After the United States defeated Poland 8-3 in the Wednesday morning session at the Weber County Ice Sheet, the Shuster rink had a back-and-forth battle on its hands in the afternoon game against winless Norway. The Norwegians, skipped by Andreas Haarstad, pushed the U.S. to an extra end with the game tied at 7.

In the extra frame, the United States efficiently cleared Norwegian stones in front of the house letting both skips draw into the house with their last stones. With the hammer, Shuster drew to the button to score 2 points for the U.S. and claim a 9-7 victory.

With the win, the United States joined Canada, Italy, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland in the six-team playoffs.

Shuster said the United States’ hope and expectation was to reach the playoffs. That was a feat that Team Shuster was been able to accomplish at every tournament it played in this season, a first for Shuster.

Grace Watters, Standard-Examiner

“It’s been a very steady year for the team, and it’s good to continue that here,” Shuster said. “But you know we’ve also only missed the semifinals once all season so it’d be nice to get into a semifinal, get into the final and finally win the world championship.”

The last time the United States won the men’s championship was in 1978 by the team skipped by Bob Nichols of Superior, Wisconsin. Shuster’s best worlds performance was bronze in 2016.

Fighting for position

Six teams have claimed their playoff spots, but they were still fighting for seeding as the 12-game round robin wound down Thursday. The top two teams get an automatic bye in the semifinal round on Friday afternoon, while the remaining four face a qualifying quarterfinal game on Friday morning.

There are no tiebreaker games at the event. Any ties are resolved by head-to-head record or whichever team placed their stones closest to the center of the house in the draw shot challenge contest conducted before every game.

Shuster and the United States were among those fighting for a higher seed in Thursday morning’s game against Italy. The United States played a strong first half, punctuated with a 4-point third end. After Italian skip Stefano Spiller was heavy with this last shot and missed the house, Shuster was able to tap up a red U.S. rock from the 12-foot ring to secure a fourth point.

Grace Watters, Standard-Examiner

The game tightened considerably after that point and Italy was able to strike back with a 3-point end in the seventh. At one point during that end, the U.S. was sitting four rocks around the four-foot ring, but Italy was effective at removing those rocks and rolling their shooters to the edge of the house. Spiller’s hammer shot was a double takeout on two U.S. rocks leading to the score of three and making it a 7-6 game in favor of the U.S.

After Italy tied the game at 8 in the ninth end, Shuster threw his hammer in the 10th to hit off an Italian rock on the side of the four-foot and rolled in for shot to claim the 9-8 win for the United States.

“Credit to Italy,” he said. “They played awesome and we still ground it out.”

The U.S. was set to face Switzerland in the Thursday night game. Should the U.S. win that game, it would have the hammer to start at least one playoff game, Shuster said.

Another Thursday morning game with playoff seeding implications was between Scotland and Switzerland. With the game tied at 4 after six ends, the Scots blanked two ends before scoring 1 in the ninth and stealing 2 in the 10th for the 7-4 victory.

Grace Watters, Standard-Examiner

“We know every game out here is very tough, but we’re feeling very confident,” Scottish skip Ross Whyte said, after Wednesday’s victory against Norway. “We’re throwing it really good, so hopefully we can continue with that.”

Scotland, 9-2, remained tied atop the standings with Sweden. Canada was in second with a 8-2 record and Switzerland fell to 8-3.

After Wednesday night’s victory against Czechia, Canadian skip Matt Dunstone was confident his team would continue to play sharp after winning six straight.

“These were all games that we had to win and, you know, after a tough opening weekend we did exactly that,” Dunstone said. “Giving ourselves a chance to get where we want to be in the playoffs.”

Sweden had one game Thursday, against Czechia. The Swedes, skipped by Niklas Edin, picked up two wins Wednesday to bounce back from losses to Canada and Switzerland the day before.

Grace Watters, Standard-Examiner

“It’s kind of up to what happens in the other games if we’re in the semis or not,” Edin said, referring to winning the first-round bye.

Playoff schedule

Qualification quarterfinals are set for 9 a.m. Friday for the playoff teams ranked third to sixth. The winners will advance to the 3 p.m. semifinals to face one of the top two finishers who had a bye. The quarterfinal losers are out.

The semifinals will determine which medal teams will play for on Saturday. The semifinal winners will play for gold at 2 p.m., while the semifinal losers will face off for bronze at 9 a.m.

All games will be available in the U.S. on the Curling Channel, World Curling’s pay-per-view streaming service. It is available at https://curlingchannel.tv.

Ryan Olson is lead designer for the Daily Herald and Standard-Examiner. He is also a part-time curling instructor for event organizers, the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, but was not involved in the event aside from teaching schoolchildren. Ryan can be reached at rolson@standard.net or on Bluesky at bsky.app/profile/quesoguapo.com.

Ryan Olson, Standard-Examiner