Tyler George

Tyler George (born October 6, 1982) is an American curler from Duluth, Minnesota. He is a three-time U.S. Champion, 2016 World bronze medalist, and 2018 Olympic gold medalist. Since the 2018 Olympics, he has taken a break from playing competitive curling, instead spending time as an ambassador and coach for the sport.

Tyler George
Curler
Born (1982-10-06) October 6, 1982
Duluth, Minnesota
Team
Curling clubDuluth CC,
Duluth, MN
Career
World Championship
appearances		4 (2010, 2015, 2016, 2017)
Olympic
appearances		1 (2018)
Medal record
Men's curling
Representing  United States
Winter Olympics
2018 PyeongchangTeam
World Curling Championships
2016 Basel
World Junior Championships
2001 Ogden
US Men's Championship
2010 Kalamazoo
2015 Kalamazoo
2017 Everett
2011 Fargo
2013 Green Bay
2016 Jacksonville
US Olympic Trials
2017 Omaha
2009 Broomfield

Curling career

Juniors

George competed at the United States Junior National Championships several times but never made it past the semifinals. However, in 2001 he was invited to be the alternate on Andy Roza's team at the 2001 World Junior Curling Championships, where they defeated Scotland's David Edwards in the bronze medal match.

In 2002 George teamed up with Shellan Reed and Patti Luke, two of the previous year's Minnesota Women's Club State Champions,[1] and Gary Luke, to play as a mixed team. They won the Minnesota Mixed State Championship and made it to the finals of the National Mixed Championship, ultimately earning silver medals after losing to Brady Clark's team.[2][3]

2008–2014: Early men's career

George's first trip to the Men's National Championship was in 2008. He skipped his team of Kris Perkovich, Phill Drobnick, and Kevin Johnson to a fifth place finish, missing the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker to four-time national champion Jason Larway.[4] The next year Mark Haluptzok replaced Drobnick on Team George and they returned to the National Championship, which doubled as the Olympic Trials for the 2010 Winter Olympics. They finished the round-robin with only one loss, securing the number one seed in the page playoffs. They lost the final to John Shuster by one point, with a final score of 9–10, settling for silver medals and giving the Olympic berth to Shuster.[5]

For a single season, 2009–10, George joined Pete Fenson's team at lead. They won the 2010 United States Men's Championship, earning George his first chance to represent the United States at Men's Worlds. The 2010 World Men's Championship was held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy and Team Fenson finished in fourth when they lost to Scotland's Warwick Smith in the 3 vs. 4 page playoff game.[6]

After leaving the Fenson team George again formed his own team, consisting of Chris Plys, Rich Ruohonen and Phill Drobnick. They played in the 2011 US Nationals, where they went through the round robin with a 7–2 win-loss record. They were defeated by George's former skip Fenson in the 1 vs. 2 page playoffs and again in the final, earning George his second US silver medal. Colin Hufman replaced Drobnick the following season and they finished the 2012 US Nationals in eighth place.[7] The 2013 National Championship yielded better results, again earning the silver medal, this time losing to Brady Clark in the final.[8] Their runner-up finish qualified the team to participate at the 2014 United States Olympic Curling Trials, where they finished tied for third place.[9]

2014–2018: Gold with Team Shuster

After the 2014 Winter Olympics, the United States Curling Association held an athlete combine to determine which curlers to include in their High Performance Program (HPP), aimed at having better success at the next Olympics. George did not attend due to his work. After the combine John Shuster, three-time Olympian at that point, was dropped from the HPP and in response created a new team nicknamed "The Rejects", bringing on fellow combine rejects John Landsteiner and Matt Hamilton at lead and second, respectively, and George at third.[10] They maintained this line-up for four seasons and found great success. At the National Championships in 2015 they defeated both HPP teams to win the gold medal.[11] Representing the United States at the 2015 World Championship in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Team Shuster missed out on the playoffs when they lost a tiebreaker to Finland's Aku Kauste.[12] As a result of its success, Team Shuster was added to the High Performance Program for 2016.[10]

