In a round-robin game against Canada, the U.S. men’s curling team took a tough loss against the titans of the sport, losing 10-5 in nine ends.
Disaster struck in the second end for the Americans. Consecutive misses by Chris Plys and John Shuster had the Canadians lying four inside the house, with the U.S. only having the hammer left. Shuster’s last-ditch damage control attempt failed and gave Canada a massive steal of four points to go up 5-0.
The Canadians were in a position to steal again in the third end after Brad Gushue rolled his last stone to guard against the hammer. However, a takeout by Shuster finally got one point on the board for the Americans.
After playing it conservative with the hammer in the fourth end to gain a point, the Canadians got their second steal of the day to extend their lead to an insurmountable 7-1.
Because of the sizable margin, the two teams both made substitutions at the midpoint of the game. American Colin Hufman came in for Landsteiner while the Canadians put in Marc Kennedy for Brett Gallant.
Thanks to a takeout by Shuster and a biter on the edge of the house, the Americans did get three back in the sixth with Hufman as the lead. However, it was too little too late as the Canadians went on cruise control the rest of the game. Facing a five point deficit in the last end, the U.S. conceded following the ninth.
On their way to winning gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the U.S. beat Canada twice, including a 5-3 victory in the semifinals. Before then, Canada had won the last three Olympic golds.
The U.S. will have to regroup quickly for their game against China at 7:05 a.m. ET Sunday, while the Canadians wait until 1:05 a.m. ET on Monday to play the Italian team.