The U.S. men’s curling team’s quest for a second straight gold medal is still alive.
John Shuster and Team USA snuck past Denmark 7-5 in their final round-robin match on Thursday in Beijing, which officially pushed them into the final playoff spot into the quarterfinals.
Team USA was just 4-4 in round robin play headed into Thursday’s match, and needed a win to advance. On paper, their chances to pull that off looked great. Denmark was just 1-7 in the Olympics before Thursday’s match, and had scored the fewest points at the Winter Olympics.
Thursday’s battle with Denmark, however, was much closer than many expected.
Denmark jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead, though the Americans flipped that with a massive fourth end that added three points — which gave them a 5-2 lead.
They then pushed that to a 6-3 in the seventh and then picked up another. Though they gave up a pair of points to Denmark in the ninth, Shuster closed out the final end to give the United States the win and get them back into the semifinals.
Though a 5-4 pool play record isn’t great, it is the same record the Americans had four years ago when they won a gold medal in PyeongChang.
With the win, Team USA will now take on top-seeded Great Britain in the semifinals later on Thursday night.
