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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 20, 2005
Men’s field lives up to expectations at
2006 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Curling
(MADISON, Wis.) – The spectators got their money’s worth
Sunday afternoon as three games came down to the final
shot in the men’s second draw of the 2006 U.S. Olympic
Team Trials at the Madison Curling Club.
The men’s field has shown what many predicted earlier –
that the field is wide open with the talent level fairly
even. Two teams remain unbeaten while six others are
tied at 1-1 with a lot of curling left.
“It’s an important week more so than just every four
years,” said Wes Johnson (Everett, Wash.). “The team
that sticks together and stays poised will win, and
there are 10 teams than can do it. That’s my goal, to
keep this team together and positive.”
Johnson, who missed the team’s first game last night
after missing his flight, made his presence known right
away knocking off the 2004 national champion rink led by
Jason Larway of Seattle, 5-3.
“It was due to Homeland Security,” said Johnson, who had
been randomly selected for extensive screening only to
have security somehow miss pulling him aside. The gate
agent caught this as Johnson was preparing to board, and
she promptly sent him back to security. Two sprints and
a painfully slow screening later and Johnson was left
winded and staring out the window at his departing
plane.
To make matters worse, Johnson’s team showed up late for
the men’s second round this afternoon, through no one’s
fault but their own. The late arrival cost Johnson’s
team the choice of hammer (last-rock advantage) in the
first end or rock color in its game against the Jason
Larway rink, per official competition rules. But
Larway’s team, also from Seattle, showed its
sportsmanship by giving the choice back to Johnson once
the team finally got on the ice.
With no pre-game practice either, Johnson’s team was a
little shaky at first, giving up steals of one point
each in the first two ends. But the team found its
composure and came back with a deuce in the fourth end
and a steal of one in the fifth. Larway’s side evened
the score again in the sixth end, but never scored
again. Johnson led his foursome to a single in the
seventh and a steal of one in the ninth to secure the
team’s first win.
Ben Tucker’s North Dakota rink took advantage of a
missed draw in the second end to steal two and take a
3-0 advantage in its match against Bemidji’s Pete Fenson
rink. However, Fenson bounced back with three in the
next end to tie the game up.
“I thought they’d hang their heads after that but that
team’s got a lot of heart,” Tucker said. “My front-end
kept pace with his and I was proud of that. They’re both
world-class front-ends.”
In the seventh end, Tucker capitalized again with three
points only to have Fenson answer with two in the eighth
and a steal in the ninth to tie it up going into the
final end. Second Ned Sampson (Edmore, N.D.) made a
double takeout with his second shot to clean the house
out of rocks setting up a more routine finish for Tucker
with an eventual draw to the button for the win.
“He does it so often for us,” Tucker said of Sampson’s
shot. “We expect it from him every time and he does it
all the time so that shot didn’t impress me. I just
expect it.”
Rich Ruohonen’s Minneapolis-based rink got into the win
column in similar dramatic fashion with a draw to the
button to steal a victory over North Dakota’s Craig
Disher rink, 7-5. Struggling with the remnants of the
flu, Ruohonen said the team came out a little flat last
night but were able to make improvements today.
“We came out playing conservative on purpose because
Craig (Disher) likes a lot of rocks in play,” said
Ruohonen, a personal injury attorney. “We played a lot
better than yesterday other than the sixth (end).”
Disher scored three in the sixth end to take the team’s
first lead of the game. Ruohonen and teammates Nick
Myers (Mapleton, Minn.), John Benton (St. Michael,
Minn.) and Pete Annis (Owatonna, Minn.) traded singles
with the Disher team in the seventh and eighth ends.
Ruohonen’s draw for two in the ninth was overswept,
forcing the team to take one. In the 10th,
Disher tried to get his rock into count but ticked his
other rock sitting at the top of the 12 foot. Ruohonen
drew the button with his last shot not leaving much of a
shot left for Disher.
Craig Brown’s Madison rink improved to 2-0 by scoring
two points in the final end to defeat Scott Baird’s
Bemidji rink, 6-5. Brown and teammates Matt Stevens
(Bemidji, Minn.), Cody Stevens (Bemidji) and John Dunlop
(Wauwatosa, Wis.) took their first lead of the game in
the eighth end after Eric Fenson’s attempted double
takeout only took one rock and ended up moving one of
Brown’s closer to the button. Brown then drew down for
two points. Brown limited Baird’s offense in the ninth
forcing him to take one and put up two points for the
victory in the final end.
The Brady Clark rink also improved to 2-0 with an 8-7
win over the Greg Eigner rink.
The men return to the ice at 8 a.m. Monday while the
women will be back in action at 7 tonight. The round
robin continues through Thursday with the semifinals
Friday afternoon followed by the men’s and women’s
finals on Saturday. Live action of the 2006 U.S. Olympic
Team Trials for Curling can be followed on the USA
Curling web site at www.usacurl.org.
Live scoring, player biographies and more can be found
on the official event web site at
www.usacurl.org.
USA Curling is sponsored by AIT Worldwide Logistics and
AmerAust Technologies as well as by General Motors,
Chevron-Texaco and Bank of America through a joint
marketing program with the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Game scores: Brown 6, Baird 5; W. Johnson 5,
Larway 3; Clark 8, Eigner 7; Ruohonen 7, Disher 5;
Tucker 8, Fenson 7
Men’s standings
Brown 2-0
Clark 2-0
Baird 1-1
Fenson 1-1
Johnson 1-1
Larway 1-1
Ruohonen 1-1
Tucker 1-1
Disher 0-2
Eigner 0-2
(30)
For more information: Rick Patzke, USA Curling,
rickp@curlingrocks.net, 715-344-1199 |
