Shuster prepares team for final pre-Olympic tourney

In the men's team's final competition before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, John Shuster will lead his American team at the Canadian Open in Winnipeg, Canada, starting Thursday at the MTS Centre. The 18-team tournament features Canada's Olympic representative - Kevin Martin, as well as Norway's Olympic team skipped by Thomas Ulsrud, and many of the other top Canadian curling teams.

Quarterfinal queen
Debbie McCormick's 2010 U.S. Olympic Team for Women's Curling finished up its preparation phase Sunday by reaching the playoffs at the Glynhill Ladies International competition in Scotland. McCormick (Rio, Wis.) and teammates Allison Pottinger (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Nicole Joraanstad (Madison, Wis.) and Natalie Nicholson (Bemidji, Minn.) earned the playoff berth with a tiebreaker win but would fall in the quarterfinal to finish with a 4-3 record.

Junior challenge
The 2010 USA Curling Junior National Championships get underway Saturday at the Bemidji Curling Club in Bemidji, Minn. Ten men's and 10 women's teams will compete to earn a right to wear USA at the 2010 World Junior Championships in March in Flims, Switzerland. Action continues through Jan. 30 with the gold-medal matches.

Brazil battle
2006 Olympic bronze medalist Pete Fenson (Bemidji, Minn.) will represent the U.S. at the Americas Challenge to determine the final North American berth for the 2010 Men's World Championship in April in Cortina, Italy. Fenson and teammates Shawn Rojeski (Chisholm, Minn.), Joe Polo (Duluth, Minn.) and Tyler George (Duluth, Minn.) will play the Brazilian team skipped by Celso Kossaka Feb. 6-7 in a best three-out-of-five competition in Grafton, N.D. The Brazilian federation is challenging the U.S. for the second year in a row. Todd Birr's team won three straight matches last year to earn the berth for the U.S. Canada, with a better ranking than the U.S. at last year's world championship, earned the first North American berth.

Content courtesy of: USA Curling