John Shuster skips U.S. by Denmark 7-5 to make curling semifinals; loses to Great Britain

UPDATE: Great Britain defeated the United States 8-4 in the semifinals. Come back soon for a report on that match.

BEIJING — The curling world's biggest nightmare is back.

The Americans have returned to the medal round.

Facing a win-and-in challenge to move on to the semifinals of men's Olympic play. Team USA dispatched of a lesser Denmark side 7-5 to finish 5-4 in round robin play. Team Shuster, the defending gold medal-winning team from the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, has a chance for a repeat performance.

The path to the medal round was perilous at times as Team USA struggled against teams it should handle. They complained of tough playing conditions Tuesday in a loss to ninth-place Italy. But Team Shuster also had to rally during round robin play in 2018 before advancing with a similar 5-4 record. And that turned into a gold medal run.

No one with Team Shuster will complain about following a similar path.

"They played great all week, truthfully," skip John Shuster said. "Like I just, I feel like we missed a few of the wrong shots, in a couple of those games. We could have easily went through that thing 7-2."

Team USA will play Great Britain at 6:05 a.m. Central time Thursday morning in one of the semifinals, with Sweden, the runner-up to USA four years ago, facing Canada in the other semifinal. Great Britain won't be pleased with the draw, as Team USA was the only team to defeat it in round robin play.

Everything seemed to fall into place Wednesday, as Team USA was aggressive from the start and watched its opponents suffer from it at times.

Team USA's path to the semifinals was simple. Beat Denmark, the last-place team in round robin play entering Wednesday, and it would return to the semifinals for the second consecutive Olympics.

There was a scenario in which Team USA could lose and move on, if Italy defeated Norway. But how would Team Shuster feel about its form if it backed into the semis following a loss to a poor Denmark team?

The Italy-Norway match was being played simultaneously three sheets over at the National Aquatic Center. So Team Shuster could peek at the score every now and then.

"Honestly, I wasn't really sure which team we needed to win over there," Plys said. "I think our coaches wanted to make sure that we were just focused on our sheet, but I knew something was going on over there. I just wasn't sure what it was.

"So thankfully I didn't know, and it made it easier just to just focus it on the game."

Shuster said he was too focused on the condition of the ice in his game to check on Italy-Norway. His throws were breaking differently from normal, and he needed to keep that in mind when he threw.

Of course, it looked like something was off when Team Shuster trailed 2-0 after two ends.

Denmark had the hammer and took a 1-0 lead in the first. It was Team USA's turn with the hammer in the second, and it had a chance early on for multiple points. Denmark, on consecutive shots, failed to cross the hog line — taking that stone out of play — then missed a takeout. But it played good defense, forcing Shuster, from Chisholm, to draw for a single point. But Shuster's shot had too much weight — perhaps a misread of the ice conditions — and Denmark ended up with the point.

Team USA got two in the second to tie, then pounced in the third.

USA had three stones in the house after a Shuster takeout. Denmark's Mikkel Den Krause had a chance to draw in for a point, but his shot was too heavy and slid through. Team USA ended up with three points and a 5-2 lead.

"I think we showed some really good patience, starting off down two after two." Plys said. "We had some chances in the first and second end and we just said, 'We're playing good, so just keep on them and we'll get our chance.' And then we did."

Team USA went into the eighth with a 6-3 lead. In addition to Shuster, Plys, from Duluth, was on fire and Matt Hamilton was outperforming his counterpart from Denmark. It was getting down to game management. As in baseball, Team Shuster needed to avoid giving up crooked numbers in any of the remaining ends while taking advantage when it had the hammer. And it held one.

And is back in the semifinals.

"We knew we were playing good enough," Shuster said. "I was like, keep giving me chances and I'll put points on the board."