By Ryan T. Blystone
World of Wonder Staff Writer-Editor
PINEROLO, Italy -- Pete Fenson delivered a bronze medal for the United States men's curling team --- the first medal ever for a U.S. team in Olympic competition --- on Friday afternoon at the Palaghiaccio.[ep
The skip, down to a situation where he needed to score the deciding point on his last stone, placed it right in the heart of the target for the deciding point in an 8-6 decision against Great Britian.[ep
That shot might have put the finishing touch on the victory, but it was just the last of a strong performance for Fenson, who earlier in the match gave the Americans a commanding lead with a double take-out and removing two British stones in the middle for a three-point score in the third end.[ep
The Americans scored two more points in the sixth end to take a 6-2 lead, but the British closed the gap to 6-5 on its last stone of the seventh end. Skip David Murdoch was able to knock away the Americans' stone from the red circle, thus leaving three British stones.[ep
The U.S. got one point back in the eighth end with the only stone in the middle and could have closed it out in the ninth end, but Britian used its last stone to again close the lead to one.[ep
Fenson's shot in the10th end, however, closed it out for the Americans, whose team was comprised of second Joe Polo, third Shawn Rojeski, lead John Shuster and 54-year-old alternate Scott Baird.[ep
The victory gave the squad a final record of 7-4 in these Olympics --- the Americans also edged Great Britian 9-8 in round-robin play on Feb. 19 --- and Friday's victory took some of the sting out of a 11-5 semifinal loss to Canada on Wednesday.
Great Britian, which finishes with a 7-5 record, competed in the bronze medal match following a 4-3 loss to Finland. In addition to Murdoch, the British team also featured third Ewan MacDonald, second Warwick Smith, lead Euan Byers and alternate Craig Wilson.[ep
Canada and Finland played in the gold medal game later Friday.[ep
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