Standings:
www.usacurl.org
#curlingnationals
MEN:
John Shuster (Superior, Wis.)
8-0Q1
Brady Clark (Lynnwood, Wash.)
6-2Q
Todd Birr(Mankato, Minn.)
6-2Q
Pete Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.)
5-3
Craig Brown (Madison, Wis.)
4-4
Alex Leichter (Boston, Mass.)
4-4
Heath McCormick (Sarnia, Ontario) 3-5
Hunter Clawson (Clarksville, Md.)
2-6
Darryl Sobering (Broomfield, Colo.) 1-7
Stephen Dropkin (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1-7
WOMEN:
Cassie Potter (St. Paul, Minn.)
5-1
Jamie Sinclair (St. Paul, Minn.)
5-1
Cory Christensen (Duluth, Minn.)
4-2
Nina Roth (McFarland, Wis.)
4-2
Cora Farrell (Fairbanks, Alaska)
3-3
Jessica Schultz (Richfield, Minn.)
2-4
Cristin Clark (Lynnwood, Wash.)
1-5
Becca Wood (Parker, Colo.)
0-6
Q=Qualified to playoffs
Q1=No. 1 Page playoff seed
9 a.m. Men’s Draw 7 scores:
Fenson 7, Clawson 4
Leichter 7, Dropkin 6
Shuster 8, Sobering 5
Clark 7, McCormick 6
Birr 8, Brown 5
2 p.m., Women’s Draw 6 scores:
Schultz 9, Wood 5
Roth 9, Clark 2
Sinclair 8, Potter 2
Bear 9, Christensen 7 (extra end)
7 p.m., Men’s Draw 8 scores:
Birr 9, Sobering 1
Shuster 8, Clark 3
Leichter 5, Brown 3
Clawson 8, Dropkin 6
Fenson 9, McCormick 3
Upcoming games: Thursday
8 a.m. Women’s Draw 7:
Sinclair v. Clark
Schultz v. Christensen
Roth v. Potter
Wood v. Bear
12 p.m. Men’s Draw 9:
Dropkin v. McCormick
Brown v. Sobering
Fenson v. Clark
Birr v. Shuster
Leichter v. Clawson
4 p.m. Women’s Page Playoffs
8 p.m. Men’s Page Playoffs
Social media for the event: @usacurl &
@curlingseattle on Twitter
@2017curlingnationals on Instagram.
Hashtag: #curlingnationals
4
)) usacurl.org
Daily Pebble
The
The official publication of the 2017 USA Curling National Championships
Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017
PLAYOFF BOUND!
The Todd Birr rink (above) and Brady Clark’s team (below) have joined John Shuster’s team in the Page playoffs of the 2017 USA Curling National Championships at XFINITY
Arena. One more men’s berth is available.
Photos by Rich Harmer, Daily Pebble Chief Photographer
T
By Terry L. Davis, Daily Editor
wo more men’s teams have punched their
tickets to the Page playoffs at the 2017
USA Curling National Championships.
Defending champion Brady Clark (Lynnwood,
Wash.) and 2007 champion Todd Birr (Blaine,
Minn.) are 6-2 behind John Shuster’s team at 8-0
with one game remaining in the round robin at
XFINITY Arena of Everett.
Birr and teammates Rich Ruohonen (Brooklyn
Park, Minn.), John Benton (St. Michael, Minn.),
and Tom O’Connor (Brooklyn Center, Minn.)
defeated Darryl Sobering’s team, 9-1, to advance
to tonight’s playoffs. Despite an 8-3 loss to
Shuster, Clark’s team secured a playoff berth when
Brown’s team lost to Alex Leichter, 5-3. Olympian
Pete Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) took down Heath
McCormick’s rink, 9-3, to eliminate McCormick’s
team from playoff contention and from their
opportunity to represent the U.S. at the upcoming
world championship in Edmonton.
Fenson’s team is now 5-3 and can clinch the final
playoff spot with a win over Clark tomorrow as the
round robin concludes.
