Chris Plys Explained

Christopher Plys
Birth Date:13 August 1987
Birth Place:Duluth, Minnesota
Curling Club:Duluth CC,
Duluth, MN[1]
Skip:John Shuster
Third:Chris Plys
Second:Colin Hufman
Lead:John Landsteiner
Alternate:Matt Hamilton
World Championship Appearances:6
Olympic Appearances:2 (2010, 2022)

Christopher Plys (; born August 13, 1987) is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. He currently plays third on Team John Shuster. He is a World Junior Champion and four-time National Men's Champion. He was the alternate for the United States men's team at the 2010 Winter Olympics and a member of both the men's team and the mixed doubles team at the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Career

Plys started curling in 1998 at the age of eleven.[2] He competed at seven Junior National Championships in a row, winning five of them, including four in a row as skip to finish his junior career. This gives him more junior national titles as skip than any other junior male. As US Champion, he competed at four World Junior Championships. In his first, 2006, Plys took ninth place in Jeonju, South Korea. The next year, in 2007, he took fifth place in Eveleth, Minnesota. And finally in 2008, Plys won the gold medal in Ostersund, Sweden.[3] At his final Junior Worlds in 2009 he again medaled, taking the bronze. Plys also competed at the World University Games in 2007, in Pinerolo, Italy, playing second on John Shuster's gold medal team. Early in his men's career, Plys was twice invited to be alternate on Shuster's team at international events, at the World Championship in 2009 and the 2010 Winter Olympics. At the Olympics, he was called in to skip the team (in place of Shuster) during draw 6 after the US team suffered four losses in a row, and led the team to a 4–3 victory over France after a 10th end steal. Following the Olympics, Plys was drafted onto Tyler George's team, where he threw third rocks (and sometimes fourth). The George team finished as runners-up in the 2011 and 2013 national championships. In 2014, Plys moved to third on Heath McCormick's team, which placed third in the 2014 and 2015 national championships, and second in both the 2017 Olympic Trials (to Shuster) and 2018 national championships.

After winning gold at the 2018 Olympics, Tyler George, who had moved to Shuster's team, took a hiatus from curling, and Plys replaced him at third. Team Shuster then won the 2019 national championships and represented the US at the 2019 World Men's Curling Championship, where they finished in fifth place. They defended their United States title at the 2020 United States Men's Championship, defeating Rich Ruohonen in the final to finish the tournament undefeated.[4] The national title would have earned Team Shuster a spot at the final Grand Slam of the season, the Champions Cup,[5] as well as the chance to represent the United States at the 2020 World Men's Curling Championship, but both events were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6]

Team Shuster represented the United States at the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship, which was played in a fan-less bubble in Calgary due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There, the team led the U.S. to a 10–3 round robin record, in third place.[7] They played Switzerland in the playoffs, in a game which was delayed a day due to some curlers initially testing positive (including Plys himself)[8] for the virus, but later testing negative (it was later revealed that they were all false positives). In the game, Switzerland, skipped by Peter de Cruz, beat the Americans to advance to the semifinals.[9]

Personal life

Plys is self-employed. As of 2021, he is engaged.[10]

