After a challenging opening day at the 2022 Paralympic Games, Team USA’s Wheelchair Curling Team (Matt Thums, Steve Emt, David Samsa, Oyuna Uranchimeg, and Pam Wilson) came out strong against Estonia in its third game of the round robin.

“I think we just concentrated more on execution,” said Steve Emt. “First day is over with, jitters are out and now its just hit the broom, hit the weights, and execute.”

After dropping the first two games of the tournament, the Team took some time on Sunday morning to regroup and get what Oyuna Uranchimeg referred to as ‘mojo’ back on its side.

“We’re feeling really great,” said Uranchimeg. “We’re going to continue going on like we did today.”

A 9-6 victory over the Estonians marked the first win on the Paralympic stage for Uranchimeg, Wilson, Samsa, and Thums, all making their Paralympic debuts at the 2022 Games.

“We always have fun, no matter what’s going on. That’s important. We believe that having fun is gonna win games, not the other way around,” said Steve Emt. “We stay together and we’re a family.”

Team USA hoped to carry the momentum into Monday morning’s matchup against the undefeated Canadian squad, but a four-point deficit at the closure of the first half proved too significant for the United States to counter.

The Canadians opened the second half of the game with a steal of two, before the U.S. was forced to a single and then stole two more in the seventh end.

Trailing by three without hammer in the eighth end, Canada ran the United States out of stones, resulting in Team USA’s third loss of the round robin.

With four games in the rearview mirror, Team USA has six games remaining in round robin play, beginning with Norway on Monday at 5:35am (CST).

USA Curling is sponsored by Columbia Sportswear, Toyota, Twin Cities Orthopedics, Training HAUS, Brakebush, ISS (Ice, Sports & Solar), and Sitrin, and is partnered with IHG, Rock Solid Productions Inc., Laurie Artiss Ltd. – The Pin People.