It all goes down in New Jersey
Korey Dropkin did something nobody has been able to do all week— give John Shuster the taste of defeat.
Now he has to do it again.
Team Dropkin will meet arch-rivals and Duluth, Minn. clubmates Team Shuster in Sunday’s men’s final of the U.S. National Championships (4:00 p.m. ET) just a few hours after Team Sarah Anderson locks horns with defending champions Team Tabitha Peterson in the women’s final (12:00 noon ET).
Shuster was undefeated going into Saturday’s 1 vs 2 page playoff at the American Dream in East Rutherford, N.J. and led Dropkin 2-1 in a grind-it-out affair through four ends. But skip Dropkin was ready to atone for a 8-5 loss to Shuster on the previous night to close out the round robin.
And Dropkin knew he’d need to come up big to knockoff the defending champs. He drilled a short runback for three during a pivotal fifth end, which turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead at the break.
“My gut told me to take the shot, and the team was supportive of taking the risk,” Dropkin said of the critical end. “When you’re playing against a team as talented as Shuster’s, you might only get one opportunity to score a big end like that.”
Confident with the call from the start, Dropkin opted to play a short runback for three and he drilled it. Sweepers Thomas Howell and Mark Fenner along with vice skip Andrew Stopera all raised their fists in the air to salute their skip as they knew momentum and the game had fully shifted in their favor.
“I’ll tell ya what, when that runback connected … it was such an electric moment,” Dropkin added. “Our big focus was enjoying the moment and doing our best to make the next shot.”
Shuster blanked the sixth end but facing three counters in the seventh, his draw was light and Dropkin stole another three points. From that point on, Dropkin shifted into cruise control the rest of the way en route to a 9-5 win and booking their spot into Sunday’s men’s final.
“We’re just relaxing now,” Dropkin said. “Getting in some recovery and enjoying good food. Making sure we each do what we need to be the best versions of ourselves (Sunday).”
The loss dropped Shuster into the semifinals, where he scored a 7-5 victory over Daniel Casper’s foursome. And the rematch with Dropkin awaits.
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Team Casper, last year’s finalists, had defeated Wesley Wendling 11-6 in the page 3 vs 4 playoff and finish the 2024 championship in third place.
Dropkin has been in this position before. His squad needed just one win over two matches against Shuster to claim the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials men’s berth—but Shuster scored dual playoff victories of 7-3 and 5-4 to qualify for Beijing 2022. The playoff side of the women’s field also took shape on Saturday.
Tabitha Peterson’s team had only one blemish on their record this week, which came on the first day of competition. After losing to Sarah Anderson 10-5 on Monday evening the defending national champions have been perfect.
And that included a 7-4 win over top-seed Anderson in Saturday’s 1 vs 2 page playoff game.
In the first rematch with Anderson, Team Peterson stole three straight points over the first four ends, which proved to be the difference in the semifinals.
“We were really happy with how we played today, this is exactly where we wanted to be at this point in the week,” third Cory Thiesse said. “We’re looking forward to having a good rest (tonight) and come out firing again (Sunday).”
After the loss to Anderson, Team Peterson has reeled off seven straight victories, which includes Saturday’s playoff win over Anderson. And the wins haven’t even been close—all seven have been by three or more points, including three by five or more.
Thiesse said it’s been a work in progress where they’ve gotten a better handle on the tricky ice inside The Rink at the American Dream shopping center.
“As the week has gone on we’ve been getting a lot more comfortable with the ice than we were at the beginning,” Thiesse said. “Tab is reading the ice great and we all have a really good feel for draw weight. We’re excited to keep building on the week we’ve had and have a great game in the final.”
Sure enough, Anderson made it through Saturday night’s semifinal round to make today’s final.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5OcDLUzkeI[/embed]
The Anderson crew knocked off Delaney Strouse’s Traverse, Mich. foursome by an 11-7 count.
Strouse had earlier stolen the last end of the page 3 vs 4 playoff to upend Miranda Scheel of Fargo, N.D. 10-9.
Both sold-out championship finals will be streamed live via CurlingZone’s YouTube channel.