Whirlwind tour for U.S. Cinderella team

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This article was published 14/03/2018 (2992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

John Shuster’s done the talk-show circuit — sharing his tale of triumph with the likes of Jimmy Fallon and the Today Show gang — rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange and dropped the ceremonial puck at an outdoor NHL game between Toronto and Washington.

Right now, all he wants to do is curl.

The U.S. Olympic hero gets the chance to do what he does best — makeup for the cameras not required — when his foursome from Duluth, Minn., competes this week in the nationally televised Elite 10, the fifth event of the Grand Slam of Curling season.

“I’ve never actually looked forward more to just going and curling than this week,” Shuster said Wednesday, just before hopping into a vehicle and beginning the drive to Winnipeg.

“We’ve been tossing rocks just about every day since we’ve been home, which hasn’t been a lot. We’ve tried to ensure we’re going to be ready.”

The major cash bonspiel, featuring 10 of the world’s premier men’s teams, begins today at St. James Civic Centre and wraps up with the Sunday morning final.

The total purse is $100,000 and the survivor collects $20,000 and an invitation to the season-ending Champions Cup tournament.

The field includes Brad Gushue’s St. John’s, N.L., team, fresh off a successful defence of its Brier crown, Mike McEwen, Reid Carruthers and Jason Gunnlaugson, all of Winnipeg, Kevin Koe of Calgary, Ontario teams John Epping, Brad Jacobs and Glenn Howard, and Sweden’s Niklas Edin.

Grand Slam events use a skins format — where teams take an end by either posting a multiple score or stealing. Games are eight ends and a five-rock free guard is used to generate more offence.

Shuster’s squad has had a whirlwind few weeks since pulling off, perhaps, the ultimate shocker of the Pyeongchang Winter Games, defeating Edin 10-7 to capture the first-ever gold medal for the red, white and blue.

Shuster, third Tyler George, second Matt Hamilton and lead John Landsteiner didn’t just gain instant fame with their historic triumph, they also gave the sport it’s biggest boost back home.

By all accounts, the popularity of curling south of the border has been rising considerably.

“We’ve had so many unbelievable opportunities to showcase curling… even just going to the (Minnesota) Wild game (Tuesday) and getting in maybe 1,000 pictures with random fans. It’s been a lot of fun,” Shuster said.

“It’s really exciting to be part of, maybe, a giant spark to build curling in the United States. I hope that’s the case.

“We want to get kids out and really make curling relevant for the long term. We’re just riding this wave right now. We’re hearing about people dropping into curling clubs who want to just try it. My favourite thing I hear is people who were curlers at one point and hung up their brooms and, after watching the Olympics, grabbed that broom and want to get back into curling.”

Shuster’s squad won just two of its first six games at Gangneung Curling Centre, leaving it one defeat from elimination — and every bit resembling the team that, when the four-year Olympic cycle began, wasn’t even invited to USA Curling’s high-performance program in 2015.

Disappointments at the two previous Winter games — a 10th-place finish at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and a ninth four years later in Sochi — had damaged the squad’s reputation as a legitimate choice to represent the flag, even though Shuster had won bronze in Turin in 2006.

And yet somehow, Team Rejects — as they aptly called themselves — won its final three round-robin games to sneak into the playoffs, upended Canada’s Kevin Koe in a semifinal and swept past Edin to grab gold.

“Even at 2-4, I don’t think we were having a problem with confidence. We really just recommitted that night that we were going to enjoy being on the ice at the Olympics,” he said.

“We put a ton of work into getting there, without really worrying about the results and I think we finally allowed ourselves to let the work we did just do its thing.

“We kept repeating we had to be the best versions of ourselves, the best version of us as teammates. We really embraced that (mantra) the last five games.”

Fans heading to the Ness Avenue arena this week will, indeed, get a chance to see the gold medal, Shuster said.

“It’s in my curling bag and I have a feeling that while we’re in Winnipeg it’s probably going to be in my pocket because we love sharing it with people,” he said. “We’ve shown them to a lot of people since we were on the podium and it’s an opportunity we look forward to, putting it around their necks. We hope it inspires people.

“For me, the most meaningful people to put the medal on are curlers or kids. They definitely get to wear that thing. I always look forward to sharing it with them.”

Rick Patzke, chief executive officer of USA Curling, said there hasn’t been enough time to track the number of potential new curlers, or the formation of new clubs, since the Shuster gang’s remarkable victory.

But it’s definitely generated a buzz.

“In terms of what a gold medal can do, its probably more of instrinsic value for us in terms of the growing interest in the sport, inspiring some kids who want to be the next John Shuster or Becca Hamilton (sister of Matt Hamilton and member of the U.S. women’s team in Pyeongchang),” Patzke said.

“It also helps our organization furthering conversations with existing sponsors and potential new sponsors of our sport.”

Currently, there are about 24,000 curlers from 180 clubs across 45 states, but clubs are being added regularly, the latest just days ago in Olive Branch, Miss., he said. Existing clubs are welcoming a lot of curious people who just want to give curling a try.

“In San Francisco, they had 1,500 people show up for their open house and they’ve filled up their league spots for next year,” Patzke said. “They’re using a multi-use arena, but they’re going to be building a dedicated facility. That, more than anything, will help, when clubs transition to their own dedicated rinks.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @WFPJasonBell