George and his team came up just short of defending their national title in 2016, losing to Brady Clark in the final. Despite finishing in second, Team Shuster earned enough points throughout the season to secure their return trip to the World Championship.[13] In Basel, Switzerland they defeated Japan's Yusuke Morozumi in the bronze medal match, earning the first World Men's medal for the United States since 2007.[14][15] For the 2016–17 season they added Joe Polo, a former teammate of George and Shuster, as alternate and won the 2017 National Championship. At the 2017 World Championship, their third Worlds in a row, they lost in the bronze medal game against Team Switzerland, skipped by Peter de Cruz.[16]

At the 2017 United States Olympic Curling Trials George and his team beat Heath McCormick's team in a best-of-three final series to earn his first trip to the Olympics.[17] At the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the US team lost four of its first six matches and needed to win all of its three remaining matches to qualify for the playoffs, but all of its remaining opponents (Canada, Switzerland, and Great Britain) were currently among the top four teams. Nevertheless, the US team won all three matches to finish the round-robin in third place with a record of 5–4. In the semifinals they defeated Canada's Kevin Koe, a two-time world champion, to reach the gold-medal match versus Niklas Edin's team representing Sweden. The gold-medal game was close through seven ends, with the score tied 5–5, but the United States scored five in the eighth end to set up a 10–7 victory.[10][18][19] This was the first Olympic gold medal in curling for the United States.

2018–present: Sports ambassador and coach

After winning gold, George elected to temporarily step away from curling, citing his desires to take time off to "...recharge the battery, let my body heal."[20][21] He has become a sports ambassador for the United States Curling Association, making appearances and doing outreach to the curling community in the United States.[22][23]

George coached Luc Violette's Team United States at the 2020 World Junior Curling Championships.[24] They finished in seventh place.[25]

Personal life

George works as a general manager for George's Liquor.[26]

Teams

Men's
Season Skip Third Second Lead Alternate Coach Events
1999–00 Tanner HammerschmidtNick MyersDan GarvinNathan AnnisTyler GeorgeTom George2000 USJCC (5th)[27]
2002–03 Tyler GeorgeMike MooreNick YoungJordan AtherineTom MooreMark Lazar2003 USJCC (SF)[28]
2007–08 Tyler GeorgeKris PerkovichPhill DrobnickKevin JohnsonTom George2008 USMCC (5th)
2008–09 Tyler GeorgeKris PerkovichKevin JohnsonMark Haluptzok2009 USMCC/USOCT
2009–10 Pete FensonShawn RojeskiJoe PoloTyler GeorgeMark Haluptzok (WMCC)Ed Lukowich2010 USMCC
2010 WMCC (4th)
2010–11 Tyler GeorgeChris PlysRich RuohonenPhill Drobnick2011 USMCC
2011–12 Tyler GeorgeChris PlysRich RuohonenColin Hufman2012 USMCC (8th)
2012–13 Chris Plys (Fourth)Tyler George (Skip)Rich RuohonenColin Hufman2013 USMCC
2013–14 Chris Plys (Fourth)Tyler George (Skip)Rich RuohonenColin HufmanCraig Brown2013 USOCT (4th)
Tyler GeorgeBill StoperaDean GemmellMartin Sather2014 USMC (6th)
2014–15 John ShusterTyler GeorgeMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerCraig Brown (WMCC)Pete Fenson2015 USMCC
2015 WMCC (5th)
2015–16 John ShusterTyler GeorgeMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerKroy Nernberger (WMCC)Phill Drobnick2016 USNCC
2016 WMCC
2016–17 John ShusterTyler GeorgeMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerJoe PoloPhill Drobnick2017 USMCC
2017 WMCC (4th)
2017–18 John ShusterTyler GeorgeMatt HamiltonJohn LandsteinerJoe PoloPhill Drobnick2017 USOCT
2018 OG

Mixed
Season Skip Third Second Lead Events
2001–02 Tyler GeorgeShellan ReedGary LukePatti Luke2002 USMxCC [3]
2018–19 Tyler GeorgeCourtney GeorgeDerek BensonJordan Moulton2019 USMxCC (8th)

