Highs and Lows
In curling, where you find celebration, you'll also find heartbreak.
February is winding to a close, and for some curlers, that means a light at the end of the tunnel of their curling season starts to appear. It’s not the end, quite yet, but it’s close.
The USA Mixed Doubles Trials are done. The Scotties are wrapped up. And yet, some of the best is still to come. On the top end of the sport, we’ve still got the Brier, another Slam, as well as the Women’s, Men’s, and Mixed Doubles World Championships.
Closer to home (and slightly closer in skill level), we’ve got a whole host of national championships on the horizon, including clubs, mixed 4s, and 5-and-Under.
The past few weeks of curling have been characterized by the highest of highs and what may feel like the lowest of lows — not just at the grassroots level, but even at the highest end of the game.
We all saw the impressive broom tosses from Team Dropkin after their national championship win in Duluth, and some of us might have tried to imagine ourselves in those shoes and the unbridled joy of winning a championship on an incredible shot.
But how many of us have put ourselves in Team Casper’s shoes? They were right there. Undefeated over the entire event. A freeze made on your last that was basically perfect. All that for silver.
Is that a bit of a downer perspective? Sure, but as some of the readers of this newsletter are aware, I’ve lost my share of tough ones, including in finals. It’s important to remember what takes root on the other side of your elation. Your joy is someone else’s sadness.
We always want to see wins on made shots, but in the times you win on a missed shot, remember to think of your opponent before your teammate. You’ll have plenty of time to celebrate with your team. Make the time for your fellow competitor first. It goes a long way to keeping our curling community strong.
We had some incredible finishes at qualifying events. Let’s take a closer look at the highs — and the lows.
Club Playdowns Results
Milwaukee Men’s (Host)
Winner: Team Packard
Runner-Up: Team Goelzer
Although Milwaukee Curling Club’s host spot went uncontested on the women’s side, six teams signed up on the men’s side to represent their home club at the Club National Championship.
It turned out to be a highly competitive event, with two teams finishing the round robin tied for third at 3-2 and two teams tied for first at 4-1. For a moment, it looked like Team Packard (Jay Packard, Terry Walsh, Colin Packard, Campbell Packard) would make it through the round robin play undefeated, but a loss in their last game made things a bit more interesting. Instead of the Goelzer rink needing to beat Packard twice to advance to nationals because of the two-loss provision, the elimination game became a winner-take-all match.
While it was a low-scoring affair, it wasn’t without some highlight and almost-highlight reel shots. Down 1 without hammer in the 7th, the Jay Packard made a perfect hit and roll to nestle into a pocket on his first which ultimately allowed him to steal 1 to tie it. In the 8th and final end, Matt Goelzer was forced to run his own guard back to try and win the game on his last rock. The skipper’s run rock ricocheted off Packard’s last stone and spun off of the shot rock. A measure would confirm Goelzer’s rock spun just a hair too far, and the win would come up in favor of Team Packard.
I can only imagine how special of an experience it will be for Jay to play with sons Colin and Campbell on home ice at nationals in March.
5-and-Under Qualifiers Results
5U Fling Spiel (Mapleton, MN)
Winner: Team Papineau (Appleton Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Sewell (Triangle Curling Club)
The Heather Curling Club of Mapleton, MN is one of the newcomers to the 5-and-Under qualifier circuit this season, and they had a weekend all to themselves. Unfortunately, a couple teams had to withdraw from the spiel (in at least one case, I believe it may have been due to already qualifying for nationals), and they were unable to fill refill those spots in the short time leading up to the spiel which resulted in a field of 22 teams.
The event was to be split into 6 pools of 4 teams, but due to the field size, 2 of the pools only had 3 teams. In those pools, they played one crossover game with a team in the other pool. The crossover games did not count against the team’s overall records.
Through the first 3 ends of the final, it seemed like we’d have a tight game with the teams trading singles. The Triangle rink couldn’t quite convert on their freeze attempts to a Papineau stone in the side of the house, and Papineau kept loading up the house. When all was said and done, the team from Appleton wound up with a score of 5. A steal of 3 in the next end sealed the game for Team Papineau.
Skip Johnnie Papineau has already qualified with Team Bliven, and he has indicated he would be sticking with Team Bliven for St. Paul which leaves the Appleton-based team some time to figure out their roster for the national championship.
Queen City Five and Under (Cincinnati, OH)
Winner: Team Elliott (Nashville Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Miller (Columbus Curling Club)
After filling up their 16-team spiel in 6 months in advance of their qualifier spiel last season, the 3-sheet Cincinnati Curling Club was able to increase their field to 20 teams for the 2025 version. Impressively, they managed to fit 14 draws across 3 days and still finish before sunset on Sunday.
