By Sarah Wallace
LONDON, Ont. — Danny Casper of the United States earned his second Grand Slam of Curling Tier 2 championship, defeating Canada’s Kevin Koe.
Casper and his squad of Luc Violette, Ben Richardson and Aiden Oldenburg ran Koe out of rocks in the eighth to win 4-2 and claim the 2025 AMJ Masters Tier 2 title.
“It feels great. We’ve had an interesting year and a half or so of mixed lineups and whatnot, so this year we’ve been able to put the same lineup out there every game, and I think that’s shown in our results this year thus far,” Casper said.
Blanks plagued the first three ends before Koe missed a runback peel on his last to allow Casper a steal of one in the fourth.
A messy fifth saw Koe nab two, with Casper returning the favour in the sixth.
The Americans stole one again in the seventh, and just needed to hit for the win to run the Canadians out of rocks.
“The mentality is just trusting the fact that you can’t do anything different in a big game,” Casper said. “I think a lot of people think there’s a big secret to playing in a championship game, but it’s just understanding that there isn’t. We’re just a group that likes to have fun and mess around a little bit.”
The Tier 2 competition took place this past week at the St. Thomas Curling Club in St. Thomas, Ont., before shifting to the Western Fair Sports Centre for the finals.
Casper entered the playoffs with a 3-1 record, ranked seventh. After defeating Canada’s Jayden King 6-3 in the quarterfinals, Casper faced fellow countryman John Shuster in the close 4-2 semifinals, where Casper and Co. stole points in both the seventh and eighth ends to seal the win.
The Americans will rematch in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, Nov. 11-16 in Sioux Falls, S.D.
“We’ve played John so many times at this point, and they’re obviously an amazing team that’s been there, done that,” Casper noted, referencing Shuster’s 2018 Olympic gold medal. “(This victory) maybe sends a little bit of a message before the Trials that we’re here.”
Casper came into the AMJ Masters ranked 16th in the world, and Koe ranked 30th. Both teams earn valuable world curling ranking points with their finals appearances.
The first-ever GSOC Wheelchair Invitational also saw Canada White defeat Italy 5-4, claiming the bronze medal.
