A Close-to-Home Curling Championship

John Shuster has seen his name affixed to the USA men’s national championship for nearly a decade now.

It’s an annual thing.

It’s also been a frustrating fact of life for the rest of the curlers in the field. Team Shuster has won every national championship they’ve competed in since 2017—including last year’s “stunning comeback” at the American Dream shopping mall in New Jersey—just as they’ve done at the last four Olympic Trials.

Now they’ll compete in front of a home crowd in Duluth for the 2025 USA Curling National Championships, which start on Monday, Jan. 27.

This will be the first time the championship has been held in Minnesota since 2008, and the first in Duluth since 1999.

Getting to compete in front of friends and family is certainly not lost on the squad members—particular Shuster, third Chris Plys and rotating lead John Landsteiner.

“It will be so fun to have the energy of the home crowd,” noted Shuster.

Plys added: “I won my first junior title as a skip in Duluth back in 2006, and I grew up going to University of Minnesota-Duluth hockey games in the arena we are going to be playing in.

“That’s pretty awesome for me.”

The five-player team also includes Wisconsin native Matt Hamilton and Alaskan Colin Hufman.

The championships will be hosted at DECC Arena within the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. It’s literally a two-minute walk—a covered “Skywalk”—from the storied Duluth Curling Club, the home base of Team Shuster (and Team Benson).

These nationals will be an important testing ground, considering the impending four-player Olympic Trials coming up in less than a year in Sioux Falls, S.D.

The top three teams for those Trials are already known, with Shuster and rival skips Korey Dropkin and Daniel Casper all having locked in their spots.

While the final Trials competitor is yet to be determined, all eyes will turn to Duluth as a preview of what’s to come in November (USA Curling recently announced the return of NBC).

For Shuster and Co., it’s an opportunity to compete at the highest level while also putting their team systems to the test.

“We don't get that many cracks at true championship formats during the year,” shared Plys. “We use it as a way to focus on our systems and really take advantage of the opportunity to play on the championship ice conditions.”

Based on history, it’s hard to bet against Shuster at a national championship, but they’ll still have their hands full at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center. The team is 5-2 against opponents in the field so far this season, with the two losses coming to Dropkin and North Dakota’s Tim Hodek.

Shuster noted how much all the teams in the field have been playing so far this season, saying, “It’s going to be a tough test to win the championship.”

While their focus is winning the title, playing in Duluth offers an important moment to reflect on the past for the curlers who hail from the area.

Shuster grew up on the Iron Range of northern Minnesota, and as a youngster throwing rocks at Chisholm and Hibbing Curling Clubs, he was very familiar with Hibbing’s Bruce Roberts rink. 

Team Roberts remains the only American foursome to win a world championship on home soil—in 1976—and they did it at the same building where this year’s nationals are hosted.

The opportunity to compete in the same venue, with so much shared history, is something the 2018 Olympic gold medalist—a very determined man, if you haven’t heard—does not take for granted.

“I have always looked up to (the Roberts) team and have been fortunate to have many conversations with them throughout the years,” said Shuster.

“I imagine at the start of the first game I will have a brief moment to myself to take it in. 

“I carry my place in the history of USA Curling with tremendous honor and am always humbled to be mentioned with them, and so many of the great curlers in our history.”

Though John grew up a little ways northwest of Duluth, Chris Plys is a native son of the host city. After the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, Chris indicated this Olympic cycle would be his last.

When asked if he still feels the same way, Chris indicated he’s still leaning towards stepping away after the current quadrennial.

“I want to make the most of what this quad offers us, and if this is it, be able to be proud of what has been an experience of a lifetime,” said Plys.

“I’d never say never, but there are certainly other things in life that I'd love to do outside of curling and I’d hate to look back one day and regret not taking the time for those things as well.”

With his competitive career likely winding down, competing in a national championship at home is something he holds close.

“Duluth truly is one of my favorite places in the whole world,” declared Plys. “Getting to play in front of a ton of people that have had an impact on my life in some way, shape, or form is going to be very special.”

The 2025 Duluth Nats will provide an important look ahead to the next Olympic year for USA Curling, but undoubtedly it will also be an indelible experience for local sons John Shuster and Chris Plys to look back on.