Neal: Curling national championships in Duluth bring it all back around for John Shuster

John Shuster was watching curling practice at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center on Monday when he looked into the stands and remembered where it all began.

“The stage was set where the home end is set up here,” said Shuster, from neighboring Superior, Wis. “My seats were about where the top of the house is on Sheet C.”

Shuster was in the audience in January 2006 to watch Brad Paisley, Sara Evans and Billy Currington in concert. It was his first date with the woman who would eventually become Sara Shuster.

Chris Plys, who is from Duluth, spent plenty of time in the DECC (pronounced “the deck”).

“The Shrine Circus and Monster Jam and back when we had the Duluth Lumberjacks indoor football team there for a couple years,” he said. “Just growing up, going to a million things there.

“It’s gonna be really special to have a curling event in a building where I spent so much of my childhood.”

Shuster and Plys also attended Minnesota Duluth hockey games there. Gophers fans know the DECC is where their team often was on the wrong end of questionable refereeing decisions when the Gophers played the Bulldogs.

Shuster and Plys, along with teammates John Landsteiner, Matt Hamilton and Colin Hufman, are in Duluth this week for the USA Curling national championships, a checkpoint toward the 2026 Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. Landsteiner also is from Duluth. Hamilton is from McFarland, Wis. Hufman was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, but considers St. Paul his home.

The event, unbelievably, is in Minnesota for the first time since 2008, when Hibbing hosted it. It’s in Duluth for the first time since 1999.

This is startling, given how the game has grown in Minnesota and the impact the state has had on USA Curling. This is a strange yet wonderful sport. It’s the rare time when it’s OK to throw a rock toward a house. If you’re not competing for national glory, there are adult beverages to enjoy while shooting. Folks in the Upper Midwest seem to combine the two activities well.

The women’s field is highlighted by Team Peterson, consisting of Tabitha Peterson and sister Tara — both from Eagan — and Cory Thiesse of Duluth, Taylor Anderson-Heide of Philadelphia and Vicky Persinger of Fairbanks. Tabitha Peterson’s team is shooting for its third consecutive national championship. Both Tabitha and Tara are back on the sheet after giving birth — Tara in September, Tabitha in November.

Different variations of Team Shuster — hat tip to former team member Tyler George — have won six national championships. But the competition is getting stronger. Team Shuster is ranked 16th in the world. A team led by another Duluth-area curler, Korey Dropkin, is ranked 15th. Danny Casper heads a team out of Chaska that is ranked 22nd.

This week is a battle royale among the three teams. Team Shuster, which lost to Team Casper 9-8 in 11 ends during round-robin play Wednesday, feels the challenge.

“We’ve won the last two national championships since the Olympics and, you know, I think we’ve gotten better,” Shuster said. “Actually, I know we’ve gotten better. The hope is just to continue to grow and continue on a path [where] we can win another national championship this week and compete for a world championship, and then to win the Olympic trials and potentially the Olympics.

That would be six Olympics for Shuster, 42, which makes him one of the more recognizable faces in world curling. Tabitha Peterson is aiming for her third Olympics; it would be Tara’s second. The sisters are the lone holdovers from the Beijing team.

The Olympic cycle is approaching, so teams want to build momentum. After this week’s national championships, the world championships take place in March, with the women’s tournament in South Korea and the men’s tournament in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. The U.S. Olympic curling trials begin Nov. 7 in Sioux Falls, within driving range of this curling-crazed region. Then it’s off to Italy for the 2026 Olympics, just more than a year out.

Shuster and Plys have spent their lives attending events at the DECC. Shuster became smitten with Sara there. The Duluth-area curlers should be proud as the championships take place on their turf.

But this is the State of Curling. Minnesota shouldn’t have to wait another 17 years to host again.