The 2012 United States Men's Curling Championship took place from February 11 to 18 at the IceWorks Skating Complex in Aston, Pennsylvania, (with the host city being listed as Philadelphia). It was held in conjunction with the 2012 United States Women's Curling Championship. The winning team, skipped by Heath McCormick, represented the United States at the 2012 Capital One World Men's Curling Championship in Basel, Switzerland. The first and second placed teams, skipped respectively by Heath McCormick and Pete Fenson, earned qualification spots to the 2014 United States Olympic Curling Trials, which will determine the teams that will represent the United States at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Road to the Nationals
As with last year, teams qualified for the men's nationals by qualifying automatically through the World Curling Tour Order of Merit, through regional qualifiers, or through a challenge round. Two teams qualified via the Order of Merit, five teams qualified through the regional qualifiers, and the remaining three teams qualified through the challenge round. The regional qualifiers in Green Bay, Seattle, Grand Forks, and Laurel each received one or more qualifying spots, which were awarded to the top finishers from the qualifiers. Teams that were not awarded a qualification spot but were top finishers were invited to the challenge round, where the top three teams qualified.
The Pete Fenson rink stood as an exception to the preceding rules. Since Fenson and his team were scheduled to represent the United States in the 2012 USA-Brazil Challenge, which was cancelled, they received an automatic berth into the nationals, regardless of their Order of Merit standing. Because they were not one of the top two Order of Merit teams, the Fenson rink participated as the eleventh team in the nationals.
Teams Eleven teams participated in the national championship, one more team than usual, due to the Fenson rink's scheduled participation in the USA-Brazil Challenge. The teams are listed as follows: SkipThirdSecondLeadAlternateLocaleQualification Method Pete Fenson Shawn Rojeski Joe Polo Ryan Brunt Bemidji, Minnesota Special Exemption Tyler George Christopher Plys Rich Ruohonen Colin Hufman Duluth, Minnesota Order of Merit Craig Brown Kroy Nernberger Matt Hamilton Derrick Casper Madison, Wisconsin Order of Merit Heath McCormick Bill Stopera Martin Sather Dean Gemmell New York, New York Laurel Qualifier Brady Clark Darren Lehto Leon Romaniuk Steve Lundeen Wes Johnson Seattle, Washington Seattle Qualifier John Shuster Zach Jacobson Jared Zezel John Landsteiner Duluth, Minnesota Grand Forks Qualifier Owen Sampson Ned Sampson Tucker Smith Kyle Young Edmore, North Dakota Grand Forks Qualifier Blake Morton Marcus Fonger Tommy Juszczyk Calvin Weber McFarland, Wisconsin Green Bay Qualifier Eric Fenson Trevor Andrews Quentin Way Mark Lazar Bemidji, Minnesota Challenge Round Mike Farbelow Kevin Deeren Kraig Deeren Tim Solin Minneapolis, Minnesota Challenge Round Todd Birr Greg Romaniuk Doug Pottinger Thomas O'Connor Kevin Birr Mankato, Minnesota Challenge Round
Round-robin standings Final round-robin standings SkipWLPFPAEnds WonEnds LostBlank EndsStolen Ends Heath McCormick 10 0 82 52 52 34 4 24 Pete Fenson 9 1 73 39 43 34 8 11 Craig Brown 7 3 76 55 45 38 8 11 John Shuster 6 4 75 57 45 41 6 13 Brady Clark 5 5 62 66 39 45 12 9 Todd Birr 4 6 68 74 43 48 7 5 Tyler George 4 6 68 65 43 42 6 11 Mike Farbelow 4 6 52 66 37 42 9 5 Eric Fenson 3 7 47 66 32 43 9 7 Owen Sampson 2 7 48 70 39 42 7 12 Blake Morton 1 9 42 73 36 46 6 12
Round-robin results All times listed in Eastern Standard Time.
Draw 1 Saturday, February 11, 8:30 pm
Draw 2 Sunday, February 12, 12:00 pm
Draw 3 Sunday, February 12, 8:00 pm
Draw 4 Monday, February 13, 12:00 pm
Draw 5 Monday, February 13, 8:00 pm
Draw 6 Tuesday, February 14, 8:00 am
Draw 7 Tuesday, February 14, 4:00 pm
Draw 8 Wednesday, February 15, 8:00 am
Draw 9 Wednesday, February 15, 4:00 pm
Draw 10 Thursday, February 16, 8:00 am
Draw 11 Thursday, February 16, 12:00 pm
Playoffs
1 vs. 2 game Friday, February 17, 12:00 pm
Player Percentages Heath McCormick Pete Fenson Dean Gemmell 83% Ryan Brunt 84% Martin Sather 83% Joe Polo 88% Bill Stopera 71% Shawn Rojeski 67% Heath McCormick 82% Pete Fenson 76% Total 80% Total 79%
3 vs. 4 game Friday, February 17, 12:00 pm
Player Percentages Craig Brown John Shuster Derrick Casper 90% John Landsteiner 90% Matt Hamilton 81% Jared Zezel 73% Kroy Nernberger 62% Zach Jacobson 84% Craig Brown 80% John Shuster 85% Total 78% Total 83%
Semifinal Friday, February 17, 8:00 pm
Player Percentages Pete Fenson John Shuster Ryan Brunt 78% John Landsteiner 85% Joe Polo 82% Jared Zezel 89% Shawn Rojeski 69% Zach Jacobson 76% Pete Fenson 82% John Shuster 77% Total 78% Total 82%
Championship final Saturday, February 18, 3:00 pm
Player Percentages Heath McCormick Pete Fenson Dean Gemmell 78% Ryan Brunt 71% Martin Sather 83% Joe Polo 89% Bill Stopera 73% Shawn Rojeski 82% Heath McCormick 74% Pete Fenson 73% Total 77% Total 79%
References
External links 2012 Nationals Home USA Curling Home