U.S. Olympic Team Curling Trials Day 9: Shuster forces Game 3, Peterson punches ticket

Catch up on the action from the second day of finals at the U.S. Olympic Curling Trials. (Imagn)

Team Shuster vs. Team Dropkin

The competition to represent the United States in men's curling at the 2022 Winter Olympics will go the distance.

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Facing elimination, the 2018 Olympic gold medal-winning team skipped by John Shuster rallied to defeat Korey Dropkin's "Young Bucks" 7-3 and force a deciding third match.

Team Dropkin, coming off an 8-4 victory in the opener of the best-of-three final series, squandered a chance to secure a trip to the 2022 Games in the sixth end Saturday. Leading 2-1 and holding the hammer, Dropkin bypassed a straightforward chance at one point and instead attempted to thread the needle for a score of five. He missed, and Shuster took over the lead with a two-point steal. Shuster's team closed out the match in 10 ends to tie the series at one apiece.

Sunday's winner-take-all match will be familiar territory for Shuster, who won in similar circumstances four years ago to secure his spot at the PyeongChang Olympics.

SEE MORE: U.S. Olympic Curling Trials: Men's & Women's Finals - Game 2

Team Peterson vs. Team Christensen

There will be no third game in the women's final as Tabitha Peterson, Tara Peterson, Becca Hamilton and Nina Roth completed a two-game sweep of Team Christensen to book their spots in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Team Peterson capitalized on a three-point fourth end to put distance between themselves and Cory Christensen's foursome, ultimately winning 9-4 in eight ends.

Team Peterson was the standout squad of the women's competition in Omaha, winning 11 of 12 matches and drawing from unrivaled experience. Three quarters of the team competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang when Roth served as skip. Tara Peterson, sister of current team skip Tabitha, will make her first appearance at a Winter Olympics at age 30.