BEIJING — A rough Sunday morning for Team Shuster put the United States rink at 2-3 and in need of a turnaround to get back into contention at the Olympic men's curling tournament.
The Americans got beat 10-5 by Canada. The rink of 2006 Olympic champion Brad Gushue scored a steal of four points in the second end for a big 5-0 early lead, which grew to 7-1 at the fifth-end break. Team USA cut the deficit in half with three in the sixth end, but never got closer and conceded the match after Canada scored two in the ninth end.
In a match played Saturday afternoon (just after midnight Duluth time), skip John Shuster had a shot at the end of the 10th and final end against Norway that could have netted his team anywhere from zero to three points. The Americans were down 7-5 at the time, and when the granite settled, they counted just one and a second loss for the tournament, 7-6.
At 2-3, Shuster's rink is in the same position through five games as it was when it won the gold medal, but is tied for seventh in the 10-team standings. Three of their final four games, starting Sunday morning Duluth time vs. China, are against teams even with or behind them in the standings.
- The United States women's team suffered its first loss of the tournament, 10-5 to Great Britain on Saturday night (Saturday morning Duluth time).
Tabitha Peterson's rink is tied for second in the standings going into a Sunday afternoon (Sunday overnight) meeting with Sweden.
