Press Coverage

2013 Ford World Men's Championship gets underway Saturday in Canada
March 27, 2013
Seattle's Brady Clark will lead Team USA at the 2013 Ford World Men's Curling Championship, presented by Booster Juice, starting Saturday at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria, British Columbia.

Clark (Lynnwood, Wash.) and teammates Sean Beighton (Seattle), Philip Tilker (Seattle), Darren Lehto (Seattle) and Greg Persinger (Anchorage, Alaska) are set to represent the U.S. at the 12-team world championship, which concludes on April 7.

The U.S. men will compete against Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Norway, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, and Switzerland in the round robin through April 4. Canada is the defending champion after defeating Scotland last year in Basel, Switzerland, while Sweden won the bronze medal.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconpreview.pdf

Sport Education/Coaching Director Resigns
March 25, 2013

STEVENS POINT, Wis. – After six years serving the U.S. Curling Association (USCA), Scott Higgins has resigned his post as Director of Sport Education/Coaching Development to pursue another opportunity.

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconsport-ed_director_resigns.pdf

Team USA finishes fourth at the World Women's Championship in Latvia
March 24, 2013
The bronze medal just wasn't meant to be won by Team USA as Canada defeated the Americans, 8-6, to reach the podium today at the 2013 Titlis Glacier Mountain World Women's Curling Championship.

Erika Brown and Team USA fell behind Canada's Rachel Homan rink and couldn't rally in the second half at the Volvo Sports Center.

"We weren't as sharp. Just some half shots here and there when we really needed to put the pressure on them and make their shots a little bit tougher and we weren't able to do that today," Brown said after the loss. "They played great. They played really well today, and we needed a few more really big shots."

Brown (Oakville, Ontario) and teammates Debbie McCormick (Rio, Wis.), Jessica Schultz (Richfield, Minn.), Ann Swisshelm (Chicago), and Sarah Anderson (Broomall, Pa.) finished fourth and qualified the U.S. for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games next February in Sochi, Russia. USA's Olympic team will be determined this fall at the 2014 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in Fargo, N.D. The field for the Trials will include Brown's team after qualifying by winning the 2013 National Championships.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconbronze_rev.pdf

USA to play for bronze
March 23, 2013
Erika Brown and Team USA will aim for a medal of a different hue now after a 7-6 playoff loss to Canada this afternoon at the 2013 Titlis Glacier Mountain World Women's Curling Championship.

Brown (Oakville, Ontario) and teammates Debbie McCormick (Rio, Wis.), Jessica Schultz (Richfield, Minn.) and Ann Swisshelm (Chicago) will play for the bronze medal after losing the Page playoff 3-4 game to Rachel Homan's rink, which methodically rolled through the Page playoff 3-4 game.

Canada's 23-year-old skip took some big chances in the early ends that paid off for the World Championships rookie as Canada built an early lead and never looked back. Team Canada shot 87 percent, which included a perfect game by their second Alison Kreviazuk.

"She [Homan] really went for it with her hammer in the first and the third end. She really went for some big shots - and she made them - so they got off to a really solid lead," said Brown, who is making her fourth world championship playoff appearance. The U.S. women are seeking their country's first world women's championship medal since McCormick skipped her team to the silver in 2006.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconplayoff1_rev.pdf

Connecticut wins 2013 Mixed National Championship title
March 23, 2013
Connecticut's Derek Surka rink captured the 2013 USA Curling Mixed National Championship title with a 10-4 victory over Wisconsin's Sean Murray Saturday afternoon in Willmar, Minn.

This is the first mixed national championship title for Surka (New Haven, Conn.) and teammates Charrissa Lin (New Haven, Conn.), Nate Clark (Nashua, N.H.) and Rebecca Andrew (Henrietta, N.Y.) and the first for the Nutmeg Curling Club in Bridgeport, Conn. This is just the second mixed title for the Grand National Curling Club Region, which the team was representing - and first title since 1996.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconfinal_rev.pdf

Alaska v. Wisconsin for final mixed national playoff berth
March 22, 2013
Washington, Connecticut and North Dakota are through the playoffs of the 2013 USA Curling Mixed National Championship in Willmar, Minn. Alaska and Wisconsin will play a sudden death tiebreaker at 11 a.m. CT Friday to determine the final playoff spot.

Washington's Lyle Sieg rink finished the round robin with an 8-1 record to earn the top playoff seed. They will play the winner of the tiebreaker game in Friday afternoon's semifinals at 4 p.m. Connecticut's Derek Surka (7-2) and North Dakota's Kelby Smith (6-3) will play in the other semifinal.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond6.pdf

USA advances to playoffs after tiebreaker win over SUI
March 22, 2013
Team USA is playoff bound for the first time in six years after a last-rock victory over Switzerland this afternoon at the 2013 Titlis Glacier Mountain World Women's Curling Championship.

Erika Brown and the U.S. ladies defeated Silvana Tirinzoni's Swiss squad, 7-4, on a takeout with just seconds left on the time clock to win the tiebreaker game at the Volvo Sports Center to advance to tomorrow's Page playoff 3-4 game against Canada (8-3).

"I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, it's a really great game like the last one we had," Brown said about the USA-Canada playoff match-up. "We're happy we're in the playoffs and are going to try to beat all three of them, one team at a time. We need to win a couple more to get up where we want to be."

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf iconw12.pdf

Connecticut v. Wisconsin for the Mixed National title
March 22, 2013
Connecticut will take on Wisconsin in the gold-medal game of the 2013 USA Curling Mixed National Championship in Willmar, Minn.

Derek Surka (New Haven, Conn.) and Sean Murray (Watertown, Wis.) led their teams to semifinal victories Friday night at the Willmar Curling Club to advance to Saturday's final. Both teams are seeking their first-ever mixed national titles. The last time a team from the Wisconsin region won the mixed title was in 2000. Surka's team represents the Grand National region. It has been an even longer drought for the GNCC as 1996 was the last time a team from the East Coast won, which also marked the first and only mixed national championship for the team. Coming into this year's tournament, Washington had won nine of the past 11 mixed events. The Wisconsin region has won the event 11 times since it began in 1975.

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

USA Curling
Terry Kolesar
application/pdf icond7.pdf