Steve Seixeiro-World Curling Federation
Gushue and Dropkin are off to good starts in the desert.
Gushue and Dropkin are off to good starts in the desert.
Hosts USA and neighbors Canada got off to winning starts at the 2022 World Men’s Curling Championship in Las Vegas.
The competition is taking place at the Orleans Arena, which has hosted numerous Continental Cup curling tournaments as well as the 2018 world men’s championship.
A Grand Slam of Curling tour stop was set to make its non-Canadian debut at this venue in 2021, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Korey Dropkin’s youthful U.S. team, nominated to represent the hosts after losing the U.S. Olympic Trials to the John Shuster team in December, led Denmark’s Tobias Thune 3-2 at the fifth-end break in Saturday’s first round action. Dropkin then stole the sixth and seventh ends en route to an 8-2 victory in eight ends.
Steve Seixeiro-WCF
“It’s great to have a home crowd,” said Dropkin, who is supported by teammates Joe Polo, Mark Fenner, Tom Howell, and Alex Fenson.
“We had a lot of family here to cheer us on. It’s a first world championship for us young bucks and we’re happy getting used to the ice, getting our feet wet, and starting with a win.”
Canada’s Brad Gushue played two games on day one and took the wins in both. A surprisingly taut 6-4 victory over the Crzech Republic—coached by Canadian former world champion Craig Saville—was followed by another tight contest against Norway.
The Norwegians stole the ninth end to lead 7-6 coming home, but the Canadians forced Norwegian skip Magnus Ramsfjell to try an angle slash, and the Canadians scored two for the 8-7 win.
The Norwegians has defeated Korea 7-3 in their first match. “It’s always important for our self-esteem to win the first game, and it’s good for the standings,” said Ramsfjell. “We had a tricky first half, it’s the first time we’ve been on championship ice for three years, so I guess that’s understandable.”
The Netherlands dropped their first two games, 7-4 to Beijing 2022 Olympic champion Niklas Edin of Sweden and 13-7 to Germany’s Sixten Totzek. Finland’s Kalle Kiiskinen upset Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller by 6-4 margin.
Scotland’s Ross Paterson scored his first win, 5-4 over Italian veteran Joel Retornaz. 

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