2012 United States Men's Curling Championship Explained

2012 United States Men's Curling Championship
Size:	250
Host City:	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Arena:	IceWorks Skating Complex
Dates:	February 11–18
Winner:	Heath McCormick
Curling Club:	Ardlsey CC, Irvington, New York
Skip:	Heath McCormick
Third:	Bill Stopera
Second:	Martin Sather
Lead:	Dean Gemmell
Finalist:	Pete Fenson
Prev:	2011
Next:	2013

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).^[1] ^[2] 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.^[3]

Road to the Nationals

See main article: 2012 United States Men's Curling Championship – Qualification. 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.^[4] 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:^[5]

Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Alternate	Locale	Qualification Method
						Special Exemption
						Order of Merit^[6]
						Order of Merit
						Laurel Qualifier
						Seattle Qualifier
						Grand Forks Qualifier
						Grand Forks Qualifier
						Green Bay Qualifier
						Challenge Round
						Challenge Round
						Challenge Round

Round-robin standings

Final round-robin standings

width=150	Skip	width=15	W	width=15	L	width=20	PF	width=20	PA	width=40	Ends Won	width=40	Ends Lost	width=40	Blank Ends	width=40	Stolen Ends
	10	0	82	52	52	34	4	24
	9	1	73	39	43	34	8	11
	7	3	76	55	45	38	8	11
	6	4	75	57	45	41	6	13
	5	5	62	66	39	45	12	9
	4	6	68	74	43	48	7	5
	4	6	68	65	43	42	6	11
	4	6	52	66	37	42	9	5
	3	7	47	66	32	43	9	7
	2	7	48	70	39	42	7	12
	1	9	42	73	36	46	6	12

Round-robin results

All times listed in Eastern Standard Time.^[7]

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
	83%		84%
	83%		88%
	71%		67%
	82%		76%
Total	80%	Total	79%

3 vs. 4 game

Friday, February 17, 12:00 pm

Player Percentages
Craig Brown	John Shuster
	90%		90%
	81%		73%
	62%		84%
	80%		85%
Total	78%	Total	83%

Semifinal

Friday, February 17, 8:00 pm

Player Percentages
Pete Fenson	John Shuster
	78%		85%
	82%		89%
	69%		76%
	82%		77%
Total	78%	Total	82%

Championship final

Saturday, February 18, 3:00 pm

Player Percentages
Heath McCormick	Pete Fenson
	78%		71%
	83%		89%
	73%		82%
	74%		73%
Total	77%	Total	79%

External links

Notes and References

Web site: Championships/Nationals/saturday21911.pdf .
Web site: philly.pdf .
Web site: 19 August 2011 . U.S. Curling Association – Athlete Selection Procedures for the 2014 Olympic Games . USA Curling.
Web site: 2011–12 USCA Championships Rules and Procedures . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111215232933/http://www.usacurl.org/curlingrocks/images/crb_6.pdf . 2011-12-15 . 2011-11-27.
Web site: Qualified teams to Nationals .
Web site: Qualified teams, 2012 Nationals . USA Curling.
Web site: Draw Schedule . PDF.