DULUTH — Other than perhaps baseball, the concept of “home” is more deeply ingrained in curling than most other sports.
After all, that circle of rings the curlers are aiming at is called “the house.”
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But home can sometimes be a rare experience for elite American curlers. They go where the competition is, whether it be Saskatchewan or Switzerland.
But starting on Monday, the house is at home for several Duluth curlers at the top of the sport, as the DECC Arena hosts the USA Curling Men’s and Women’s Nationals.
More than a decade ago, Korey Dropkin relocated from Massachusetts to Duluth and the University of Minnesota Duluth because he wanted to pursue better opportunities in the sport.
"I love it. I've come to grow very fond of Duluth. One of the beauties of Duluth is the curling club and how welcoming the community has been from day one," he said.
He found them, as his team of “Young Bucks” currently is 15th in the world rankings and the top American rink, one position ahead of John Shuster and his 2018 Olympic gold medal-winning rink.
Dropkin and Andrew Stopera (Briarcliff Manor, New York), Mark Fenner (Bemidji) and Thomas Howell (Milwaukee) just took sixth in a strong field at a Grand Slam of Curling event in Guelph, Ontario in which all five teams finishing ahead of them are ranked in the world top 10.
Though many of them will be “at home,” they may not be “at home.” Dropkin said his team is staying at a local Airbnb to retain focus. That’s not a far-fetched idea: so is John Shuster’s rink, and defending women’s champion Team Tabitha Peterson, including Duluthian Cory Thiesse.
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Elite competition often requires major travel. Many teams have found it necessary to replicate the situation, even if the tournament, in Minnesota for the first time since 2008 (Hibbing) and in Duluth for the first time since 1999, is a lot easier to get to.
“It’s definitely a thing. We’re used to being in our own little bubble away from everyone. We’re treating it as much as we can being away and being with our team,” Thiesse said.
Dropkin is no rookie — his team won the 2021 national championship, the only one of the last five that wasn’t won by John Shuster’s rink. Shuster’s group sat that one out, as it was postponed to after that year’s World Championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Including the 2024 event that took place in a East Rutherford, New Jersey shopping mall, Shuster (raised in Chisholm, living in Superior and based out of the Duluth Curling Club) has now skipped seven national championship squads, all since 2009, and served on three other winning teams.
At present, Shuster’s rink is one spot behind Dropkin’s in the world rankings. With such a depth of experience and success, Team Shuster (including Chris Plys of Duluth, Colin Hufman of St. Paul, Matt Hamilton of McFarland, Wisconsin and John Landsteiner of Duluth) has been selective about its schedule but also successful. They took second at the Golden Wrench Classic in Tempe, Arizona earlier this month, made the playoffs at the KIOTI National in Newfoundland over Thanksgiving, and took a bronze medal at the Pan Continental Curling Championships in Lacombe, Alberta in late October and early November.
“The games we’ve lost, we’ve lost some close games, but as of late, we’ve been playing extremely, extremely well,” Shuster said.
Starting on Monday evening (men) and Tuesday morning (women), each of the eight teams will play each other before playoffs on Saturday, Feb. 1 and the men’s and women’s championships on Sunday, Feb. 2.
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The Duluth Curling Club has approximately 700 members. Combine that with fans all over the state and the country, and turnout at the DECC is expected to be strong, and in that environment, Shuster said he expects to hear familiar voices in the crowd.
“My comfort in having people to see you, hear you and being able to see them, hear them is taking advantage of that energy,” he said. “Those are the things that just remind me I’m playing a game, something I love doing, and know it’s not life or death.”
The round-robin match between teams Shuster and Dropkin is scheduled for Thursday night.
On the women’s side, it’s been a transitional season for Thiesse and her Team Peterson colleagues, the two-time defending national champs, as both skip Tabitha Peterson and her sister and second Tara had children in the past year. Still Thiesse said she believes the group is finding its form and is ready to defend their title, even if being the champions means having a proverbial target on their back.
It’s important, not just for this week or the upcoming world championships to which the winners will go later this year (men in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, women in South Korea), but as momentum builds in the qualifying cycle for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy.
“It’s extremely important. We’re kind of seeing this as step No. 1 and just wanting to play our best and make sure at the end of the week that it’s us doing that,” Thiesse said.
Thiesse is technically a three-time defending champion, as she skipped a rink to the 2021 title before joining Peterson’s unit.
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Right now, the rink of Midland, Michigan-based Delaney Strouse is the top American squad in the world rankings (22nd). Team Peterson follows in 30th, while the all-Duluth rink skipped by Courtney Benson with Aileen Geving, Lexi Daly and Sara Olson defeated Team Peterson, Team Strouse and three other rinks competing next week at the Duluth Cash Spiel at the nearby Duluth Curling Club just before Christmas.
The Peterson-Benson match is in the last draw of the round-robin on Friday night, with Peterson vs. Strouse on Wednesday night and Benson vs. Strouse on Friday morning.
On Sunday, we’ll see which teams take national championships home.
“For us as players, it’s always special competing for a national championship, but to be able to do that at home with friends and family watching, it’s going to be extra special,” Thiesse said.
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