To be the man, you've got to beat the man. For at least one more day, John Shuster remains the man of American curling. 

Team Shuster staved off elimination in the finals of the U.S. Olympic Trials event Saturday night, outlasting Team Casper 7-6 in another instant-classic. 

Heading into the eighth end, the score was nodded up at three apiece. With the hammer throw, the Olympic gold medalist picked up a deuce, putting Team Shuster up by two. In the ninth, Danny Casper and Co. responded emphatically, ripping off three points and potentially ripping the hearts out of Shuster’s rink. 

Down by one in the 10th end with his historic consecutive Olympic Games streak on the line, Shuster demonstrated his veins were as icy as ever — and so were his teammates’. Matt Hamilton, Chris Plys and particularly Colin Hufman delivered and swept to perfection. Their skip employed his usual world-class strategy and collected two points to secure a dramatic victory.

“In the last three ends, there was all kinds of chaos,” a spent Shuster told reporters. “It was wild, it was fun and a little bit stressful. I can't give my teammates enough credit for making the most educated guesses to pinpoint draws on ice.” 

A fired-up Hufman added: “Somehow I just got on a roll, and I don't even know, man. I was feeling it, and I was making every kind of shot you could make. So I just hope to carry some of that into tomorrow.”

As for how the rink will prepare for the winner-take-all Game 3, Shuster said they'll keep things low-key: discuss Saturday's contest a bit, probably watch a "crappy" movie and visit the local...zoo? John revealed that he went to The Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls to see the snow monkeys between Games 1 and 2 of the Trials finals. It's become somewhat of a tradition for him before important matchups.

"I might not be superstitious, but I'm a little 'stitious,'" Shuster joked.

The finale of the championship series will go down Sunday at 7:00 p.m. E.T., steaming live on Peacock and airing on USA Network.