Press Coverage

Pottinger wins women's title
February 18, 2012
(ASTON, Pa.) - Familiar faces will wear the red, white and blue at the upcoming World Championships as Team Allison Pottinger captured the gold medal today at the 2012 USA Curling National Championships at IceWorks Skating Complex.

"It's always fantastic but special this time," said Pottinger, who won her first national title as skip. "We all took the challenge and moved up a spot and brought Tab (Peterson) on the team. We knew we'd have to work at it and it's so great to get the payout and win. As a team, the girls were fantastic all day."

2010 Olympians Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Nicole Joraanstad (Verona, Wis.) and Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.) along with two-time U.S. junior champion Tabitha Peterson (Eagan, Minn.) will represent the U.S. at the 2012 World Championships next month in Lethbridge, Alberta, after defeating Team Cassie Potter, 7-5. "We're super excited. We love wearing USA on our backs and going to play and represent the U.S.," Joraanstad said.

Despite today's loss, Potter (St. Paul, Minn.) and teammates Jamie Haskell (White Bear Lake, Minn.), Jackie Lemke (Medford, Wis.) and Stephanie Sambor (Minot, N.D.) leave today with a berth in the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

"It feels really good to hang in there and prove that we can stick with the rest of them," said Potter, who represented Team USA with her sister Jamie at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games. "The playing field this week has been really even. A lot of junior teams are coming up, and it's not a matter of the top same two or three teams anymore. It's the top five or six, which is really good. I hope it keeps getting better."

This is the 10th national title for Pottinger, seventh for Joraanstad, eighth for Nicholson and first for Peterson. "It's pretty nuts; it's my first one so I can't describe it," said Peterson, 22, who won two U.S. junior titles and a world junior bronze medal in 2010.

To read the complete press release, click on the PDF below.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond18.pdf

Team McCormick captures men's title
February 18, 2012
(ASTON, Pa.) - Team USA will be represented by new faces on the men's side but they are familiar on the world scene as Heath McCormick's team captured the men's 2012 USA Curling National Championships title tonight.

Team McCormick dethroned Pete Fenson's national champions, 5-4, in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 1,300 fans at IceWorks Skating Complex.

"It's incredible. It's super exciting. It's just kinda setting in at the moment," said McCormick, 35, after the win. "Obviously for the last day I know that it was a possibility, but you have to tell yourself to stay in the moment even when it comes right down to it and not get too far ahead of yourself."

This was the second straight year a men's team has advanced through the national championships undefeated. This is the is the first U.S. men's title for McCormick (Sarnia, Ontario) and teammates Bill Stopera (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.), Martin Sather (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) and Dean Gemmell (Short Hills, N.J.). They will now represent the U.S. at the 2012 World Men's Championship March 31-April 8 in Basel, Switzerland.

"Pretty damn exciting; we've been close in the playoffs the last two years. We got a new skip, and he's a fantastic player," Gemmell said. "It's really exciting. None of us have ever represented the U.S. in a world event. That's exciting."

To read the complete press release, click on the PDF below.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond19.pdf

McCormick moves on to men's gold-medal match
February 17, 2012
(ASTON, Pa.) - Heath McCormick's rink punched its ticket to the gold-medal match with a decisive 5-4 win over defending champion Pete Fenson in the Page 1-2 playoff game today at the 2012 USA Curling National Championships at IceWorks Skating Complex.

Team McCormick won its 11th straight game of the week to remain undefeated and advance to the final for the first time. "We played a nice game. We played probably close to as well as we did all week," said McCormick, who was born in Michigan but moved to Ontario at a young age. "We had a lot of picked rocks in the game. You always feel like the game doesn't go in your favor when those things happen but they had a few too. Obviously, we couldn't have asked for a better result."

With the win, McCormick (Sarnia, Ontario) and teammates Bill Stopera (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.), Martin Sather (Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.) and Dean Gemmell (Short Hills, N.J.) also earn a berth in the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in November 2013. "It was in the back of our minds, but we're here for this and that's all that is important right now," McCormick said about earning the berth.

Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) and his team of Shawn Rojeski (Chisholm, Minn.), Joe Polo (Duluth, Minn.) and Ryan Brunt (Bemidji, Minn.) struggled in the 10th end but will get a second chance to get to the gold medal in tonight's semifinal match against John Shuster's team, which won the Page Playoff 3-4 game over two-time U.S. champion Craig Brown, 7-5.

