Team USA curling skipper John Shuster hit the 'shot of his life' to win an improbable gold medal for the United States

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

American skip John Shuster celebrates after giving the United States a huge lead late in the game.

• The United States' men's curling team defeated Sweden to win their first gold medal in Olympic history.
• Team USA took a huge lead late in the match when skipper John Shuster hit a perfect shot in the eighth end.
• The win is being called the "Miracurl on Ice."

The United States' men's curling team defeated Sweden to win their first gold medal in Winter Olympic history.

The win came from Team Shuster, led by skip John Shuster, who beat back demons of Olympics past to hit the biggest shot of his life to earn gold for the United States.

With the game knotted 5-5 in the eighth end, Shuster had the hammer - the last shot of the end that often proves decisive. Leading into his final rock, Sweden had the scoring stone, but the Americans had packed the house with four other stones that could all become scores for the stars and stripes if Shuster could clear away Sweden.

It would take a perfect shot, and Shuster was up to the task.

The skipper threaded the needle past guard stones and executed a perfect double-takeout, clearing Sweden's stones from the house and leaving five scoring stones for the Americans, jumping the team to a 10-5 lead with just two ends left in the match.

You can watch the gold medal-winning shot below.

It was the first five-point end that the United States had had all tournament, and it would prove to be the difference.

The win, which is being called the "Miracurl on Ice," was almost impossible to imagine just a week ago. The Americans started out round robin play 2-4, and needed to be perfect through their final three games just to make it to the knockout round.

Team Shuster stepped up to the moment, winning three straight against Canada, Switzerland, and Great Britain to move onto the knockout round. They would beat Canada again in the semifinal to move on to the gold medal match, and now, after starting the tournament as 25/1 underdogs, Team Shuster are Olympic champions.