5 things to know before the World Men’s Curling Championship in Las Vegas

The World Men’s Curling Championship comes to Orleans Arena starting Saturday and running through April 8, marking the eighth time it has been held in the United States and the first since 2008.

Here are five things to know about the tournament:

Round-robin format

The tournament has a round-robin format, starting Saturday and continuing through April 6, with the top six teams moving on. The top two teams after round-robin play draw byes.

On April 7, the No. 3 team will play the No. 6 team and the No. 4 team will play No. 5. The winners of those matches will meet the top two teams in the semifinals later that day.

The tournament concludes April 8 with the bronze- and gold-medal games.

How to watch

NBC Sports Group has the broadcast rights, and viewers can find the U.S. men’s first match against Japan on NBCSN at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

All U.S. matches, as well as the semifinals and the gold-medal and bronze-medal games, will be aired either on NBCSN or the Olympic Channel.

Matches not aired on either of those channels will be available for streaming.

U.S. history

The United States has medaled 15 times, the most recent being bronze in 2016 when John Shuster’s team placed third in Basel, Switzerland.

Shuster and Co. won’t be competing this year.

The U.S. team will be skipped by Greg Persinger. Rich Ruohonen, Colin Hufman and Philip Tilker comprise the rest of the team, with Christopher Plys as the alternate.

The Americans have three golds, four silvers and three golds in their tournament history.

Canada beat Sweden for gold last year with Switzerland taking bronze.

Olympians to attend

Members of the U.S. Olympic men’s team which took home gold, including Shuster, are scheduled to make appearances during the tournament.

They will throw the ceremonial first stone at opening ceremonies at 11 a.m. Saturday, and will take part in a Team USA pep rally poolside at The Orleans at 12:15 p.m. before the U.S. competes that night.

Shuster’s team competed in this tournament last year but couldn’t compete in the national championships this year because it was fulfilling media obligations after its Olympic victory.

Moving Patch

Tournament organizers will host its first Pool Patch, a curling-themed party.

The Pool Patch will operate between morning and afternoon and afternoon and evening draws every day of the tournament, and will move to the Mardi Gras ballroom following the nighttime draw.

Shuster and the rest of his U.S. Olympic gold-medal team is scheduled to sign autographs at the Pool Patch on April 7.

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.