To read the complete press release, click on the PDF below.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond15.pdf

Potter outlasts Sormunen to move on to final
February 17, 2012
(ASTON, Pa.) - 2006 Olympian Cassie Potter returns to the gold-medal game at the 2012 USA Curling National Championships after defeating fellow Minnesotan Aileen Sormunen, 11-9, in a wild finish in the women's semifinal tonight at IceWorks Skating Complex.

After jumping out to a 9-2 lead after five ends, Potter's team looked to have the victory in hand. But Sormunen's team started their comeback that included a quad runback to force Potter to make her final shot - an angled hit and roll for the win. This is Potter's first time in the gold-medal game since 2007. She won the national title in 2005, which also was the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.

"There were some tough shots at the end but that's the way curling goes ... you have a lot of rocks in play and a lot of options. It just worked out that we had a shot at the end there so luckily we were able to pull it out," Potter said. Please visit USA Curling's 2012 Nationals YouTube Channel to view the highlights of the final two shots. http://www.youtube.com/user/PhillyCurling2012/featured.

With the win, Potter (St. Paul, Minn.) and teammates Jamie Haskell (White Bear Lake, Minn.), Jackie Lemke (Medford, Wis.) and Stephanie Sambor (Minot, N.D.) move on to the gold medal game for a re-match with Allison Pottinger's team. Pottinger defeated Potter last night in the Page Playoff 1-2 game, 6-4. Earlier in the week, Potter's team defeated Pottinger, 7-6, in the round robin. Both Potter and Pottinger have now secured spots in the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling Nov. 13-16, 2013.

To read the complete press release, click on the PDF below.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond16.pdf

Fenson joins McCormick in men's final
February 17, 2012
USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond17.pdf

Brown clinches men's playoff berth
February 16, 2012
(ASTON, Pa.) - With the final game remaining in the round robin, one men's playoff spot is still up for grabs at the 2012 USA Curling National Championships at IceWorks Skating Complex.

Craig Brown's team earned the third available playoff spot with a 10-5 win over John Shuster's rink. With the win, Brown (Madison, Wis.) and teammates Kroy Nernberger (Madison, Wis.), Matt Hamilton (McFarland, Wis.) and Derrick Casper (De Pere, Wis.) improve to 6-3 and clinch a spot in the Page Playoff 3-4 game tomorrow at noon.

Heath McCormick (9-0) and Pete Fenson (8-1) will play in the Page Playoff 1-2 game. Both teams posted wins this morning as well. "We've played well. We've had some fortunate breaks in some games, but we're just happy to be where we're at," McCormick said.

To read the complete press release, click on the PDF below.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond12.pdf

Shuster earns final available playoff berth
February 16, 2012
(ASTON, Pa.) - Two-time Olympian John Shuster clinched the final available playoff berth of the 2012 USA Curling National Championships this afternoon at IceWorks Skating Complex.

Heath McCormick (9-0) and Pete Fenson (8-1) will play in the Page Playoff 1-2 game while Shuster's rink will take on Craig Brown (6-3) in the Page Playoff 3-4 match. Both games are slated for 12 p.m. ET Friday. The winner of the McCormick-Fenson match-up moves on to Saturday's gold-medal game at 3 p.m. ET while the losing side plays the winner of the Page 3-4 game in Friday night's semifinal at 8 p.m.

2006 Olympic bronze medalist Shuster (Duluth, Minn.) and teammates Zach Jacobson (Langdon, N.D.), Jared Zezel (Duluth, Minn.) and John Landsteiner (Duluth, Minn.) outlasted Eric Fenson, 6-4, with a double takeout to win the match and finish with a 6-4 round robin record.

To read the complete press release, click on the PDF below.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond13.pdf

Team Pottinger moves on to final
February 16, 2012
(ASTON, Pa.) - Team Allison Pottinger is moving into familiar territory as they advanced to Saturday's gold-medal game after defeating Cassie Potter, 6-4, in the Page 1-2 playoff game tonight at the 2012 USA Curling National Championships being held at IceWorks Skating Complex.

Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), a nine-time U.S. champion, 2003 world champion and 2010 Olympian, will make her 15th appearance in the gold-medal game at the Nationals. Team Pottinger will face the winner of tomorrow's semifinal match between Team Potter and the Aileen Sormunen rink, which won the Page Playoff 3-4 game earlier tonight.

"We knew playing Cassie that it would come down to the 10th or 11th end. It always does. Every time we play them it is a battle. We knew we'd have to make our last shot in either the 10th or 11th end to win," Pottinger said.

To read the complete press release, click on the PDF below.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond14.pdf