Casper “pumped” to curl at home
Curling in a shopping mall? It’s certainly not something you see or experience every day.
But that’s what athletes and coaches will experience this week at the 2024 USA Curling Men’s and Women’s National Championships, as they rock ’n roll inside the American Dream’s retail center in East Rutherford, NJ.
Described as a “large retail and entertainment complex,” the American Dream will be home to the nation’s most elite curlers this week as they chasea national titles and the opportunity to compete as Team USA at the upcoming women’s and men’s world championships this spring.
Athletes have hit the ice for practice with the first women’s draw set to get underway tonight at 7:00 p.m. (ET). So far, the first impressions have been positive.
“Seeing the rink for the first time was very exciting!” skip Danny Casper said. “The months leading up to this, there was a lot of skepticism about what to expect but seeing it in person and the great set up changed all of that.”
Casper grew up in Briarcliff Manor, NY and curled out of the Ardsley Curling Club, which is located less than 30 miles from the American Dream. His team is currently ranked No. 22 in the world and is one of the favorites on the men’s side.
Now residing in the Twin Cities, Casper is excited to compete at home before a lot of family and friends from the local NY-NJ area this week with the first men’s draw set for Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m. (ET).
“I’m so pumped to curl at home,” Casper added. “There haven’t been many opportunities for friends and family to watch me in person so I’m excited to show everyone what I’ve been working on. And luckily there will be a lot of people coming.”
USA Curling CEO Dean Gemmell himself is a longtime native of New Jersey, and he’s enthusiastic about holding the Nationals on the East Coast for the first time since 2016 when Jacksonville, Fla., played host.
“The rink and the mall setting offers us a great opportunity to reach more casual fans, while being in the country’s largest media market provides terrific exposure for our elite players,” Gemmell said in a news release last week.
Out of the eight teams competing on the women’s side, it’s expected to be a two-horse race between a pair of teams ranked in the top 15 in the world.
Skip Tabitha Peterson is a two-time Olympian and the defending U.S. champion with a squad loaded in experience in sister and lead Tara Peterson, second Becca Hamilton and third Cory Thiesse. They are currently ranked No. 12 in the world, thanks to a semifinal finish at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard in September and a quarterfinal spot at the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic in October.
The foursome just missed out on qualifying for their first playoff spot this season at a Grand Slam of Curling event when they dropped a 5-3 tiebreaker to Jennifer Jones at the Co-Op Canadian Open less than 10 days ago.
Delaney Strouse’s teams has been one of the busiest on tour all season. And it’s paid off in a big way for the young skip and her squad, as they’ve vaulted up to No. 15 in the world.
In their first event of the 2023-24 campaign, Strouse and her team (Anne O’Hara, Sydney Mullaney, Rebecca Rodgers and alternate Susan Dudt) captured the Euro Super Series in Scotland. Their success continued into September when they won the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic in Winnipeg, earning an invitation into their first-ever Tier 1 Grand Slam of Curling event (the KIOTI National in November).
Despite going 0-4 in the recent Canadian Open, Team Strouse was one of nine teams to finish the WFG Masters round robin at 2-2 overall, advancing to a tiebreaker where they fell 7-2 to Sweden’s Team Hasselborg.
On the men’s side, three teams are expected to contend for the opportunity to become Team USA led by five-time Olympian John Shuster.
Shuster, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist, has skipped six U.S. national championship rinks including three out of the last four titles with third Chris Plys, second Matt Hamilton, lead John Landsteiner and versatile alternate Colin Hufman.
Shuster and company have tallied a pair of second-place finishes this season, most recently last week at Arizona’s Ed Werenich Golden Wrench Classic along with an outstanding run in a loaded field at the Penticton Curling Classic in December. Back in September, they advanced to the semifinals of the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard where they dropped a 5-1 decision to eventual champion Team Mouat.
Skip Korey Dropkin, who captured his first U.S. title as a skip in 2021, is currently the world’s highest-ranked U.S. men’s team at No. 15 overall. Team Dropkin advanced to the semifinals of the Euro Super Series and the Western Showdown and fell 6-3 in the final of the Curve U.S. Open of Curling to Team Casper.
And then there’s the Casper squad, which has capitalized on all of the momentum they created during their 2022-23 season. They won silver at the FISU World University Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. and then a few weeks later finished second to Team Shuster at the 2023 U.S. Nationals in Denver.
Casper’s crew (with Luc Violette, Ben Richardson and Chase Sinnett) became only the second U.S. men’s team to win a Slam event when they captured the Tour Challenge (Tier 2) title in October. In addition to the U.S. Open this past fall, they also took home the St. Paul Cashspiel title.
While Team Casper mostly recently went 1-3 at the Canadian Open, which included an exciting finish to knock off Kevin Koe’s Canadans for their lone win in Red Deer, Casper likes their chances and is excited to chase their first U.S. national championship this week.
“The team feels great,” Casper said. “We do a great job of enjoying the moment and having fun, although this event should bring a lot of pressure. We are excited to just enjoy it!”
Every game of the 2024 U.S. Nationals will be streamed live online via CurlingZone’s Curling Stadium. 2018 Olympic champion Tyler George providing color commentary with New York Rangers public address announcer Joe Tolleson handling play-by-play duties.