USA Curling Stream Show

After a rocky start, USA Curling delivered on the promise to livestream every game on every sheet at the USA Nationals in Denver.

Technical glitches made for a difficult first day, but the Curling Stadium setup soon produced reliable coverage from all games. All sheets offered ambient sound, while one sheet was “featured” with player microphones and colour commentary.

2018 Olympic champion Tyler George was the main analyst on the mic, while a rotating series of guest commentators joined him through the week.

On the ice, the historically top-ranked men’s and women’s squads did the business, coming away with yet more national crowns.

This despite the sight of two younger teams battling their way to the top of the standings as the round robin neared its conclusion.

John Shuster of Duluth, MN defeated nearby Chaska’s Daniel Casper by an 8-3 count for his eighth national title, and sixth at skip position. He and teammates Chris Plys, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner and alternate Colin Hufman scored a deuce in the first end and stole the fourth to lead 3-0, and added another pair to jump to a 6-1 lead.

It’s the third title for Plys, and the fourth for longtime Shuster mates Hamilton and Landsteiner.

The squad will represent the United States at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Ottawa on April 1-9.

Shuster beat first-place Casper (with Luc Violette, Ben Richardson and Chase Sinnett) 8-5 in the Page 1 versus 2 playoff, whereupon Casper topped Korey Dropkin’s Duluth team 8-5 in the semifinal. Philadelphia’s Scott Dunnam finished fourth after a 14-5 drubbing from Dropkin in the 3 versus 4 playoff match.

On the women’s side, Chaska’s Tabitha Peterson ran out to an undefeated overall record with an 8-5 championship win over Team Delaney Strouse.

Peterson (with Cory Thiesse, Becca Hamilton and Tara Peterson) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead only to see the young World University games bronze medalists claw back to tie the score 4-4 after six ends.

With the scored tied 5-5 in the ninth end, Peterson made a brilliant angle runback to score three and send her team on to victory.

Strouse, who was backed by Anne O’Hara, Sydney Mullaney, Rebecca Rodgers and alternate Susan Dudt, defeated clubmate Sarah Anderson 9-4 in the semifinal.

Peterson had scored four in the 10th end of a wild first playoff match to defeat Strouse 11-10. Anderson had eliminated Chaska’s Madison Bear 8-6 in the other playoff.

Team Peterson now represents the United States at the world women’s championship in Sandviken, Sweden from March 18-26.