MOOSE JAW, Sask. — In a switch from the norm at recent sporting events across Canada, not a single boo could be heard during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Sunday morning at the BKT World Men's Curling Championship.
The American team skipped by Korey Dropkin was greeted with warm applause during a brief pre-game ceremony to honour the squad at the Temple Gardens Centre.
"It's always enjoyable to be able to play in front of the community here," Dropkin said. "We appreciate being applauded and hopefully there will be a whole lot more of that to come."
Booing of the U.S. anthem has become common at NHL, NBA, MLB and MLS games as some spectators have shown their displeasure at President Donald Trump's tariffs against the country and talk about Canada becoming the 51st state.
With 13 teams in the field at the curling playdowns, each country is honoured once before a round-robin draw at the nine-day event. The Americans' session was planned for Friday afternoon but organizers recently switched the timing to the quieter Sunday morning draw instead.
“Obviously it’s something we were thinking about in advance of the event after watching other sporting events these last few months," Curling Canada chief executive officer Nolan Thiessen said in a statement to The Canadian Press. "This is a world championship but Curling Canada is operating the event off the ice, and like all of our events we want to look after the little things so that teams have an exceptional experience."
The chances of booing would have been greater on Friday given that the 4,200-seat venue would likely be near capacity with the host Canadian team playing in the session.
Curling audiences are traditionally rather staid and the sparse attendance on Sunday morning made for a quiet atmosphere. Eight international teams were playing on the four sheets with the Canadian side skipped by Brad Jacobs idle until the afternoon.
A spectator head count — totalling 843 in the first end — was possible given the low numbers. And unlike a Friday afternoon session when fans can be more boisterous with beer taps flowing around the venue, many in the Sunday morning crowd were sipping on coffee or tea.
Dropkin, vice Thomas Howell, second Andrew Stopera and lead Mark Fenner were accompanied at ice level by four Future Star youngsters for the ceremony.
"We had some proactive conversations with USA Curling about potential scenarios and what we both thought was the best plan to ensure the U.S. team was not put in an uncomfortable situation and have a negative experience," Thiessen said.
"That said, we had every confidence that curling fans in Moose Jaw would be respectful and that has been the case so far and we’re confident that will continue the rest of the week.”
Dropkin's side went on to drop an 8-2 decision to China's Xiaoming Xu. The teams shook hands after China (2-0) scored four points in the eighth end, leaving the Americans at 1-1.
"I'm obviously not happy with my performance personally," said Dropkin, who threw at just 73 per cent. "I just wasn't sharp. I didn't really have my draw weight.
"We missed a couple shots by very little margin but that's what happens out there sometimes."
Round-robin play continues through Friday night ahead of the weekend playoffs.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2025.
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
