2020 United States Men's Curling Championship

2020 United States Men's ; Curling Championship
Host city	Spokane, Washington
Arena	Eastern Washington University; Recreation Center
Dates	February 8–15
Winner	Team Shuster
Skip	John Shuster
Third	Chris Plys
Second	Matt Hamilton
Lead	John Landsteiner
Finalist	Rich Ruohonen
	« 2019 2021 »

The 2020 United States Men's Curling Championship was held from February 8 to 15, 2020 at the Eastern Washington University Recreation Center in Spokane, Washington.[1] The event was held in conjunction with the 2020 United States Women's Curling Championship. John Shuster claimed his seventh United States Championship, defeating Rich Ruohonen in the final.[2]

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,[3] which was scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland from March 28 to April 5, 2020 but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[4] The United States Champions also earn a spot at the final Grand Slam of the season, the Champions Cup,[5] which was also cancelled due to the pandemic. Team Shuster's qualification will instead carry over to the 2021 Champions Cup.[6]

Qualification

There were three ways for teams to qualify for the championship:

Top five American teams in the World Curling Federation (WCF) World Team Ranking System on Dec 2, 2019[3]
- Team Dropkin
- Team Ruohonen
- Team Shuster
- Team Dunnam
- Team Birr
Four teams from the 2020 United States Men's Challenge Round[7]
- 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, from January 2 to 5.[8] Through a triple knockout competition the top four teams secured a spot at the National Championship.[9] Jed Brundidge was the first to secure a spot, defeating Dominik Märki 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 defeated Nicholas Connolly for the fourth and final Nationals berth.[10] Steven Birklid's team finished the Challenge Round as the alternate team.

Teams

Ten teams participated in the 2020 national championship.[11]

Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Alternate	Locale
Korey Dropkin	Tom Howell	Mark Fenner	Alex Fenson	Joe Polo	Chaska, Minnesota
Todd Birr	Andrew Stopera	Hunter Clawson	Tom O’Connor		Ham Lake, Minnesota
Jed Brundidge	Evan Workin	Jarl Timothy Wagner	Cameron Rittenour		West St. Paul, Minnesota
Scott Dunnam	Alex Leichter	Cody Clouser	Andrew Dunnam	Daniel Dudt	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Kevin Kakela	Kyle Kakela	Timothy Hodek	JP Munich	Owen Sampson	Rolla, North Dakota
Rich Ruohonen	Greg Persinger	Colin Hufman	Phil Tilker	Kroy Nernberger	Minneapolis, Minnesota
John Shuster	Chris Plys	Matt Hamilton	John Landsteiner		Duluth, Minnesota
Dominik Märki	Stephen Dropkin	Shawn Banyai	Erik Quistgaard	Jason Smith	Chaska, Minnesota
Steven Birklid	Sam Galey	Matt Birklid	Chris Bond	Daniel Plys	Mountlake Terrace, Washington
Chase Sinnett	Sam Strouse	Eli Clawson	Ethan Sampson	Trevor Marquardt	Medfield, Massachusetts

Round robin standings

Final Round Robin Standings

Key
	Teams to Playoffs

Skip	W	L
John Shuster	9	0
Rich Ruohonen	7	2
Dominik Märki	5	4
Chase Sinnett	5	4
Steven Birklid	4	5
Korey Dropkin	4	5
Scott Dunnam	4	5
Todd Birr	3	6
Kevin Kakela	3	6
Jed Brundidge	1	8

Round robin results

All draw times are listed in Pacific Standard Time (UTC−08:00).

Draw 1

Saturday, February 8, 7:30 pm

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Korey Dropkin	2	2	0	1	0	0	2	0	X	X	7
Kevin Kakela	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	X	X	3

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
Todd Birr	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	1	1	1	0	7
Scott Dunnam	0	3	0	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	8

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Rich Ruohonen	4	2	0	3	3	X	X	X	X	X	12
Jed Brundidge	0	0	1	0	0	X	X	X	X	X	1

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
John Shuster	0	2	0	2	0	1	0	3	X	X	8
Dominik Märki	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	X	X	3

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Chase Sinnett	1	0	2	0	1	0	3	1	0	X	8
Steven Birklid	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	1	X	5

Draw 2

Sunday, February 9, 12:00 pm

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
John Shuster	5	0	4	1	X	X	X	X	X	X	10
Steven Birklid	0	1	0	0	X	X	X	X	X	X	1

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Jed Brundidge	0	0	0	1	0	X	X	X	X	X	1
Dominik Märki	3	2	2	0	3	X	X	X	X	X	10

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Chase Sinnett	1	0	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	2	7
Todd Birr	0	2	1	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	6

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Scott Dunnam	0	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	5
Korey Dropkin	0	2	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	1	7

