Curling Discussion | Qualification to Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026

[clemsonbeav 453]

Last night, I had the privilege to see my first live curling matches.  The USA National Championships were just 1.5 hours away from where I live (not bad in a country the size of ours, and even more surprising since I live in an area where it rarely snows).  I got to visit the 'page final' (i.e. first playoff round), the highlight of which for me was Team Shuster vs. Team Stopera.  Team Stopera ended up winning by 1 point, but Shuster will be able to play one final match this morning to see if they can make it to the finals this afternoon (the winner of which will qualify to Worlds).  None of the current Olympians were there, having declined their spot in the tournament.

 

Got some free swag  

 

These people would yell 'Peel! Peel! Peel' whever someone would peel a stone.

 

Got to see the measuring instrument in action.

 

And yes, Matt Hamilton and Colin Hufman had sleeveless jerseys on.

Edited 15 hours ago by clemsonbeav

[clemsonbeav 453]

In the end, Team Shuster did pull out the W for the Men in the Finals.  His opponent, Team Stopera, is the one that Korey Dropkin led before exiting to compete in XD for MiCo.

 

And for the Women, Team (Delaney) Strouse won, taking out Team Cousins (who was the #1 seed).  I don't know much about her or her team.  Per Wikipedia, in 2022, she won Bronze in the World Juniors.  Will see both these teams at Worlds later this month!    Let's go  !

 

Here's a pic from the Strouse/Cousins Page Final 1v2 game:

 

A couple of other pics from last night:

 

(Tonight, Chris Plys joined the other two in having sleeveless jerseys.)

 

A zoomed-out pic of the coliseum where we were.  Fairly low attended, just about 200 people maybe.  (Same for tonight's final.)

Edited 3 hours ago by clemsonbeav

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