USA vs. Canada, men’s curling bronze medal game: How to watch, preview, pick, more

The United States fell in their men’s curling semifinal 8-4 to Great Britain, which means they’ll match up with their biggest rival in Canada for the bronze medal at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

After keeping three straight open ends while trailing 5-4 in the semifinal, the US allowed Great Britain to steal one in the 9th thanks to a couple loose stones. A missed double takeout by Shuster with the hammer in the 10th needing two kept the US for playing for gold, but the line between success and failure at this level of the sport is razor thin.

In round robin play where both teams finished 5-4, Canada won 10-5. In their Peacock streaming series American Rock Stars, all the members of Team USA including skip John Shuster admitted Canada is the game they always want to win the most. And while the USA team of John Landsteiner, Matt Hamilton, Chris Plys, and Shuster won’t be defending their gold medal from PyeongChang, they are still part of the best rink in the history of American curling.

With a bronze medal on the line, this should be one of the better bronze medal matchups in any Olympic event.

USA vs. Canada men’s curling bronze medal match

Date: Friday, February 18th
Time: 1:05 a.m. ET.
TV: NBC, USA
Livestream: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com

The Pick

Team USA +130 moneyline

The hyper-aggressive style of the USA can really pay dividends in a bronze medal match. With much less pressure than you’d see in the gold medal version, expect to see Shuster really firing for crooked numbers with risky shots and the hammer.

The USA showed they can keep the hammer with open ends as well, and that means extending the match until they find the perfect spot to score big. The Yanks get a second straight medal.