The 17 days of competition during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will see plenty of high-speed downhill races, daring jumps and physical hockey battles.

But on a relatively quiet sheet of ice in Corina d’Ampezzo, 10 teams from around the world will square off from Feb. 11 to Feb. 21 in search of Olympic glory in curling. Among the participating teams is an expected entry in the field — a relatively young squad whose home base is the Chaska Curling Center.

Team Casper has been training and competing internationally since coming together in 2022. They knocked off the perennial U.S. Olympic favorites — Team Shuster (a Duluth-based team) — this fall to advance one step closer to the Olympics. Team Casper then punched their ticket to the Olympics by defeating China at the Olympic Qualifying Event.

The five curlers, plus one alternate, will take on teams from Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland in a high-stakes, round-robin tournament to determine the eventual Olympic champion.

Team Casper, currently ranked sixth in the world, practiced at the Chaska Curling Center on Jan. 3, one month ahead of their scheduled departure for Italy. They paused their workout to share their thoughts about the Olympic challenge that lies ahead.

The Players

The skip for Team Casper is Daniel Casper, 24, who began curling when he was 11 and is a former U.S. junior curling champion. A native of New York, Casper has relatives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, who are avid curlers. He was convinced to give it a try. The sport led to a new friendship and healthy rivalry, which helped Casper quickly improve. “That really got me into it,” Casper said.

Now that he’s a world-class curler, Casper said he enjoys competing with athletes from around the globe. “We’re doing this because it’s fun,” he explained. “We’re not getting paid millions here.”

The team’s lead is Aidan Oldenburg, 25, who started curling at age 10 and placed second in the 2022 U.S. Junior Curling Championships, losing to Casper’s team. Raised in a homeschooling family, Oldenburg’s brothers tried curling first at the Mankato Curling Center. He eventually gave it a shot and has stuck with it. “I tried it, loved it, and kept doing it,” he said. “Now, here we are.”

Oldenburg said he’s a competitive person at heart, and curling is a sport he hopes to excel at for years to come.

“I really like all the different parts of curling,” he added. “It brings a lot of different aspects together … like strategy. But then there’s also a large physical aspect with the sweeping and the throwing.”

In Team Casper’s second position is Ben Richardson, 27, a four-time U.S. junior champion. He started curling at age 13, inspired by his grandmother who was a competitive curler in Saskatchewan, Canada. “I had a really good instructor who made me feel like I knew what I was doing,” he laughed. “It was fun and I wanted to keep doing it,”

Luc Violette, 26, is the team’s third position and a five-time U.S. junior champion. His father, Tom Violette, is a two-time curling national champion. “My dad grew up in northern Minnesota — on the Iron Range — so that’s where he learned how to curl,” he said. “I was raised into curling.”

Despite curling for much of his life, Violette said there are so many technical aspects to the sport that there’s always room for improvement. “You just keep learning more as you get older,” he said.

Rich Ruohonen, 54, serves as the team’s alternate and brings with him a wealth of experience that helps ground the team. He’s a two-time national champion. “I started curling in Scotland back in the 1920s,” Ruohonen joked, admitting that his teammates frequently tease him about his age. Actually, the northern Minnesota native grew up in a family of curlers — his grandfather and then his dad enjoyed the sport.

Throughout his lengthy career, Ruohonen said he’s learned to appreciate how close the global curling athletes have become. “We’re just one big community, and it’s growing all the time,” he said. “Curlers are super nice, and they’ll give you the shirt off their back.”

Team Casper is coached by Jordan Moulton, a three-time medalist in the U.S National Curling Championships.

Home Ice

The Team Casper members have converged on the Twin Cities and now live within commuting distance of Chaska Curling Center, where they practice frequently. Violette said the center was the perfect place for the team to land.

“Chaska has really embraced this facility in Fireman’s Park, and it’s a happening place,” he said. “Esthetically, this is pretty much the nicest curling club or center that we ever curl in. And the ice quality is close the best in the world. It matters a lot that we can play at a place like this.”

Additionally, the Chaska facility offers quality ice year-round, allowing Team Casper to practice during the summer months as they prepare for their next season, which opens in August.

Unfortunately, unlike curling teams from other countries, the six athletes who make up Team Casper hold down full-time jobs and only practice or compete when not working.

“For a lot of the teams around the world, curling is their job,” Richardson said. “They get up in the morning, they throw for two hours, they work out and watch film … and then they’re done.”

“Often we can only practice super early in the morning or in the evenings,” Oldenburg added.

Olympic Dreams

Team Casper fought an uphill battle to get to the Olympics. It’s unusual for an up-and-coming team to have such early success.

“It was a tall task,” Violette admitted. “But we knew all along that we were capable of doing it. We planned for this, so it wasn’t a surprise.”

“Everybody has worked really hard on this team in every facet of the game,” Ruohonen added. “So, we deserved it.”

“We pulled it off,” Richardson said. “It was an amazing feeling.”

Curling was first recognized as an official Olympic sport in 1998. Since then, the U.S. has won just three medals — including a gold in 2018 and a bronze in 2022 by John Shuster’s team.

Team Casper is aiming to bring home another medal for the U.S. this winter.

“We all think we can win gold,” Oldenburg said. “We wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think we could win.”

The team members agree that no matter how the competition turns out, they will do their best to enjoy the Olympic experience.

“I’ve been through six or seven Olympic trials and lost,” Ruohonen said. “These guys have a long time left in their careers, and to make it to the Olympics their first time … I hope they know how lucky they are. You have to give it your all in this Olympics, because you never know if you’re ever getting back again.”

Most of the team members admitted, however, that they hope to qualify for future Olympic Games beyond 2026.

Ruohonen noted the curling competition for the 2026 Olympics is likely the strongest field ever, making it important for Team Casper to be on top of their game from the outset.

“Every team can beat you,” he said. “Every time you step on the ice, you have to play the best you can or you’re going to get your butt kicked.”

If a medal is in their future, the athletes agree that being an effective teammate will be the most important factor in Team Casper’s success.

“You can be a great player, a great shooter and a great sweeper,” Richardson explained. “But if you can’t get along with your teammates and can’t communicate with them effectively, then you’re not going to be a good teammate and have chemistry as a team.”

On Jan. 18, the Chaska Curling Center is planning a special event in honor of Team Casper. The team members will receive their official Olympic uniforms, conduct media interviews and hold a practice session for the public to view.

Team Peterson

There’s more than one Chaska curling tie involved in the upcoming 2026 Olympics.

Taylor Anderson-Heide, 30, is lead for Team Peterson, which qualified for the Olympics in the women’s division. She is a member of the Chaska Curling Center and an ice maker for the facility.

Anderson-Heide, along with her twin sister Sarah Anderson, was a U.S. National Champion in 2019.