Teams

Men's

Season Skip Third Second Lead AlternateCoachEvents
2002–03 Jesse Gates Jeff Thune Kevin Johnson Chris Plys Larry Barott
2003–04 Chris Plys Kyle Coldagelli Carl Ball Matt Zbylut Seppo Sormunen 2004 USJCC (5th)
2004–05 Aanders Brorson Chris Plys Mark Moore Grant Rahn Ryan Brown Kent Brorson 2005 USJCC (5th)
2005–06 Chris Plys Matt Mielke Kevin Johnson Tommy Kent 2006 USJCC
(9th)
2006–07 Chris Plys Aanders Brorson Joel Cooper 2007 USJCC
(5th)
2007–08 Chris Plys Aanders Brorson Matt Perushek 2008 USJCC
Chris Plys Shane McKinlay (6th)
2008–09 Chris Plys Aanders Brorson Matt Perushek Matt Hamilton 2009 USJCC
2009 USOCT (8th)
John Shuster Jason Smith Jeff Isaacson Chris Plys Brian Simonson (5th)
2009–10 John Shuster Jason Smith Jeff Isaacson John Benton Chris Plys 2010 OG (10th)
2010–11 Chris Plys
2011–12 Tyler George Chris Plys Rich Ruohonen (8th)
2012–13 Chris Plys (Fourth) Tyler George (Skip) Rich Ruohonen Colin Hufman
2013–14 Chris Plys (Fourth) Tyler George (Skip) Rich Ruohonen Colin Hufman 2013 USOCT (4th)
Chris Plys Rich Ruohonen Colin Hufman
2014–15 Heath McCormick Chris Plys Colin Hufman
2015–16 Chris Plys (Fourth) Pete Fenson (Skip) Joe Polo Jason Smith (7th)
2016–17 Heath McCormick Chris Plys (6th)
2017–18 Heath McCormick Chris Plys Korey Dropkin Tom Howell Rich Ruohonen
(USOCT)
2017 USOCT
Greg Persinger (Fourth) Rich Ruohonen (Skip) Colin Hufman Chris Plys Phill Drobnick (6th)
2018–19 John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton
(5th)
2019–20 John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner
2020–21[11] John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Colin Hufman Sean Beighton (5th)
2021–22John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Colin Hufman 2021 USOCT
2022 OG (4th)
2022–23John Shuster Chris Plys Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Colin Hufman Phil Drobnick 2023 USMCC
(8th)
2023–24John Shuster Chris Plys Colin Hufman Matt Hamilton John Landsteiner Theran Michaelis
(6th)
2024–25John Shuster Chris Plys Colin Hufman John Landsteiner Matt Hamilton

Mixed doubles

Season FemaleMaleEvents
2016–17Chris Plys (12th)
2017–18[12] Aileen Geving Chris Plys
2018–19Chris Plys
2019–20Vicky Persinger Chris Plys (5th)
2020–21[13] Vicky Persinger Chris Plys
2021–22Vicky Persinger Chris Plys 2021 USMDOT
2022 OG (8th)
2022–23Vicky Persinger Chris Plys

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: USA Curling National Team Athletes. USA Curling. May 17, 2024.
  2. News: Blount. Rachel. January 14, 2009. New face in curling already a mainstay. Star Tribune. May 20, 2020.
  3. News: March 10, 2008. Curling: Duluth-based team wins world championship. Duluth News Tribune. May 20, 2020.
  4. News: Schneider. Angela. John Shuster caps unbeaten run through USA Curling Nationals with win over Rich Ruohonen in final. 2020-02-15. The Spokesman-Review. 2020-02-19.
  5. Web site: Ruohonen Joins Shuster in Top Page Game. https://web.archive.org/web/20200213215042/https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/Features/2020/February/12/Ruohonen-Joins-Shuster-in-Top-Page-Game. dead. February 13, 2020. 2020-02-12. USA Curling. 2020-02-13.
  6. Web site: Canadian curling continues to get hammered by novel coronavirus cancellations. Mar 14, 2020. The Star. en. Apr 27, 2020.
  7. News: March 14, 2021. Canada eliminated from men's curling worlds with tense loss to Scotland. CBC. April 11, 2021.
  8. chrisplys. 1381756235431677954. 12 Apr 2021 . Unbelievable that I learn for sure that my test was a false positive via Twitter. .
  9. News: Scotland and Switzerland advance to semi-finals. World Curling Federation. Michael Burns. April 11, 2021. April 11, 2021.
  10. Web site: 2021 BKT Tires-OK Tires World Men's Curling Championship Media Guide. Curling Canada. February 7, 2022.
  11. Web site: Team Shuster Returns . https://web.archive.org/web/20200622151655/https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/Features/2020/May/13/Team-Shuster-Returns . dead . June 22, 2020 . USA Curling . May 13, 2020 . May 13, 2020.
  12. Web site: Geving/Plys reach 2017 Twin Ports Mixed Doubles Classic Semifinals . CurlingZone . May 20, 2020.
  13. Web site: Mixed Doubles Teams Announced . https://web.archive.org/web/20200622162216/https://www.teamusa.org/USA-Curling/Features/2020/May/22/Mixed-Doubles-Teams-Announced . dead . June 22, 2020 . USA Curling . May 22, 2020 . May 22, 2020.