The Page playoffs will get underway at 8
p.m. PT today. At 8-0, Shuster and his team of
Tyler George (Duluth, Minn.), Matt Hamilton
(McFarland, Wis.), John Landsteiner (Duluth,
Minn.), and Joe Polo (Duluth, Minn.) have locked
down the No. 1 playoff seed. Shuster will take
on the No. 2 seed with the winner moving on to
Saturday’s gold-medal game. The No. 3 and No.
4 seeds will battle with the winner advancing to
Friday night’s semifinal to take on the losing team
of the Page 1-2 game to determine the other finalist.
The three teams advancing to the women’s
playoffs of the 2017 USA Curling National
Championships will have to wait one more day
to be determined after Wednesday afternoon’s
results.
Jamie Sinclair’s team picked up a key win as
they handed Cassie Potter’s rink its first loss
of the championship. Sinclair and teammates
Alex Carlson (St. Paul, Minn.), Vicky Persinger
(Fairbanks, Alaska), and Monica Walker (St. Paul,
Minn.) shot 85 percent in earning the 8-2 victory
over Potter’s team.
“We knew that it was an important one and
were feeling the pressure of it, but thankfully we
came off a really good win yesterday and had
some really good momentum going into this one
and we came out firing,” Sinclair said.
Potter, who won the national title in 2005, and
teammates Jackie Lemke (Medford, Wis.), and
Sophie Bader (St. Louis Park, Minn.) had to play
without lead Stephanie Sambor (White Bear Lake,
Minn.), who was suffering from a migraine.
“We’ve experienced playing against them before
when they’re only three-handed and they’re quite
Continued on Page 2
The Importance of Being Lead
World Championships,
Olympic Trials await
A
By Terry Davis, Daily Pebble Editor
fter all the rocks have been thrown, attention will turn from Everett to Beijing,
Edmonton, and Omaha as the World
Championships and Olympic Trials are the next
big stages for USA Curling’s athletes.
A season-long points chase will culminate
on Saturday when all the numbers are tallied to
determine which teams will move on to represent
the U.S. at the 2017 World Women’s Championship March 17-25 in Beijing, China, and 2017 Ford
World Men’s Championship April 1-9 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. If the U.S. teams place fifth
or better at their respective world championships, they will earn spots in this fall’s 2018 U.S.
Olympic Team Trials for Curling, Nov. 11-18, at
Baxter Arena in Omaha where Team USA will be
determined for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games
in South Korea.
Mixed doubles is set to debut as an Olympic
sport one year from now and the U.S. is very
close to securing a berth, which are determined
based on qualification points earned at the 2016
and 2017 World Mixed Doubles championships.
The 2017 USA Curling Mixed Doubles National
The Daily Pebble
Editor: Terry L. Davis
Assistant Editor: Amelia Young
Photography: Rich Harmer
Writers: Price Atkinson, Terry
Davis
Story ideas? Email the editor,
[email protected]
Championship March 1-5 at the Four Seasons Curling
Club in Blaine, Minn. The winner will represent the U.S.
at the World Mixed Doubles Championship April 22-29 in
Lethbridge, Alberta, while the top five teams at the Mixed
Doubles Nationals will earn berths to the 2018 U.S. Olympic Mixed Doubles Team Trials in December. n
Jason Smith of Team Brown (above) is qualified to compete
in the upcoming Mixed Doubles National Championship
next month with Monica Walker of Team Roth. Smith won
the national mixed doubles title in 2016 with Jessica Schultz
of Team Schultz.
From Page 1: Playoff field taking shape
good so we knew that wasn’t an advantage for us at all
and that they’d come out playing well,” Sinclair said.
Team Sinclair broke open the game in the seventh end
by scoring four points, and then stole two points to put
the game away. “We got a little lucky in that a few misses
gave us some good opportunities, and I think that’s the
only reason the score is the way that it was,” Sinclair said.
“It was a really good battle and it felt good to pull out the
win.”
Nina Roth’s team earned a big win as well as they
defeated the Cristin Clark rink, 9-2. “We’re definitely in a
must-win situation but we’ve been in those situations all
season long and we’ve learned how to persevere so we’re
going to be just fine,” Roth said after the win.