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Kevin Kakela	1	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	X	5
Rich Ruohonen	0	3	0	1	0	2	0	2	1	X	9

Draw 3

Sunday, February 9, 8:00 pm

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Scott Dunnam	2	0	2	1	2	0	0	2	X	X	9
Chase Sinnett	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	X	X	4

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Rich Ruohonen	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	X	4
John Shuster	0	0	0	1	1	0	3	1	1	X	7

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Steven Birklid	0	1	0	1	0	0	3	1	0	0	6
Dominik Märki	1	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	1	3	9

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Todd Birr	0	0	2	0	5	0	5	X	X	X	12
Kevin Kakela	0	3	0	1	0	1	0	X	X	X	5

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Korey Dropkin	0	1	0	1	1	0	3	0	0	1	7
Jed Brundidge	2	0	1	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	6

Draw 4

Monday, February 10, 10:00 am

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Rich Ruohonen	1	1	0	0	0	3	2	X	X	X	7
Dominik Märki	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	X	X	X	1

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Chase Sinnett	2	0	0	1	1	3	0	1	X	X	8
Korey Dropkin	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	X	2

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Scott Dunnam	0	0	1	1	0	1	0	2	1	0	6
Kevin Kakela	0	2	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	2	7

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Steven Birklid	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	2	1	X	7
Jed Brundidge	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	X	3

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Todd Birr	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	X	4
John Shuster	0	2	0	4	1	0	0	0	1	X	8

Draw 5

Monday, February 10, 7:00 pm

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Jed Brundidge	1	0	2	2	1	2	X	X	X	X	8
Todd Birr	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	X	X	X	0

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Kevin Kakela	1	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	X	4
Steven Birklid	0	3	0	0	0	1	2	1	3	X	10

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Korey Dropkin	2	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	9
John Shuster	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	1	0	3	10

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Chase Sinnett	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	X	X	X	1
Rich Ruohonen	2	1	0	2	0	1	1	X	X	X	7

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Scott Dunnam	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0	X	X	3
Dominik Märki	3	2	1	1	0	0	0	1	X	X	8

Draw 6

Tuesday, February 11, 2:00 pm

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Steven Birklid	1	0	2	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	7
Korey Dropkin	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	0	6

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Scott Dunnam	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	1	5
Rich Ruohonen	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	4

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Jed Brundidge	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	1	X	5
Chase Sinnett	2	0	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	X	7

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Dominik Märki	2	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	7
Todd Birr	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	2	1	0	8

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
John Shuster	1	0	2	0	3	0	2	1	X	X	9
Kevin Kakela	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	X	X	3

Draw 7

Wednesday, February 12, 9:00 am

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Chase Sinnett	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	0	X	X	3
John Shuster	1	0	1	0	0	5	0	1	X	X	8

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Dominik Märki	0	1	1	0	0	2	0	2	0	X	6
Kevin Kakela	3	0	0	2	1	0	2	0	2	X	10

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Todd Birr	2	0	3	0	2	0	2	0	1	X	10
Steven Birklid	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	X	5

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Jed Brundidge	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	0	X	4
Scott Dunnam	0	1	0	1	0	1	1	3	1	X	8

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Rich Ruohonen	3	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	X	7
Korey Dropkin	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	X	4

Draw 8

Wednesday, February 12, 7:00 pm

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Todd Birr	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	X	4
Rich Ruohonen	2	0	1	0	1	0	2	0	2	X	8

Sheet B	Final
John Shuster	W
Jed Brundidge	L

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Dominik Märki	0	1	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	X	5
Korey Dropkin	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	1	X	4

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Kevin Kakela	0	1	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	X	4
Chase Sinnett	5	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	2	X	10

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Steven Birklid	0	0	1	1	1	2	0	1	0	1	7
Scott Dunnam	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	2	0	6

Draw 9

Thursday, February 13, 2:00 pm

Sheet A	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Kevin Kakela	0	3	3	0	1	0	1	2	X	X	10
Jed Brundidge	1	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	X	X	5

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Korey Dropkin	2	3	0	1	2	2	X	X	X	X	10
Todd Birr	0	0	2	0	0	0	X	X	X	X	2

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
John Shuster	0	1	1	1	0	3	0	0	1	X	7
Scott Dunnam	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	X	4

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Rich Ruohonen	0	3	0	0	0	4	0	2	0	2	11
Steven Birklid	2	0	2	1	3	0	1	0	1	0	10

Sheet E	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	Final
Dominik Märki	1	0	3	0	0	2	0	2	0	0	1	9
Chase Sinnett	0	2	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	8

Playoffs

Page playoff system			Semifinal			Final

1	John Shuster	8
2	Rich Ruohonen	2				1	John Shuster	8
			2	Rich Ruohonen	9	2	Rich Ruohonen	6
			4	Chase Sinnett	5
3	Dominik Märki	2
4	Chase Sinnett	6

