Pool play at the U.S. Olympic Curling Team Trials has drawn to a close and the finals officially are set. On the men's side, Team Shuster will meet Team Casper, while Team Cousins defeated Team Strouse in a tiebreaker to set up a showdown with Team Peterson in the women’s event.

Team Strouse looked dead in the water coming out of Day 2 having lost both of their games. To stay alive, they needed to go 2-0 on Thursday, which meant slaying the unbeaten Team Peterson and Team Cousins going 0-2. That’s exactly what happened. 

During Session 6, Strouse led Peterson 3-2 through three ends until skip Tabitha Peterson unleashed a potentially back-breaking three-point hammer throw in the sixth to put her rink up 5-3. It appeared to be déjà vu all over again for Strouse, who surrendered leads in two of their previous Trials matchups. Behind skip Madison Bear, they flipped the script and did the unthinkable: scored five unanswered points in the seventh, eighth and ninth ends, including a three-point dagger in the ninth, putting a blemish on Peterson’s previously sparkling round-table record and keeping their own hopes alive.

Still, they needed Team Cousins, who fell to Peterson earlier on Day 3, to lose to Team Johnson, a rink that hadn't won a game at the Trials. Cousins took a four-point lead into the seventh end, which is when the wheels began falling off. Led by 17-year-old skip, Allory Johnson, Team Johnson ripped off two points in the seventh and three in the ninth to snatch away the lead. Cousins was able to steal a point in the 10th end to force extras, and Johnson won in the eleventh.

Despite a disastrous Day 3 and a nightmarish start to the tiebreaker game against Team Strouse (in which they trailed 1-4 after four ends), Team Cousins bounced back in a big way, demonstrating a mental fortitude that propelled them to a gutsy 9-5 victory and a place in the Team Trials finals. For Elizabeth Cousins (skip), Annmarie Dubberstein (third), Allison Howell (second) and Liz Janiak (lead), it will be their first time in this position.

Team Peterson’s 5-1 pool-play record lands them the No. 1 seed, which gives them the first choice at preferred stones in the finals, as well as the hammer (the last shot) in Games 1 and 3. 

Tabitha and her sister, Tara Peterson, were part of the rink that emerged victorious at the Team Trials in 2021 and ultimately represented the United States at the Beijing Olympics. They’ll look to run back that same success, this time alongside third Cory Thiesse and lead Taylor Anderson-Heide. 

On the men’s side, Team Shuster put a bow on their perfect pool play, finishing 6-0. They clinched a spot in the finals on Day 2, but locked up the No. 1 seed with their two victories Thursday, which included an 11-end classic against Team Dropkin, the reigning national champions that desperately needed to prevail.

Because they were undefeated in the round robin, Shuster not only will have the opportunity to select their rocks, but will have the hammer in all three of their potential games, a massive advantage. 

In the finals, John Shuster, Olympic gold medalist, will look to earn his fifth consecutive Olympic Team Trials victory as a skip and sixth consecutive overall. The last time a winning Trials rink did not feature Shuster, “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy topped the Billboard charts.

The other men’s event finalist, Team Casper handled their business against Team Dropkin, exacting revenge on a rink that bested them in heartbreaking fashion at nationals earlier this year. Casper beat them twice at the Trials, including in the afternoon session on Day 3, which put them in prime position to clinch a finals berth. It was a back-and-forth affair between the squads, as it always seems to be when they step onto the ice together, but it was skip Danny Casper’s timely hammer throws in the fifth, seventh, ninth and 10th ends that revved up a kid-filled crowd at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, as well as his team to power them to victory. This will be Team Casper’s first appearance in a Team Trials final. Danny is joined by Luc Violette (third), Ben Richardson (second), Aidan Oldenburg (lead) and Rich Ruohonen (alternate).

On the flip side, it was a heartbreaking Day 3 for Team Dropkin, who lost two tight games to two very good teams. They, along with Team Hebert, are eliminated from finals contention. That said, skip Korey Dropkin will be seen in February, as he already has qualified for the mixed doubles event in Milan Cortina with Team Peterson’s Thiesse. 

On Friday, the first game of the women’s final is at 3:00 p.m. ET and the first of the men’s is at 8:00 p.m. ET, both streaming live on NBC Sports Digital and Peacock. The full schedule for all best of three championship series can be found below.