The loss was America’s fifth out of seven games played. After four games in which skip John Shuster missed the game winning final shot each time, the U.S. again lost because of a few stones missing by a few inches.
After the game, U.S. fourth Jason Smith told an NBC reporter that there was nothing fundamentally wrong with the team. “It’s curling There’s been weeks when we’ve won by inches and there’s been weeks where we’ve lost by inches. We just ran into the wrong week here at the Olympics.”
The U.S. team used its third different lineup for the game against Great Britain. Veteran John Benson was out, and Chris Plys, who figured in the American victory over France, was back in. Smith insisted that the lineup changes had not upset the team; he claimed that in fact, the effect was quite the opposite.
“I think if anything it made us all closer. Obviously, we’re dealing with the media and they have their stories and try to turn everything around so … They try to make it seem like, ‘Oh, they benched John because he was playing bad.’ That wasn’t the case at all. We wanted to mix it up a little bit get some different chemistry and that was the best team to come up for France that day. And John came back in there the next day. “
The chemistry changes paid off with two U.S. wins, but with the U.S. team facing unbeaten Canada on Monday, it seemed unlikely that 2–5 record would improve. The odds didn’t matter to Jason Smith, who said the U.S. team would, “just go and win—just go out and hopefully keep promoting curling like we have been all week and keep our fans watching”
Defensive Struggle
Despite both teams reputation for aggressive strategy, both teams concentrated on defense, leaving five of the ten ends blank.
The U.S. was forced to settle for one point while holding the hammer in the second and eighth ends, while Great Britain stole a point in sixth end. Great Britain scored two with the hammer in the fifth, and a single pint in the tenth.
The U.S. entered the fifth end up one, wit Greta Britain holding the hammer. With four rocks crammed together in the eight-foot ring, the U.S. squad needed to clear some space to force Great Britain to take only one, or even to steal a point.
Jeff Isaacson tried to clear the house, but he used far too much force and far too little aim. He succeeded only in ejecting one U.S. rock from the center, leaving Great Britain lying two. After Shuster and Great britain’s Ewan Mac Donald were done, Great Britain lay three.
British skip David Murdoch made an uncharacteristic error on his first shot, leaving Jason Smith of the U.S. with a ghost of a chance. Smith had to make a double takeout on rocks lying eight feet apart, and he nearly made it. However, he only hit one, and Murdoch was able to draw for two points.
U.S skip John Shuster did try one aggressive move in the sixth end but it backfired. With several rocks in play in the back of the house, David Murdoch tried a hit and roll, but missed, hitting a guard. The U.S. team was guaranteed two if they played conservatively, but Shuster called for a risky double knock-out for three. Smith missed, sending the U.S. rock and his shooter out of the house, letting Great Britain steal a point.
The seventh and ninth ends were blanks, and in the eighth the U.S. was held to one after Jason Smith missed badly with one of his rocks.
The U.S. made a fight of the tenth end trying to place rocks right on the edge of the twelve-foot circle behind the slightest bit of cover, but Great Britain simply hunted down every U.S. stone and removed it from play. With his last rock, David Murdoch had the whole house to shoot at, and he drew to the four-foot circle to seal the win.
The United States face Canada Monday, Feb. 22, at noon EST and China at 8:00 p.m.
