New face in curling already a mainstay

Rugby was the first to go. Then Chris Plys had to cut back on his snowboarding, knowing any injury would threaten his career in the sport that was now winning him medals around the world.

Curling is not exactly X Games territory. But as the current prodigy among U.S. men, Plys was willing to give up some of the edgy thrills he used to pursue to dedicate himself fully to a more sedate game.

His reward, at age 21, is a berth in next month's U.S. Olympic Trials.

Duluth's Team Plys won last weekend's Midwest South qualifier in Centerville, Wis., to earn an automatic invitation to the curling trials in Broomfield, Colo. The reigning junior world champions joined a former junior champion and fellow Minnesotan, Cassie (Johnson) Potter, among seven teams with Minnesota connections to lock up a trials spot in the first round of qualifying.

Curling will be the first U.S. sport to set its team for the 2010 Winter Olympics when it holds the trials Feb. 21-28. Since the sport gained Olympic status in 1998, Minnesotans have been part of all three men's teams and two women's teams at the Winter Games.

"We're so young, we've got a lot of years ahead of us," said Plys, whose teammates range in age from 19 to 21. "It's such a rush to be playing with these older guys.

"It's a lot different from rugby, that's for sure. But curling is a great sport; it's a tight-knit community, and we've been able to travel to different countries and do what we love to do. It's been quite a ride."

Plys' team went 5-1 at the Midwest South regional. Teams skipped by Todd Birr of Mankato, Tyler George of Duluth and Mike Farbelow of Minneapolis also qualified for the Olympic Trials, while three other teams with Minnesota connections -- including that of Pete Fenson, the 2006 Olympic bronze medalist -- can qualify later this month at a challenge round.

Potter's team ran the table, finishing 5-0 to top a group of three Minnesota-linked teams that advanced to the trials. Three others will go to the challenge round, which will fill out a bracket of 10 men's and 10 women's teams for the trials. The winners in each gender will represent the United States at the Olympics and at the 2009 world championships.

Unlike many of Minnesota's curling stars, Plys is not a legacy. He picked up the sport at age 11 at the suggestion of his dad, who had friends who played. Plys started in the junior program at the Duluth Curling Club and liked it enough to find time to wedge it in between rugby, soccer, snowboarding and hockey.

When he saw other players traveling to Europe, he got more serious. Plys picked the brains of older players and studied the game intently. He quickly rose from state high school champion to state junior champion to U.S. junior champ in 2006; last year, he and teammates Aanders Brorson, Matt Perushek and Matt Hamilton became the first American men in 24 years to win a world junior championship.

"To win that tournament, to hold up that trophy, was just amazing," Plys said. "The U.S. is overlooked a lot of times, because we're not consistently on the medal stand. We were fifth in 2007, and our goal was to make it back and get on the podium. We didn't care which medal we got, but it was great that it was gold."

Plys is half the age of other top Minnesota skips, but he said older players have been gracious and generous. His elders recognize he is the next link in maintaining the state's curling traditions, he said, and they have willingly offered advice and support.

Plys took this year off from Lake Superior College to devote himself fully to curling. On the women's side, the Johnson sisters -- young world champions themselves in 2002 -- have stayed with the game as their lives have moved on. Cassie was married to Corrie Potter in 2007, and Jamie married Nate Haskell in 2006.

With teammates Jessica Schultz and Maureen Brunt, the Johnsons finished second in the 2005 world championships but compiled a 2-7 record at the Turin Olympics, missing out on the medals. For their run at a second Winter Games, they brought in two new team members -- Wisconsinites Jackie Lemke and Laura Roessler -- and have come together quickly since their first competition in October.

"We all have families and lives now," Potter said. "But we really wanted to get a second chance at the Olympics. We all love curling."

Rachel Blount • rblount@startribune.com