Press Coverage

USA's Dropkin moves on to quarterfinals
January 21, 2012
USA's Korey Dropkin inched closer to the podium with a 10-4 win in mixed doubles action as the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games continued this morning at the Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Curling Hall.

Dropkin (Southborough, Mass.) and teammate Marina Verenich of Russia defeated Sweden's Johanna Heldin and New Zealand's Luke Steele highlighted by consistent shot-making by the winning side. Dropkin and Verenich now move on to the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. today where they'll face Canada's Corryn Brown and Austria's Martin Reichel.

"It's been a pretty good experience. We played well today," Dropkin said. "Some ends we were in trouble and came out a little rocky and made some nice shots at the end and things sometimes go our way."

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconyog_11.pdf

USA's Anderson clinches quarterfinal spot
January 21, 2012
USA's Taylor Anderson made another last-rock heroic shot to advance her mixed doubles team to the quarterfinals at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games.

Anderson (Broomall, Pa.) and Scottish teammate Duncan Menzies, representing Great Britain, defeated Estonia's Kerli Zirk and Sweden's Rasmus Wrana, 6-4, in the round of 16 this afternoon at the Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Curling Hall.

"I'm excited. It's all really good competition," Anderson said about advancing to the playoffs. "It's really fun, and I'm looking forward to the next game. I'm excited to curl every day though."

Just like last night's match Anderson had to make a clutch shot with the final stone to secure the win. This time it was an in-off using the opponent's stone to roll to the button that Anderson added to her list of successful big shots.

"I knew I had good weight, but his face was dropped and he was like 'Right off,' and I was like, 'no,' because I thought we missed it," Anderson said.

With the win, Anderson and Menzies now move on to the quarterfinals at 5 p.m. today to face Japan's Mako Tamakuma and Korea's Minhyeon Yoo.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconyog_12.pdf

Finals berths to Nationals up for grabs this weekend
January 21, 2012
The Women's Challenge Round got underway Friday at the Marshfield (Wis.) Curling Club. The final six berths to the 2012 USA Curling National Championships are up for grabs at this event featuring 11 teams.

The women are playing in a bracketed event to award the six spots. One upset occurred in the opening round as 2011 Club Nationals champion Janice Langanke (Middletown, N.J.) defeated 2010 Olympian and nine-time U.S. champion Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), 6-5. That dropped Pottinger's team to a lower bracket in the triple knockout format. 2006 Olympian Cassie Potter (St. Paul, Minn.) picked up a first-round win to be within one victory of claiming a spot at Nationals. You can view the entire bracket here in the Scoreboard section: http://www.usacurl.org/curlingrocks/.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconcr2.pdf

USA's Dropkin on to semifinals
January 21, 2012
USA's Korey Dropkin, 16, is one step closer to achieving a lifelong dream of winning an Olympic medal as he and partner Marina Verenich of Russia won their quarterfinal match tonight at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games.

"We're going to do our best. Hopefully, we'll win a medal. It's been a dream of mine to win one," Dropkin said after the 9-3 win over Canada's Corryn Brown and Austria's Martin Reichel at the Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Curling Hall.

Dropkin and Verenich move on to the semifinals at 9 a.m. Sunday and will take on Switzerland's Michael Brunner, who won the team gold earlier this week, and his teammate Nicole Muskatewitz of Germany.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconyog_13.pdf

USA's Anderson knocked out of mixed doubles competition
January 20, 2012
USA's Sarah Anderson was eliminated from medal contention with an early round exit at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games as the mixed doubles got underway this morning at the Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Curling Hall. The mixed doubles is a single elimination bracketed event.

Anderson (Broomall, Pa.) and Korea's Go Keon lost to Switzerland's Michael Brunner and Germany's Nicole Muskatewitz, 8-6. "It was fun and challenging with him not speaking English and me not speaking Korean, but it was definitely a good experience and a lot of fun," Anderson said after the loss.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconyog_7.pdf

Challenge Round underway in Eau Claire & Marshfield
January 20, 2012
The Men's Challenge Round got underway Thursday at the Eau Claire Curling Club in Eau Claire, Wis. Nine teams are battling for the three remaining men's berths to the 2012 USA Curling National Championships, which will take place Feb. 11-18 at IceWorks Skating Complex in Aston, Pa.

Picking up early wins to lead the pack are teams skipped by Mike Farbelow (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Eric Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) with 2-0 records. Sean Murray's team also is undefeated at 1-0. The teams are playing in a single round robin with a double knockout provision.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconcr1.pdf

Dropkin scores perfect 6-ender in mixed doubles
January 20, 2012
USA's Korey Dropkin (Southborough, Mass.) became a part of Winter Youth Olympic Games history as the first team to score a perfect end in mixed doubles this afternoon at the Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Curling Hall.

Dropkin and Russian teammate Marina Verenich made all their shots in the sixth end while their opponents - Switzerland's Elena Stern and Estonia's Sander Rouk - missed all five of theirs en route to a 13-3 win in the first round of mixed doubles here at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympic Games. In mixed doubles, each team throws five stones but there is a sixth stone that is a stationary rock put in play at the start of the end. In traditional curling, an eight-ender is the maximum you can score and very rare, comparable to golf's hole-in-one. They were coached by Team USA's Wally Henry (Beaver Dam, Wis.).

As the end unfurled, the excitement of the big end became apparent to Dropkin, who throws the second, third and fourth stones of each end, as he went back into the hack to throw the last rock, which was actually his teammate's to throw. She softly yelled "hey, hey" down the sheet of ice and placed her hands up to stop him. They quickly switched spots and Verenich drew the sixth stone in to make WYOG history. Had he thrown an extra rock, they would not have been able to score the perfect six as the final stone would not have counted.

"Yeah, I was excited, and I forgot," Dropkin said and laughed after the game. "I just didn't realize it at first and then I was like, 'Wait this is my fourth rock.'"

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconyog_8.pdf

Howell advances to round of 16 in mixed doubles
January 20, 2012
USA's Thomas Howell moved on to the second round of the mixed doubles competition by picking up a 10-2 win this afternoon with Chinese partner Ying Yang at the Innsbruck Exhibition Centre Curling Hall.

Howell (Brick, N.J.) defeated Austria's Lisa Gisler and Switzerland's Mathias Genner and will now move on to round of 16 to take on the team of Korea's Eunbi Kim and Norway's Martin Sesaker at 9 a.m. Saturday.

"It's very different to have such different nationalities playing together - people who have never played together before or played this game," said Brigitte Brunner, who coached Gisler and Genner in today's match. "I have noticed there can be great differences between them. It is special. I don't think we can say we will win or lose - what is important here is the game. I have only German-speaking teams. They may speak the same language but there are still communication problems! It's fun."

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconyog_9.pdf