By Ben Hoppe
When USA Curling announced its national team rosters last week, it was not only a look ahead to the upcoming season but also a look back at the first few weeks of Brad Gushue's tenure as the high performance director of USA Curling.
In a career that spanned multiple decades and resulted in six Brier titles, Gushue was no stranger to navigating roster changes. This time, however, he found himself assembling not just one roster for his own team, but multiple rosters across multiple disciplines. The two-time Olympian needed to familiarize himself with the player pool and the players themselves, as many top players were stepping away for the upcoming season.
Notably, Gushue encountered a women's program missing five of its top players, including the entire 2026 U.S. Olympic women's team, and a men’s program whose reigning national championship team was going in different directions.
While the men’s program may not have required as much of Gushue’s time as the women's, the future of the biggest name in American curling history loomed large: What was John Shuster going to do?
After Gushue was hired, he knew he had to get in touch with the curler he faced at two Winter Olympics, the same curler who was notably left out of the high performance program in 2014.
"One of the first calls I made was to John," Gushue said. "He’s been in the program longer than anybody. I wanted to get a sense of where he’s at, and let him know what I was looking to do."
For Shuster, the new hire was a rare opportunity to work with someone who had been at the pinnacle of the sport for a long time.
"All the things that I thought he was the best in the world, maybe the best ever, at were things that I aspired to be the best in the world at as well," Shuster said in a phone call last week. "I’m excited to work with somebody of Brad's mindset and calibre and pedigree to try to go to even higher heights."
Signing off on Team Shuster
The fate of Shuster's previous team was relatively clear, with both Chris Plys and Colin Hufman making public their intentions to step away from competitive curling before the season had concluded. Knowing this, Andrew Stopera touched base with Shuster ahead of the World Men’s Curling Championship in March, inquiring about Shuster's plans.
Following Shuster’s fourth-place finish at the men's worlds, Stopera followed up to inquire about the possibility of joining forces with him and Mark Fenner for the upcoming season.
The 43-year-old Shuster, coming off his best all-around season, never fully considered retirement, but he also had no interest in a complete rebuild of a team. This made the proposal with Stopera and Fenner, close friends who both make their homes in Minnesota's Twin Cities, a natural fit on a team expecting to play at the highest levels.
"When we finished the year No. 6 in the world, which was the highest I’ve ever been ranked on a team, I felt like I still have a lot left in the tank," Shuster shared. "When [Andrew and Mark] were playing with [Korey] Dropkin two years ago, they were a top 10 team in the world, so they're players capable of reaching that top 10 threshold."
The team still needed a fourth player, and Shuster knew firsthand the importance of having an impact sweeper, having enjoyed the benefits of Hufman sweeping his rocks in recent years.
"John was smart enough to realize where his margins were, and he used those margins," Gushue said. "I think for him to maintain that level of play, I think it’s important that he can get someone of that Colin sweeping level."
While fully replacing what Hufman had brought to Team Shuster over the past seasons would be difficult, Gushue believed that replicating the sweeping efficiency outweighed the shooting.
"You can’t teach strength," he said.
Stopera and Fenner had teamed up with Lance Wheeler for the second half of last season, including the national championship where they lost in an extra end to Shuster in the final. Shuster, Fenner and Stopera were all impressed with what they saw from Wheeler in that short time span, but they still needed the new high performance director to weigh in.
"We can't just necessarily say, 'Hey, this is my curling team and put it out there,'" Shuster said.
Shuster and his new teammates needed to get the opinion and sign-off from Gushue to ensure both sides were aligned in vision, expectation and acting in the best interests of all involved.
Gushue, fresh off an emerging talent showcase held in May, had been familiarizing himself with and evaluating some of the young up-and-coming U.S. curlers. He put together a list of candidates who tested well, and Shuster worked with him to see where Wheeler would compare with that group.
Ultimately, the team was able to move forward with their preferred candidate and his sweeping prowess.
To Shuster, the openness of communication throughout this process between the two former opponents stood out.
"The fact that it happened so easily and organically when I told him my concerns and what I was hoping to achieve, and what he was looking for me to do," Shuster said. "He followed through on it. And that’s, I think, exactly what you’re looking for."
Casting a wide net
While the mixed doubles and men's teams stayed mostly intact, Gushue had to employ a completely different approach for a women’s program made largely of athletes who are either still in juniors or not far removed from the junior circuit.
Just days after taking up the helm, Gushue found himself at Rock Creek Curling in Lafayette, Colorado, at a showcase geared toward emerging talent.
Participants went through rigorous testing where they were evaluated on their fitness, game acumen, sweeping ability, and shotmaking. Gushue had the chance to see the curlers with his own eyes and evaluate what he was working with, particularly in the blank slate that is the U.S. women's team.
"One thing I realized at the emerging showcase is there are lots of talented players," Gushue reflected. "The plan is to cast a pretty wide net and give multiple teams and players opportunities to showcase what they could really do."
To put the plan into action, six squads were named to the U.S. women’s national team program. Three of the teams (skipped by Elizabeth Cousins, Allory Johnson and Julia Pekowitz) were largely unchanged, while the other three teams (skipped by Anne O’Hara, Bella Hagenbuch and Christine McMakin) were assembled from players who had been active in national programs or had been identified through the showcase event.
Funding six teams is not feasible in the long term, especially for a program that received less money than they were hoping for from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee after the nation’s best overall showing at the Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina.
By funding six women’s teams, two of which are juniors, Gushue hopes it will create opportunities to play a few more events. Through those events and over the season, the hope is that some teams and players will emerge, and over the course of the quadrennial, USA Curling will narrow the roster closer to the 2030 Winter Olympics.
The teams were built with intentionality. Gushue asked the players for their perspectives. He asked who curlers wanted to team up with and, where possible, keep teams together geographically, something that was a big part of his success based in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Are the teams perfect? No, and Gushue isn’t afraid to admit it. He knows change is inevitable.
"I can assure you, we didn't get it right. It's just the way curling is. But over the course of the next four years, I’m sure things will shift out and we will get it right," he said.
"When you’re building four, five, six teams, you’re not going to get it perfect each time."
Gushue is fully expecting roster changes over the next four years as players move or look for a different dynamic and strong players emerge. He also faces a challenge of retaining talent on the women's side to continue building depth.
"I won’t go as far as saying I fully understand the challenges on the women's side of the game, but they have different things to face than we do as men," he said.
He shared that in addition to getting a better understanding of the factors women are facing to help make decisions, he'll also be leaning on coach Cathy Overton-Clapham's knowledge and expertise to navigate the challenges.
Gushue has been with USA Curling for only a short time, but he has taken note of the athletes' willingness to learn as well as the openness and honesty afforded to him thus far by those who have been in and around the program.
"I had an opportunity to learn of some of the challenges that they've had in the past, some of the things that have been successful," he said. "And really for me, it's just how do we build on those successes? But then also, how do we address some of the challenges they’ve faced?”
Gushue knows the talent is there, and it's on him to help curlers in the U.S. realize their full potential.
Ben Hoppe is an American-based curling writer. For a more in-depth view on the USA Curling national team rosters, read Hoppe's breakdown on his website, Stones & Stripes.
