Rivertowns Sports

Ardsley Curling Club’s Danny Casper Still In The Hunt in Cortina

Published 3 weeks ago3w ago • Bookmarks: 178

Team Casper (left to right) Rich Ruohonen, Aidan Oldenburg, skip Casper, Ben Richardson, Luc Violette (photo courtesy of Michael Woolheater, USA Curling Photographs)

February 16, 2026

By Ed Klajman—

With little international experience and up against several of the world’s most accomplished teams, Ardsley Curling Club’s Danny Casper and his young Team USA squad came into the Olympics as long shots to make the playoffs. As Casper’s foursome heads into a free day on Monday after five days of competition, however, they have proven to be serious contenders for a medal.

With the top four of the competition’s 10 rinks advancing to the semifinals, Team Casper is tied for third place at 4-2. They have three games remaining in the round robin format. Casper, the 24-year-old skip, said he felt “really good” about his team’s medal chances as the tournament hits crunch time this week in Cortina, site of Olympic curling.

Support our Sponsors

“Just trying not to look too far ahead,” he said, shortly after the team completed its second win of the day on Sunday evening over Norway, which followed a morning win over defending Olympic champion Niklas Edin of Sweden. “I think our only focus right now is how we’re going to spend our off day (Monday). But yeah, we’re feeling good, and we’re just going to try to keep improving throughout the week.”

The win over Norway was one of the wildest games so far of the Olympic bonspiel. After six ends, Team Casper was in total control, leading 7-3. But Norway outscored the Americans 5-1 over the next three ends get even at 8-8 going into the 10th and final end.

As skip, Casper throws his team’s last two rocks every end, and he made two clutch throws in the 10th—including a difficult double-takeout—to score the winning points in a tense 10-8 win.

“It was probably I think the most stressful game of the week,” explained the former Hackley School stuent. “You know, myself, I was struggling quite a bit throwing and calling the line as well. That calls for some stress, for sure. I think my teammates did a good job of picking me up. We always do a good job of someone picking up someone else, and today it was me that needed it. I’m just happy that those systems came into place that we’ve been working on.”

He added that he was never in doubt they would win. “I think maybe there was a little bit of frustration that we weren’t executing the way that we wanted to, and myself personally as well. I mean, pretty much every end that game, if you look at the scoreboard, it’s a situation that you would want to be in. So, we felt confident the whole way—a little frustrated at times—but pulled it out.”

The win came after a memorable victory in the morning over Edin—whose resume in the sport, with seven world titles and three Olympic medals, is unmatched. In his pre-competition press conference last week, Casper had joked that he might trash talk the Swede about “losing to some kids,” but on Sunday, he laughed that off, saying he didn’t partake in any needling.

“It’s all in good fun,” said Casper. “It was great to play them. Win or lose, whenever you play them, I feel like you learn so much. So, it’s always an honor every time we get to share the ice and they’re top class guys as well.”

Though he still battles the effects of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS) that attacks the body’s immune system, Casper said that he feels “good enough” to stay strong through the grinding competition that still has several days remaining. He is also buoyed by the presence of his parents, Jeff and Karen Casper, who were in the stands watching the matches.

Danny’s parents, Jeff an Karen Casper, watch his matches from the stands in Cortina

For their day off, he said the team would go watch some Olympic bobsled action, also being in Cortina and take a gondola ride up the mountain. He added that being in the whole Olympic environment has been a lot of fun—and not a distraction—with special memories being made beyond just competing on the ice.

“It was kind of nice to be here for a little bit while before we started playing, and kind of take it in a little bit,” he said. “And I don’t know, people always tell me not to get caught up in the event, but I personally think it’s okay to get caught up in the event. That’s why you’re here, just trying to enjoy it as much as we can.”

The team will resume competition against winless (0-5) China on Tuesday morning, followed by a match against host Italy (3-2) that night. Their final round robin game will be Wednesday afternoon against defending world champion Bruce Mouat of Great Britain—also sitting at 4-2. Switzerland tops the standings at 5-0, followed by Canada at 4-1.

The semifinals are Thursday night. The bronze medal game will be Friday, with gold being awarded on Saturday.

Read or leave a comment on this story...

Support our Sponsors