed Great Britain’s Eve Muirhead, 6-4, while Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson outlasted Switzerland’s Mirjam Ott, 7-5. Canada went on to defeat the defending Olympic champi- ons from Sweden, 6-3, to win Canada’s first women’s Olympic gold medal in curling since 1998. Great Britain defeated Switzer- land, 6-5, to secure the bronze medal. n


Olympic Round Robin Standings, Women: Canada (Jennifer Jones)


Sweden (Margaretha Sigfridsson) Switzerland (Mirjam Ott) Great Britain (Eve Muirhead) Japan (Ayumi Ogasawara) Denmark (Lene Nielsen) China (Bingyu Wang) Korea (Ji-Sun Kim)


Russia (Anna Sidorova) USA (Erika Brown)


Semifinals: Great Britain 002 010 001 0 – 4 *Canada *Sweden


Switzerland


210 101 000 1 – 6 102 000 102 1 – 7 020 010 020 0 – 5


Bronze-medal game: Great Britain 001 020 020 1 – 6 *Switzerland


020 101 001 0 – 5


Gold-medal game: Sweden *Canada


010 020 000 x – 3 100 200 012 x – 6


*last rock in first end USA round robin game results:


Switzerland 7, USA 4 Russia 9, USA 7 Great Britain 12, USA 3 China 7, USA 4 USA 8, Japan 6 Denmark 9, USA 2 Sweden 7, USA 6 Canada 7, USA 6 (extra end) Korea 11, USA 2


9-0 7-2 5-4 5-4 4-5 4-5 4-5 3-6 3-6 1-8


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