Mixed doubles
Season Male Female Events
2010–11 Tyler GeorgeCourtney George2011 USMDCC
2014–15 Tyler GeorgeCourtney George2015 USMDCC (DNQ)
2015–16 Tyler GeorgeCourtney GeorgeUS World Trials (4th)[29]
2016–17 Tyler GeorgeCourtney George2017 USMDCC (DNQ)
2017–18[30] Tyler GeorgeCourtney George
gollark: Or even just asked, probably.
gollark: <@319753218592866315> If you had been paying *any attention*, you could have found other information implying (what I want you to think is) my age VERY EASILY.
gollark: What if RocketRace is part of a Russian disinformation campaign discrediting real disinformation campaigns?
gollark: I am not an idiot. You, however, are an idiot.
gollark: I mean, cars are very scary, several-ton metal boxes hurtling down roads at several tens of metres per second.

References
  1. "Minnesota Club State Champions – Women's". Minnesota Curling Association. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  2. "Mixed State Championship – Past Champions". Minnesota Curling Association. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  3. "Washington wins Mixed National Championship on home ice". USA Curling. March 24, 2002. Archived from the original on November 23, 2002. Retrieved May 15, 2002.
  4. "United States Curling Championships – Draw 17". CurlingZone. Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  5. "McCormick, Shuster win Olympic Trials". USA Curling. February 28, 2009. Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  6. "Capital One World Men's Curling Championship 2010". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  7. "2012 USA Curling Nationals – Standings". CurlingZone. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  8. "CURLING: Seattle's Clark rink wins men's national title & Olympic Trials berth". Team USA. February 16, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  9. "Field set for 2014 US Olympic Team Trials". USA Curling. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  10. Peters, Justin (February 22, 2018). "Somebody Needs to Make a Movie About John Shuster and His Ragtag Team of Curling Rejects". Slate Magazine. Retrieved February 22, 2018.
  11. "2015 USA Men's National Championship – Playoffs". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  12. "FINLAND EKES OUT TIEBREAKER WIN AT FORD WORLDS". Curling Canada. April 3, 2015. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  13. Davis, Terry (February 13, 2016). "Team Clark sweeps up national title". USA Curling. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  14. "World Men's Curling Championship 2016: Tournament details". results.worldcurling.org. Retrieved 2019-05-15.
  15. Bohnert, Shane (April 10, 2016). "U.S. Men's Curling Team Wins First World Medal In 9 Years". Team USA. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  16. "Ford World Men's Curling Championship 2017". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
  17. "2018 U.S. Olympic Curling Team". Team USA. USA Curling. 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-06.
  18. Estes, Gentry (February 23, 2018). "Morning Coffee: To John Shuster of USA Curling: I'm sorry for doubting you". Louisville Courier-Journal. Retrieved February 23, 2018.
  19. Hendricks, Maggie (February 28, 2018). "Olympic curler John Shuster on the mantra that brought his team back from brink of elimination". USA Today. Retrieved March 3, 2018.
  20. "Tyler George to 'step away' from curling team, replaced by Chris Plys". ESPN. Associated Press. 2018-05-08. Retrieved 2018-12-06. ... recharge the battery, let my body heal. 
  21. Zaccardi, Nick (May 8, 2018). "Tyler George steps away from curling after Olympic gold medal". NBC Sports. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  22. Viau, Suzanna (April 10, 2019). "Catching up with Tyler George". USA Curling. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  23. Etchells, Daniel (December 24, 2019). "USA Curling Ambassador Programme formally launched". Inside the Games. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  24. "Entry list by country" (PDF). World Junior Curling Championships 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 16, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  25. "World Junior Curling Championships 2020". World Curling Federation. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  26. http://cloudfront10.curling.ca/2015worldmen-en/files/2015/03/EYE-OPENER-MONDAY-ALL.pdf
  27. "2000 USCA Junior National Championships – Men's Field". Bemidji Curling. Archived from the original on April 6, 2001. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  28. "Teams". 2003 USA Curling Junior National Championships. Archived from the original on April 8, 2004. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  29. "George 3–4 at 2016 USA Mixed Doubles World Trials". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  30. "George/George 1–3 at Canad Inns Mixed Doubles Championship". CurlingZone. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
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