Chris Plys gets a 'dream job' in Olympic curling after years of knocking on the door

BEIJING — Chris Plys went to his first Winter Olympic Games as an alternate on the U.S. men’s curling team 12 years ago and has a tattoo of the Olympic rings to show for it.

Since then, Plys has covered himself in tattoos. “I have a couple that, I mean, I'm not losing sleep over it,” he said, “but I'm like, ‘Ah, I wish I had that spot for something new.’”

However, it’s the moments imprinted on his psyche that Plys really wanted to bump into oblivion over the last decade.

He narrowly lost some national titles and came up short in his quest to make another Olympic team since that Olympic debut in Vancouver.

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“It was frustrating,” said Plys, 34. “You put a lot of time in and you keep on just being runner-up, runner-up, runner-up, just knocking on the door. It can wear on you a bit. Finally being able to break through even just for a couple of national championships prior to this Olympic Trials, I think I learned a lot about myself. It forced me to reevaluate what I liked about the game.”

And what he liked was the travel and camaraderie. “That was keeping me going for a while,” Plys said.

And then when the door finally opened for Plys to return to the Olympic ice in 2022? “It just felt all the more sweet,” he said.

Plys came to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games in not one, but two, events. He played with Vicky Persinger in mixed doubles, finishing eighth, and is now vice-skip on the men’s team. The U.S. team will play Canada for the bronze medal on Friday.

Skip John Shuster, a five-time Olympian, John Landsteiner and Matt Hamilton were part of the Olympic gold-medal winning team four years ago in Pyeongchang. When Tyler George retired from the team, Plys was asked to replace him.

“When John made his last shot in the Olympic Trials in Omaha, that’s one of the only times in my career that I teared up a little bit,” Plys said, “because I just wasn’t sure if I’d ever get back to this tournament ever again. I just feel very blessed.”

Plys won a gold medal at the 2007 World University Games with Shuster and was the world junior champion in 2008 and world junior bronze medalist in 2009. When he was invited to be the alternate for Shuster’s team at the 2010 Vancouver Games, he had no expectations of playing. But when the team got off to a rocky start, Plys was brought in to replace Shuster at skip. Then only 22 years old, Plys led Team USA to a 4-3 win over France and also played in two other games.

“The way it all went down,” Plys said, “I would've preferred to have me sit on the bench and the guys be on a roll, but that just wasn't the story of that Olympics and how it all played out. It was a little bit bittersweet.”

After Vancouver, Plys joined forces with George, whose team missed making the final round in the trials for the 2014 Olympic Games. By 2018, Plys was playing with Heath McCormick, whose team was the runner-up for the Pyeongchang Games.

And then Shuster called. There were no hard feelings from 2010. Is that like being asked to join a Super Bowl-winning team? 

Plys laughed. “I think it's something like that,” he said.

Plys had planned on returning to the McCormick team. “It was a tough phone call to make, but you just don't get that opportunity every day,” he said. “So it was just something I had to jump at.”

He had a long history with Shuster and Hamilton and said he couldn’t have been “more stoked” watching them win the gold medal in 2018.

“I’ve got a dream job right now,” he said. “I love it.”

Curling wasn’t Plys’ first love, however. Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, “Hockey is king up here,” said Plys, who sported a Hanson Brothers T-shirt from “Slapshot” while doing a recent interview. 

He was introduced to curling while attending a college hockey game at a facility that houses a local curling club. “They waved us in to try it,” Plys said. “My whole family just kind of got thrown into it all at once.”

Club members even get their own key so they can let themselves in to practice. Plys isn’t surprised that the sport captivates the American public, especially during the Olympics.

“I think one of the interesting things about curling is that we're all mic'd up when we're on the ice,” he said, “so not only are you able to just watch the game as it plays out, but you're able to hear all the players and the communication, the conversations that we're having on the ice.”

However, Plys admits that hockey is still his favorite sport to watch, even more than curling. “Otherwise, I might lose my card of being able to live up here,” he said.

Plys owns a food brokerage company started by his father. With his father battling brain cancer, Plys, the oldest of five children, left college to take over the business in 2011.

“It was the first major thing that I had gone through after the Olympics and I just was forced to grow up fast,” he said.

Patrick Plys died in 2012 at age 48. The family and a group of women who worked with Plys’ mother, Laura, started a charity in his memory called Project Joy. It’s a backpack food program for kids.

“Duluth is a city that I really care about and love being from,” said Plys, who inherited his dedication to his community from his father. “If I can use my platform to give people a bit more opportunity than they would normally have, then I think that's just as important to me as any medal.”

Plys’ fiancée, Alyssa Hei, helps out with the company so he can pursue his curling career. He’s glad he didn’t let his near-misses drive him from the sport.

“I hadn't really experienced anything but winning,” Plys said, “and then going into the men's (division) and being very close so often I think it would've been easy to shut down. It would've been easy to just give up. But just being persistent, staying consistent with my training and putting the work in off the ice is something that I'm super proud of. 

“I guess when I look in the mirror today I'm a lot more proud to see who's looking back than I was when I was 22 years old.”