WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS USA brings home the bronze
Medal secures 10 points for the U.S. toward
qualifying for the 2018 Olympic Games
By Terry L. Davis, Editor
medal victory as the U.S. defeated Japan, 8-6, at the 2016 World Men’s Curling Championship on April 10. Shuster and teammates Tyler George (Duluth,
A
Minn.), Matt Hamilton (McFarland, Wis.), John Landsteiner (Duluth, Minn.), and Kroy Nern- berger (Madison, Wis.) are the first world medal- ists for the U.S. men’s program since 2007. “It feels great. We worked the whole year to be
here in this moment. To bring a medal home for our country is something special,” Shuster said. “Our country has been working hard to make sure that we had the experience coming in here and be in position to win medals. I’m extreme- ly proud of how well our team functioned this week.” Te 8-6 victory over Japan’s Yusuke Moro-
zumi at St. Jakobshalle came on the final stone but not in the hands of the American team. Japan had a chance to win the bronze medal but was heavy with its final rock. Morozumi’s final deliv- ery ended up making contact with a U.S. stone in the top of the eight-foot, then spun over and into the U.S. stone that had been in second position, moving the American rock closer to the button to give the Americans the win. “It’s incredibly satisfying. It’s kind of a strange
way to end,” George said. “It’s a huge swing of emotions to thinking he has a shot for the win to hoping we get a chance at the extra to ‘Oh my God, we just won a bronze medal.’ It’s all swirling around in my head right now but getting better by the minute. It’s kind of the same way I felt aſter making the playoffs … times 100.” Te fourth-place finish is the highest mark for
the Japanese men’s program. “We did as well as we can,” said Kosuke Mo-
rozumi, lead for Team Japan. “We feel sad about our loss and also that we had a chance for two in
season of great accomplishments from John Shuster and the American men was punctuated with a bronze-
Team USA’s (l-r) John Shuster, Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner, Kroy Nernberger, and Coach Phill Drobnick brought home the first medal for the U.S. men’s program since 2007.
the last end. But it’s over … but our record here is good for Japanese curling and we will try to get back here next year again.” Te U.S. team took a comfortable lead early
in the game as Japan struggled with the ice but the Americans had to hold on tight to secure the medal. “Playing defense for eight ends is next to im-
possible with this ice and these caliber of teams. We were very fortunate to come away with a win,” Shuster said. Team USA finished with a final record of 10-4
– tying the U.S. record for most wins at a men’s world championship. (Te Americans finished 10-1 in 1976 en route to the gold medal.) “It’s a little bittersweet because we didn’t ac-
complish our ultimate goal,” Hamilton said. “It was a hard fought game, and we didn’t get any breaks aſter the first and second ends. Obviously, we got a little luck on that last one but we had put ourselves in a position to potentially win the game or force an extra end. We just got lucky, I guess.” Canada’s Kevin Koe rink went on to defeat
Denmark’s Rasmus Stjerne, 5-3, to win the gold medal. Te 2017 World Men's Championship will take place in Edmonton, Alberta. Q
Canada (Kevin Koe)
Denmark (Rasmus Stjerne) Japan (Yusuke Morozumi) USA (John Shuster)
Norway (Tomas Ulsrud) Sweden (Niklas Edin) Scotland (Tom Brewster) Finland (Aku Kauste)
Switzerland (Sven Michel) Russia (Alexey Tselousov) Korea (Soo-Hyuk Kim)
Page 1-2 playoff: *Canada Denmark
Page 3-4 playoff: *Japan USA
Semifinal: *Denmark USA
Gold-medal game: Denmark *Canada
*last rock in first end
Colin Campbell Sportsmanship Award recipient: Kosuke Morozumi, Japan
USA Curling (( 15
2016 World Men’s Championship Round robin standings: 10-1 8-3 8-3 8-3 7-4 6-5 5-6 5-6 4-7 2-9 2-9
Germany (Alexander Baumann) 1-10
101 000 300 x – 5 010 010 001 x – 3
011 001 001 0 – 4 100 000 030 1 – 5
203 030 01x x – 9 000 200 10x x – 3
Bronze-medal game: Japan *USA
002 020 200 0 – 6 310 101 010 1 – 8
002 001 000 x – 3 100 020 002 x – 5
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