Sinclair and Potter are now tied for first place with
5-1 records. Roth is tied for third place with Cory
Christensen’s team, which lost in an extra end to Cora
Farrell’s rink, 9-7. Two-time Olympian Jessica Schultz
(Richfield, Minn.) led her team to its second win of the
championship as they took down Becca Wood’s rink, 9-5.
With just three playoff berths available, today’s round
robin finale should determine how the playoff field
shakes out. If needed, tiebreaker games would be played
Thursday afternoon and shift the playoff game to Friday
morning. n
TWEET OF THE DAY
Printing courtesy of Pacific Copy
& Printing Company
www.usacurl.org
2
)) usacurl.org
@suecassidy
Becca Hamilton (left, with Aileen Geving of Team Roth), Andy Dunnam of Team Clawson, and Tom O’Connor of Team Birr (below) are just three of the athletes playing in the
very important role of team lead.
N
By Price Atkinson, Daily Pebble Writer
o guts. No glory.
Tell that to a lead in curling and they’re
likely to wink or laugh because guts isn’t
the issue. It’s the glory thing.
Much like an offensive lineman in football, a lead is
focused on doing the team’s dirty work up front versus being the one to carry the ball across the goaline.
They’re dialed in on precision and sweeping versus
the spotlight of game-winning touchdown or making
a runback double on the last rock for a comeback win.
Does it bother most leads they’re often the forgotten man or woman?
“It used to more than it does now,” said John
Landsteiner, a 2014 Olympian who plays lead for
Team John Shuster. “But, it’s all about good sweeping,
right?”
Good sweeping is critical, while poor rock placement from a team’s lead can totally change the way an
entire end is played.
“You get to set everything up and kind of dictate
what’s going to happen in the end,” Landsteiner said.
“And sometimes your shots end up not mattering at
all. For the most part if you put up two good ones
right away, the end is completely different.
After a lead’s two rocks are thrown, they’re next
job is locked in on sweeping their team’s next six
stones of an end. That’s when it’s all about the broom.
Overworked and underpaid?
“I’m just doing my job,” Rebecca Hamilton said
laughing with a big smile.
NATIONAL CHAMPION LEADS
IN THIS YEAR’S FIELD:
• John Landsteiner, Team Shuster, 2015
• Becca Hamilton, Team Roth, 2014
• Philip Tilker, Team Clark, 2016 & 2013
* other athletes in the field have won in the
lead position as well. This list just includes
those currently playing the lead position at the
2017 Nationals.
Playing lead for Nina Roth’s rink, Hamilton would
know. She’s curled in all four positions, including skip
several years in Juniors.
Andy Dunnam is the lead for Hunter Clawson’s rink
and said it comes with the territory.
“It’s fine not being appreciated too much and flying
under the radar a little bit,” Dunnam said. “But they can’t
really win you the games. They can only really lose games
for the team. You have a lot of shots where you have to
put it top four or have to make the guard. If it slips into
the rings, then the end is over already and you can’t let
your teammates shine.”
Is it fair that a lead often appears to take the brunt of
criticism or ire from their skip after a bad end?
“Not exactly on my team,” Hamilton said. “I’m pretty
light-hearted and fun. I make jokes a lot so my team
looks to me to kinda lighten the mood I guess.”
Unlike Hamilton, Dunnam said his three teammates
can pile on. But only every now and then.
“At times. There’s just more pressure on them,”
Dunnam said. “Obviously, we do make mistakes
and undersweep some rocks. It happens when
you’re sweeping six of the eight rocks, so I’m going
to make some mistakes eventually. You’ve just got
to move on.”
One of the smaller drawbacks of the position is
when it comes to air time.
Playing on TV in the Olympics and currently on
NBCSN’s Friday night “Curling Night in America”
series, Landsteiner said it used to bug him when
commercials cut off his first-two rocks of an end.
Now he’s used to it.
Hamilton said it definitely comes with the territory. “I played second the past two years and lead
now so I’m not expecting to see my mug on TV too
much.” n