The United States' quest for a second-straight gold medal in men's curling has come to an end.
After winning the country's first gold in the sport during the 2018 Games, Team USA lost 8-4 to top-seeded Great Britain during a back-and-forth semifinal matchup on Thursday at the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The U.S. team of John Shuster, Chris Plys, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner, and Colin Hufman will take on Canada in the bronze medal game Friday at 1:05 a.m. ET on USA Network, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
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Canada defeated the United States 10-5 in round-robin play.
In the semifinal match against Great Britain, Team USA jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after packing the house to steal the second end with two points.
Great Britain capitalized on U.S. mistakes in the third, including a miss on a double takeout attempt by Shuster, to take three points for a 3-2 lead.
Shuster won a battle of the skips in the fourth end, matching precision shots with Great Britain's Bruce Mouat. Shuster's perfectly-placed takeout on the hammer gave the U.S. two points for a 4-3 lead.
After a near triple-takeout by Shuster in the fifth left one Great Britain stone in the outer ring, Mouat's takeout gave Great Britain two points for a 5-4 lead.
The U.S. blanked three consecutive ends to maintain the hammer, trailing 5-4 entering the eighth.
Shuster's perfectly-placed stone set up a double-point opportunity for the U.S. in the ninth before Mouat clipped the U.S. stone. That led to Shuster intentionally throwing away his last rock as the U.S. sacrificed a point to maintain the hammer in the tenth and final end with Great Britain taking a 6-4 lead.
It came down to Shuster's final throw, needing two points to send the game to extra ends and keep the United States' gold-medal hopes alive. But his takeout attempt was offline, giving Great Britain the victory.
Great Britain's team of Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan and alternate Ross Whyte advance to the gold medal game against Sweden on Saturday at 1:05 a.m. ET on USA Network, Peacock and NBCOlympics.com.
The victory over the U.S. guarantees Great Britain its first medal of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
