Rich Ruohonen returns to world championship for US curling team
Rich Ruohonen is competing in the World Men’s Curling Championship for the first time in a decade and there are a lot of new faces for the American curler.
At age 47, Ruohonen is the oldest player at Orleans Arena, but he’s still spry when compared to the coaches.
“I’m not the oldest guy here, there’s ancient coaches out there,” Ruohonen said with a smile.
The men’s world championship returned to U.S. soil for the first time since the 2008 event in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and even then Ruohonen was considered one of the grizzled veterans.
“Most (curlers) are in their 30s when they stop playing,” Ruohonen said. “It feels great to be playing at this level at my age, but I still would like to win a few more games.”
It’s been a struggle for the U.S. squad during round-robin play. Ruohonen and his American teammates Greg Persinger, Colin Hufman and Phil Tilker lost six of their first seven games, with all six losses coming on the final shot.
The top six teams out of 13 will move on to Saturday’s playoffs with the first two seeds earning byes into the semifinals.
“Being in Vegas is awesome,” said Ruohonen, who’s a first-time competitor in Las Vegas. “The crowds are a lot bigger here and more people will come for the weekend. I would like to be there, but at this point, we’re playing for pride.”
Hufman is a first-time visitor to Las Vegas and first-time competitor at the men’s world championship. The Fairbanks, Alaska, native learned to curl from his parents, but had the option to play collegiate basketball.
Hufman, 33, chose to stick with curling and worked as a cashier at grocery store for most of his 20s. The job allowed him to focus on curling, but he decided to return to school at 28 and is now a mechanical engineer in Minnesota.
“I kept pushing school to the side and finally went back to get a big boy job,” Hufman said.
When Ruohonen isn’t throwing rocks, he’s a lawyer in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. He wakes up at 5:30 a.m. on weekdays to train before heading to the office for a 10-hour shift.
Ruohonen was a late addition when he joined the American team in December. Most teams are assembled in August.
“We were actually playing well before this point,” Ruohonen said. “All of our games could have gone either way. We’ve been in every single game against every team. It’s just brutal that it hasn’t gone our way.”
More eyes have been on U.S. curling since John Shuster and company won the gold at the Winter Olympics in February. Shuster’s squad isn’t in Las Vegas because they didn’t compete at the U.S. championships, which Ruohonen and his teammates won.
“I wouldn’t say there’s more pressure because of what Shuster and those guys did,” Hufman said. “As a competitor, you always give yourself a lot more pressure. But it does add a little more flavor with fans expecting more from the U.S.”
Contact Gilbert Manzano at gmanzano@reviewjournal.com. Follow @GManzano24 on Twitter.
