For the First Time, USA Men’s Curling is Golden

After trading points during the first seven ends, USA and Sweden entered End 8 knotted up 5-5. That’s when the momentum began to shift. The US got into position to make a powerful move, and using the final rock of the end, bumped both Swedish rocks out of the house, doubling their score to take a 10-5 lead with just two ends remaining. The crowd went wild, and smiles ran across the Americans’ faces, as the Swedes looked down, knowing defeat was almost inevitable. It was at this point that Team USA could truly feel it for the first time. They were about to be gold medalists.

To say that this gold medal victory was stunning would be a gross understatement. Stunning doesn’t begin to describe the path the Americans took to gold. After starting the PyeongChang Olympics 2-4, they went on a five game winning streak to victory, which included two wins over the top team in the world, Canada. To put it in perspective, no US curling team, men’s or women’s, had ever beaten Canada in the Olympics prior to 2018. These men had to do it twice. Their prize for beating Canada a second time was facing the second best team in the world, Sweden, for the gold. It capped off arguably the greatest run in the history of the sport.

This four man team lead by John Shuster, along with Tyler George, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner, and alternate Joe Polo, will go down in the history books. They defeated the odds and achieved what seemed to be the impossible to bring Olympic gold home to America for the first time.

Sweden was awarded the silver medal. Switzerland was able to pull of a stunning 7-5 defeat of Canada in the third place match to take home the bronze, leaving the Canadians off the podium. Follow along with MSB for continued coverage of the Olympics as PyeongChang’s games come to a close.

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Sam Smith

Sam has been with MSB since 2015. He covers stories ranging from all things Maryland to breaking national stories, specializing in the NFL, and college football and basketball. He currently resides in Dallas, Texas, where he attends Southern Methodist University (SMU).

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