For John Shuster and the U.S. men's curling team, it's win-and-in.
With a victory in the round-robin finale against Denmark, Team USA will secure the fourth and final playoff spot and get a chance to win a second-straight gold medal.
The game begins at 8:05 p.m. ET Wednesday on CNBC and Peacock.
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At 4-4, the U.S. team of Shuster, Chris Plys, Matt Hamilton, John Landsteiner and Colin Hufman controls its own destiny after getting some help on the scoreboard early Wednesday. The ROC lost 8-6 to Great Britain and Switzerland fell 6-5 to China, as both teams finished the round-robin with 4-5 records.
To guarantee a spot in the semifinals, the U.S. must defeat a Denmark team that has gone 1-7 and scored the fewest points in men's curling during the 2022 Winter Olympics. If Denmark manages an upset win, the U.S. can still qualify under certain tiebreaker scenarios depending on which teams finish at 4-5. Switzerland, Norway and Italy all enter their final match with 3-5 records.
Shuster attempted to put U.S. in better playoff positioning on Tuesday, but his risky takeout attempt in the eighth end backfired after he clipped his own stone for a 10-4 loss to Italy.
With a victory on Wednesday, the U.S. would finish the round-robin at 5-4, the same record the team produced before going on to win its first gold medal in 2018.
The men's curling semifinals begin Thursday at 7:05 a.m. ET.
