The 2020

United States Men's Curling Championship The United States Men's Curling Championship is the annual men's national curling championship for the United States. It is run by the United States Curling Association (USCA) and typically held in conjunction with the Women's Championship. The ch ...

was held from February 8 to 15, 2020 at the Eastern Washington University Recreation Center in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

. The event was held in conjunction with the 2020 United States Women's Curling Championship.

John Shuster John Shuster ( ; born November 3, 1982) is an American curler who lives in Superior, Wisconsin. He led Team USA to gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics, the first American team to ever win gold in curling. He also won a bronze medal at the 2006 Winte ...

claimed his seventh United States Championship, defeating

Rich Ruohonen Richard Ruohonen (born March 31, 1971) is an American curler from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He is a two-time national champion and as such represented the United States at the 2008 and 2018 World Men's Curling Championships. Career Ruohonen ...

in the final. Since Team Shuster met certain prerequisites in terms of world ranking points (60 points year-to-date or ranked 70th or higher) they would have represented the United States at the 2020 World Men's Curling Championship, which was scheduled to be held in

Glasgow, Scotland Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

from March 28 to April 5, 2020 but was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The United States Champions also earn a spot at the final

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

of the season, the Champions Cup, which was also cancelled due to the pandemic. Team Shuster's qualification will instead carry over to the 2021 Champions Cup.

Qualification

There were three ways for teams to qualify for the championship: * Top five American teams in the

World Curling Federation The World Curling Federation (WCF) is the world governing body for curling accreditation, with offices in Perth, Scotland. It was formed out of the International Curling Federation (ICF), when the push for Olympic Winter Sport status was made. T ...

(WCF) World Team Ranking System on Dec 2, 2019 ** Team Dropkin ** Team Ruohonen ** Team Shuster ** Team Dunnam ** Team Birr * Four teams from the 2020 United States Men's Challenge Round ** Team Brundidge ** Team Kakela ** Team Maerki **~~Team Violette~~ Team Birklid *replaced with alternate due to conflict with World Junior Championships * A team from the 2020 United States Junior Men's Championship ** Team Sinnett

Challenge round

Sixteen teams competed at the 2020 United States Men's Challenge Round, held at the Grand Forks Curling Club in

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

, from January 2 to 5. Through a triple knockout competition the top four teams secured a spot at the National Championship. Jed Brundidge was the first to secure a spot, defeating

Dominik Märki Dominik Märki (born 9 October 1990) is a Swiss-American curler, currently living in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He currently plays third on Team Jason Smith. He competed in the 2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1, ...

in the 'A' bracket final. Märki then dropped down to the 'B' bracket final and had another opportunity to play for a spot in the Nationals, but this time lost to Kyle Kakela who took the second Nationals berth. In the 'C' bracket Märki finally earned their spot when they defeated Steven Birklid's team. On the other side of the 'C' bracket

Luc Violette Luc Violette (born March 8, 1999) is an American curler from Edmonds, Washington. He is a five-time United States Junior Champion and was a silver medalist at both the 2016 Winter Youth Olympics and the 2017 World Junior Championships. Curli ...

defeated Nicholas Connolly for the fourth and final Nationals berth. Steven Birklid's team finished the Challenge Round as the alternate team.

Teams

Ten teams participated in the 2020 national championship.

Round-robin standings

''Final round-robin standings''

Round-robin results

All draw times are listed in

Pacific Standard Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC−08:00). ...

( UTC−08:00).

Draw 1

''Saturday, February 8, 7:30 pm''

Draw 2

''Sunday, February 9, 12:00 pm''

Draw 3

''Sunday, February 9, 8:00 pm''

Draw 4

''Monday, February 10, 10:00 am''

Draw 5

''Monday, February 10, 7:00 pm''

Draw 6

''Tuesday, February 11, 2:00 pm''

Draw 7

''Wednesday, February 12, 9:00 am''

Draw 8

''Wednesday, February 12, 7:00 pm''

Draw 9

''Thursday, February 13, 2:00 pm''

Playoffs

1 vs. 2

''Friday, February 14, 12:00 pm''

3 vs. 4

''Friday, February 14, 12:00 pm''

Semifinal

''Friday, February 14, 7:00 pm''

Final

''Saturday, February 15, 5:00 pm''

References

{{United States National Curling Championships United States National Curling Championships Curling in Washington (state) Sports competitions in Spokane, Washington United States Men's Curling, United States Men's Curling, United States Men's Eastern Washington University