CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — There’s nothing like knowing Snoop Dogg will be sitting next to your mom and watching you compete for your country to get you fired up to beat a rival.
Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, the Americans’ mixed doubles curling entrant at these Olympic Games, got an early heads-up that one of the world’s most famous personalities would be in attendance Friday for their round-robin match against Canada, then responded with a 7-5 win against their previously unbeaten northern neighbors.
“That’s good coaching right there,” Dropkin said of the decision to inform them of Snoop’s presence. “They wanted to make sure we knew so we could be prepared and not have it be a surprise.”
Thiesse and Dropkin sure looked like they were playing with a little extra juice as they improved to 3-0, equaling the best undefeated start for an American curling team at an Olympics. They would win again later Friday to move to 4-0 and set the new national mark.
A key sequence in the sixth and seventh ends swung the game for the Americans. After the U.S. was forced to take only one point with hammer in the fifth — typically, you want at least two points with the last-shot honors — Canada, down 4-3, opted to use its power play, a once-a-match option for each team that sets up the initial stones in a more favorable position for whoever is using it.
A team definitely wants at least two points when using its power play, but Canada’s Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman managed only one after some great shot-making by Thiesse and Dropkin. Tied at 4 and with the hammer, the U.S. then used its power play in the seventh end and capitalized, scoring three times for a lead Canada couldn’t erase in the final end.
Dropkin celebrates Friday’s win over Canada. (Richard Heathcote / Getty Images)
Dropkin made multiple big shots throughout the match, highlighted by a double takeout late in the seventh end that left only three red stones in the house, leading to the Americans’ 3-point end.
“Fortunately, we just trusted that (the shot) was there, hit the stone exactly where we wanted to, and we were lying three afterwards,” Dropkin said. “Got pretty fired up after that one.”
In the afternoon session, the Americans cruised past the Czechs, 8-1, to make it a 4-0 start at these Games. No U.S. men’s, women’s or mixed doubles team had started better than 3-0 at an Olympics since curling was officially added to the program in 1998. The 2022 women’s team was the only other squad to start 3-0. Mixed doubles was added in 2018.
Great Britain, the only other unbeaten team left and the Americans’ first opponent Saturday, leads the overall standings at 5-0 after topping Sweden and South Korea in its two matches Friday. Teams play nine round-robin games — one each against every other nation — before the top four advance to a two-round knockout stage.
Snoop, who is at the Olympics as a correspondent for NBC, arrived shortly after the match’s start and sat next to Shelley Dropkin, Korey’s mother. He was wearing a custom U.S.-themed outfit featuring Thiesse and Dropkin’s faces.
After the game, he went down to the arena floor to meet with Thiesse and Dropkin. They were joined by U.S. men’s skip Danny Casper and women’s skip Tabitha Peterson, who then attempted to teach Snoop how to curl. He showed off his throwing motion and tried his hand at sweeping a Casper stone.
The U.S. team presented Snoop with his own “Coach Snoop” curling uniform, and he handed them Snoop-branded gear.
“We kind of spotted him halfway through the game and saw his jacket that we were on, which was awesome,” Thiesse said. “Yeah, just so cool to be able to meet him and to have him here, supporting us.”
A 4-0 start doesn’t win any medals, but the U.S. team is looking as good as any other right now. The field, though, is tough. Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat is one of the world’s most accomplished curlers. Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner, the defending Olympic champions who had a remarkable winning streak snapped Thursday, got back on track Friday with a wins over Switzerland and Estonia.
And the Americans know this might not be the last they hear from Canada, which could be a future medal-round opponent.
“That’s a great team out there,” Dropkin said. “Probably see them later on.”
