![]() Wisconsin's Caden Hebert (Photo: Team Hebert Facebook page) defeated Pennsylvania's Scott Dunnam 10-4 in the final of the Dale's St. Paul Cashspiel in St. Paul, Minnesota. By Connor Simms, #53 World-Ranked Caden Hebert, with Jackson Bestland at third, Benji Paral, and Jack Wendtland on the front end, has been on a roll so far this season. For those who may not know much about this squad, they are one of the youngest teams on the curling tour with an extremely impressive resume. They are two-time U18 National Champions, as well as the reigning U21 National Champions. They won silver at the World University Games last season and are currently preparing to represent the USA at the junior world championships. They have already played in four events so far this season. Most importantly, they won the United States Olympic Curling Team Pre-Trials to earn their spot at the trials. They came second at the Icebreaker Challenge, third at the MCT Challenge and first at the Rice Lake Competitor Spiel. This week, they are at Dale's St. Paul Cashspiel in St. Paul, Minnesota. They were in this event with some of the teams they will be against in the USA Curling Trials, like Minnesota's John Shuster and Daniel Casper. They went 4-0 through the round robin. In their opening game, Hebert defeated Caiden Rose (Denver, CO) 9-2, then won 12-1 against Benjamin Levy (Detroit, MI) and 3-2 against Hodek. Hebert won 8-2 against Austin Kadlec (Rice Lake, WI) in their final qualifying round match. In the quarterfinal, they defeated Wesley Wendling 6-2, then Chase Sinnett 8-4 in the semi-final. This set up a match with Pennsylvania's Scott Dunnam in the final. The Dunnam squad consists of Cody Clouser at third, Lance Wheeler and Andrew Dunnam on the front end. Dunnam also went 4-0 through the round robin. In their opening game, Dunnam defeated Marc Palmeri (Durham, NC) 9-6, then won 11-4 against Bob Leclair (Tempe, AZ) and 7-3 against Darryl Sobering (Denver, CO). Dunnam won 11-1 against Tucker Hellman (San Francisco, CA) in their final qualifying round match. In the quarter-final, they defeated Hodek 7-4, and in the semi-final, they defeated Shuster 5-3. Hebert won the opening game draw to the button for the hammer. In the first end, Hebert opened the scoring with a deuce. They then followed it up with back-to-back steals of one. Dunnam got on the board with one in the fourth end. Hebert responded with two more in the fifth. Dunnam brought the game close with three in the sixth. Ultimately, it was handshakes in the seventh end, after Hebert added four more to take the 10-4 victory. On the women's side, Korea's Eunjung Kim defeated Traverse City's Delaney Strouse 7-6 in an extra end. Hebert now prepares for the inaugural U25 Grand Slam of curling event in Nisku, Alberta, starting on October 16th. |