Duluth curling fans celebrate Team USA’s silver medal, a historic one for Cory Thiesse

DULUTH – Fans packed into two levels of the Duluth Curling Club grew quiet, eyes fixed on TV screens as Team Sweden sent off its final rock in the eighth end of the gold medal match of mixed doubles curling at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

That red stone knocked out Team USA’s yellow stone, securing a 6-5 win over the Duluth club’s homegrown duo of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

But an instant after the Duluth duo’s loss, the fans transitioned to cheers, waving blue pom-poms and cardboard cutouts of the Americans’ faces. Team USA haearned a silver medal, and Thiesse became the first U.S. woman to win an Olympic medal in curling.

“It’s been so fun, we’re so proud,” said Kerry Hadiaris, the club’s general manager. “It’s time for a new banner.”

The club hosted watch parties at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center throughout round-robin play and into the final. By Tuesday morning, the Gold Medal Lounge was at capacity, close to 190 people, for members-only viewing. Aficionados packed into rows of chairs, around tables, at the bar and against the window looking over eight curling sheets.

They cheered like they were there, occasionally breaking into chants of “USA! USA!”

After their win over Italy in the semifinals on Monday, Thiesse gave a shoutout to her clubmates back home. Both of her parents curled, she told reporters, and she has heard tales of sitting in a car seat while her mother played.

Joyanna Yorde wore red, white and blue face paint for the game. Her best friend, Aileen Geving, is an alternate on the women’s team.

“It was a nail-biter,” she said of the match. “Beautifully played. They’re so deserving to be there. It’s been fun to watch at home, then here with all these people.”

Pickwick Restaurant & Pub quietly opened early Tuesday morning to host dozens of fans, most with a direct connection to Thiesse or Dropkin. Thiesse’s dog sitters were there; so were two children, excused from school, who consider Dropkin an uncle.

Owner Dustin Tomasetti, whose restaurant is where Thiesse and Dropkin first decided to team up, pointed to the table they sat at when Dropkin suggested joining forces.

“Right over there,” he said, pointing to a corner.

He considers Dropkin to be the best athlete on the ice, Thiesse a “silent assassin.”

“It’s incredible,” he said of the successes of Duluth curlers. “We get to see it every four years. Somewhere, somehow, we get to cheer them on.”

Olympic gold medalist John Landsteiner, part of the 2018 men’s curling team, sat at the bar. He’s newly retired from the sport and has two young kids at home.

“I still have feelings of wondering if I could be there,” he said.