USA men's curling team off snide

Chris Plys (Duluth, Minn.) and the U.S. men picked up their first victory of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games with a 4-3 win over France's Thomas Dufour rink. Plys was inserted into the skip position for this game in place of John Shuster (Duluth, Minn.), with Jason Smith (Cape Coral, Fla.) throwing last rocks. Smith threw a perfect draw to the top of the eight foot in the 10^th end that caused troubles for Dufour, who couldn't score the necessary point to win. The U.S. team is now 1-4 in the round robin with four games remaining. They'll return to action at 9 a.m. PST Saturday, Feb. 20, to face Sweden (3-1).