John Shuster pushes United States curling team trials to decisive game with two points in 10th end

SIOUX FALLS – Danny Casper let out a roar as he pumped his fists. Half of the audience at the Denny Sanford Premier Center roared with him.

The other half of the audience, the ones rooting for John Shuster, either gasped or said nothing.

Casper had just picked up three points off a peel, thrusting his team to a 6-5 lead through nine ends. One clean end away from winning the trials and moving one step away from Olympic qualification.

And that would have meant the end of John Shuster’s run of five consecutive Olympics, four as a skip.

On Saturday, he told himself one thing after Casper’s big shot.

“Go get two,” he said.

And that he did.

Shuster, of Chisholm, Minn., has twice previously lost the first game of a best-of-three series in the U.S. trials and come back to win. Saturday, he proved again that he is the last person you want to face when he’s holding the hammer and down a couple of points in the 10th.

“You can’t get any more dramatic,” Shuster said. “The last three ends, there were all kinds of chaos.

“It was wild. It was fun. And, you know, a little stressful.”

The match was tied 3-3 in the eighth when Casper, going for a double takeout, managed just one. That enabled Shuster to draw in for two points and a 5-3 lead.

That was just a warmup act for the ninth, when Team Casper sat on the button and three rocks filled the 4-foot circle around it. Shuster drew his shot in that circle too, hoping to limit the damage — Danny Casper had the hammer — but aware disaster could strike as their opponents could score four.

“We got in trouble in the ninth and made my last shot just good enough so they couldn’t get four,” Shuster said. “But if we make it better, probably it’s just two. Maybe just one.”

Team Shuster went after the button in the 10th, forcing Team Casper, competing out of Chaska, to respond. There were great plays by both teams all night. But Casper’s attempt at a triple takeout netted just two. As fans clapped in unison, Shuster drew in for two points, and the win, on the final shot.

There were cheers, applause and cowbells.

It takes all four players to win. But Colin Hufman was vital to Team Shuster on Saturday. In addition to being an elite sweeper, his shotmaking was exceptional. His first shot in the 10th landed on the button, and his second shot landed next to it. Hufman punctuated several shots with fist pumps and waved his arms to get the crowd involved.