1 vs. 2

Friday, February 14, 12:00 pm

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
John Shuster	1	0	1	0	2	0	4	X	X	X	8
Rich Ruohonen	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	X	X	X	2

Player percentages
Team Shuster		Team Ruohonen
John Landsteiner	87%	Kroy Nernberger	91%
Matt Hamilton	80%	Colin Hufman	68%
Chris Plys	86%	Greg Persinger	79%
John Shuster	90%	Rich Ruohonen	81%
Total	86%	Total	79%

3 vs. 4

Friday, February 14, 12:00 pm

Sheet B	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Dominik Märki	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	X	2
Chase Sinnett	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	1	1	X	6

Player percentages
Team Märki		Team Sinnett
Erik Quistgaard	76%	Trevor Marquardt	83%
Stephen Dropkin	78%	Ethan Sampson	88%
Dominik Märki	77%	Sam Strouse	89%
Jason Smith	78%	Chase Sinnett	89%
Total	77%	Total	87%

Semifinal

Friday, February 14, 7:00 pm

Sheet D	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
Rich Ruohonen	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	4	1	9
Chase Sinnett	1	0	0	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	5

Player percentages
Team Ruohonen		Team Sinnett
Phil Tilker	90%	Trevor Marquardt	87%
Colin Hufman	67%	Eli Clawson	84%
Greg Persinger	84%	Sam Strouse	71%
Rich Ruohonen	72%	Chase Sinnett	78%
Total	78%	Total	80%

Final

Saturday, February 15, 5:00 pm

Sheet C	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Final
John Shuster	1	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	1	1	8
Rich Ruohonen	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	0	6

Player percentages
Team Shuster		Team Ruohonen
John Landsteiner	95%	Phil Tilker	86%
Matt Hamilton	79%	Colin Hufman	65%
Chris Plys	79%	Greg Persinger	57%
John Shuster	83%	Rich Ruohonen	85%
Total	84%	Total	73%

2020 United States Men's Curling Championship
John Shuster 7th United States Championship title

References

Gewirtz, Jason (Nov 1, 2018). "Spokane to Host 2020 USA Curling National Championship". Sports Travel Magazine. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.
Schneider, Angela (2020-02-15). "John Shuster caps unbeaten run through USA Curling Nationals with win over Rich Ruohonen in final". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 2020-02-19.
"First nine teams qualify to 2020 Nationals". USA Curling. Dec 4, 2019. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.
"Canadian curling continues to get hammered by novel coronavirus cancellations". The Star. Mar 14, 2020. Retrieved Apr 27, 2020.
"Ruohonen Joins Shuster in Top Page Game". USA Curling. 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2020-02-13.
"2020 Humpty's Champions Cup teams to keep spots for next season". Grand Slam of Curling. Mar 18, 2020. Retrieved Apr 27, 2020.
"2020 Nationals field nearly complete". USA Curling. Jan 5, 2020. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.
"Challenge Round on tap after New Year". USA Curling. Dec 19, 2019. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.
Miller, Tom (Jan 2, 2020). "Former Minnesota Viking Jared Allen's curling experiment playing out in Grand Forks". Duluth News Tribune. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.
"2020 USA Men's Challenge Round – C Event". CurlingZone. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.
"Qualified teams, 2020 USA Curling National Championships". USA Curling. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.

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[1] Gewirtz, Jason (Nov 1, 2018). "Spokane to Host 2020 USA Curling National Championship". Sports Travel Magazine. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.

[2] Schneider, Angela (2020-02-15). "John Shuster caps unbeaten run through USA Curling Nationals with win over Rich Ruohonen in final". The Spokesman-Review. Retrieved 2020-02-19.

[:0-3] "First nine teams qualify to 2020 Nationals". USA Curling. Dec 4, 2019. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.

[4] "Canadian curling continues to get hammered by novel coronavirus cancellations". The Star. Mar 14, 2020. Retrieved Apr 27, 2020.

[5] "Ruohonen Joins Shuster in Top Page Game". USA Curling. 2020-02-12. Retrieved 2020-02-13.

[6] "2020 Humpty's Champions Cup teams to keep spots for next season". Grand Slam of Curling. Mar 18, 2020. Retrieved Apr 27, 2020.

[7] "2020 Nationals field nearly complete". USA Curling. Jan 5, 2020. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.

[8] "Challenge Round on tap after New Year". USA Curling. Dec 19, 2019. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.

[9] Miller, Tom (Jan 2, 2020). "Former Minnesota Viking Jared Allen's curling experiment playing out in Grand Forks". Duluth News Tribune. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.

[10] "2020 USA Men's Challenge Round – C Event". CurlingZone. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.

[11] "Qualified teams, 2020 USA Curling National Championships". USA Curling. Retrieved Jan 13, 2020.