OMAHA – With his team down 3-0 after the first end Wednesday night, Todd Birr didn't panic. "We've all been through this before, multiple times," he said of himself and his curling team. "I just didn't get that excited about it. You just keep playing."
Birr showed that same kind of doggedness last summer, when he fought to get his team a berth in the U.S. Olympic trials for curling after it was initially left out of the field. Wednesday, that attitude kept Team Birr in the hunt for the final playoff spot. The skip and his teammates made several big-time shots to beat Team Heath McCormick 8-6 in an extra end at Baxter Arena, forcing a tiebreaker to see who will face John Shuster in the best-of-three playoffs.
Shuster wrapped up the top seed in the men's draw as round-robin play ended Wednesday, finishing with a 6-2 record over five days of play. Birr and McCormick play at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, with the winner taking on Shuster in the playoff opener Thursday night.
Jamie Sinclair of St. Paul captured the top seed on the women's side, finishing with a 4-2 record—the same as Nina Roth, who will face Sinclair in the playoffs starting Thursday afternoon. The playoff winners will represent the U.S. at this February's Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
It will be a quick turnaround for Birr's team after an emotionally draining 11 ends Wednesday. Team McCormick would have secured the second playoff berth with a victory, but after scoring three in the first end, it was blanked for the next six as Birr seized a 5-3 lead. McCormick, who missed several shots during the game, was unable to convert a tough one in the 11th end to give Birr two points and the victory.
"It didn't start the way we wanted it to," said Birr, whose team finished the round robin with a 5-3 record to tie McCormick in the standings. "We're not an offensive-minded team. We try to keep control of games and not get in too much trouble. We had to get out of our game plan right away, but fortunately, by midgame, we were able to get back into it.''
Birr, the head icemaker at Four Seasons Curling Club in Blaine, was the U.S. champion and world bronze medalist in 2007.
His team, which also includes John Benton of Blaine, Hunter Clawson of Clarksville, Md., and Tom O'Connor of Brooklyn Center, was not among the teams chosen by USA Curling officials last spring for the four-team trials field.
The team got an attorney, Marcus Beyer, who challenged Birr's omission based on the stated criteria for selection. By a 2-1 vote, USA Curling's judiciary hearing panel decided in September to add Team Birr to the field.
Shuster, a Chisholm native and three-time Olympian, rolled through the trials with teammates Tyler George, John Landsteiner and Joe Polo of Duluth and Matt Hamilton of McFarland, Wis. The two-time U.S. champions and 2016 world bronze medalists are playing with confidence and precision, aided by their experience in high-stakes events.
"You see a lot of nervousness going on out here, and really, we haven't had too much of that,'' Shuster said. "I'm really proud of how the team is playing.''
Roth's team finished 4-2, including a 1-2 record against Sinclair. Tabitha Peterson of Eagan, vice skip for Team Roth, said her foursome emerged from the grind of the round robin on an upward trajectory. Sinclair, of St. Paul, said the same of her team.
It has been a bumpier road for Birr, who lost 7-2 to Shuster in Wednesday's early session and said afterward his team might have been looking ahead to the game against McCormick.
Like he did when his team was left out of the trials, Birr took a deep breath, regrouped and prevailed.
"It's just absolutely great," Birr said, reflecting on his long road just to be included. "[The trials] are a dogfight. You don't try to think about it. You just keep playing."