The final was a barnburner, and the ending perfectly encapsulates the highs and lows of this silly sport. With the score tied at 4 and Chris Elliott having made a good guard of shot stone, Columbus Curling Club’s Kevin Miller needed a rock to bite the 4-foot. The team decided to tap back their yellow rock with the red in the back of the 8-foot serving as backing. Unfortunately for the Columbus rink, the rock overcurled and the team from Nashville Curling Club won the berth to the 5-and-Under National Championship.
I rewatched the last shot no fewer than 5 times and was immediately flooded with memories of both winning and losing a final. Part of me celebrated with Chris Elliott as he swept the rock out of the back of the house. The rest of me broke with Kevin Miller.
This was Team Elliott’s second qualifier of the season, and for this event added Vanessa Williams at lead who has been extremely active on the nationals mixed doubles circuit. Having someone who primarily throws first and last stones in mixed doubles is incredibly valuable at lead, and her competitive experience should be a benefit when the rink gets to St. Paul.
Elisabeth Childs Challenge (Belfast, ME)
Winner: Team Shoemaker (Jersey Pinelands Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Swears (Schenectady Curling Club)
The Elisabeth Childs Challenge is the oldest women’s 5-and-under event in the country, with its first iteration coming in 1991. This women’s only 5U event is for members of the GNCC region and has been a regular selection as a national qualifier.
This year, 24 teams took part in the bracket-style bonspiel in Maine. Team Swears of Schenectady came out of the “long” side of the bracket, rattling off 4 wins to reach the final with Team Shoemaker of Jersey Pinelands reaching the final after 3 victories from the “short” side of the bracket.
The first end started off in entertaining fashion. All 16 rocks ended up in the house. All that work for a force of one!
After the dust began to settle, it looked like Team Shoemaker might run away with it after steals of three in the 4th end and a steal of 1 in the 5th, but Lois Swears and team were not going to let that happen. They came back with a score of 4 in the 6th end to take a lead and followed with a steal of their own to take a 7-5 lead going into the 8th.
With Swears rocks piling up in the house, Shoemaker was able to use those rocks to her advantage and create some traffic for Swears to navigate on takeouts. Going into her last rock, the Jersey Pinelands skip found herself already sitting 2 to tie the game and needing to basically bite the 8-foot to win. She used all of that scoring area, drawing to the Schenectady rock in the back to qualify for nationals.
It was an impressive display of sportsmanship between both teams when all the rocks had come to rest, and it was clear Hanna Shoemaker was trying to come to terms with her team earning a berth at nationals.
MoPac 5 & Under (Las Vegas, NV)
Winner: Team Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Gilbert (Oval Curling Club)
The MoPac 5U has one of the best 5U traditions, celebrating curlers who are graduating out of the 5-and-Under circuit.
As for the on-ice action, the 2025 MoPac 5 & Under field was loaded. The field featured five teams who had already qualified for 5-and-Under nationals and five other teams who had a team member compete at a past 5U national championship.
Team Gilbert of the Oval Curling Club had quite the gauntlet to run, defeating qualified 5U nationals teams Pytlarz, Nie, and Campbell before running into the already-qualified Team Kunkel in the final. Kunkel came out of the short side of the bracket, and this game was pretty tight the entire way.
From the get-go, it was clear that Jeff Kunkel came to play. In a fun twist of events, in a game that featured zero guards in play until the 6th end, it was Kunkel’s ability to draw to the four-foot at will that was the X-factor throughout this game. He threw 5 draws to the 4’ in the final with hammer, including the game-winning draw in the 8th. If Kunkel can be that consistent with his draw weight in St. Paul, he’s going to give everyone a tough game.
Dakota Territory 5U (Bismarck, ND)
Winner: Team Waind (Grand Forks Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Anderson (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)
The Dakota Territory has regularly hosted a qualifier event, with the event in past years open to teams from all regions. The event had a Dakota side and a national side, with the winner of the Dakota championship taking on the non-Dakota finalist to determine who earned the championship berth.
This year, the field hosted 12 teams just from the Dakota Territory Curling Association (DTCA) to compete for a spot the 5-and-Under National Championship in St. Paul.
Team Anderson has represented the DTCA at each of the last two 5U national championships and found himself in the same pool as Team Waind. After each beginning 2-0, Anderson won their wild pool play matchup to earn one of the top seeds in the playoffs and a bye to the semifinals.
Team Waind, meanwhile, battled through a longer playoff bracket to earn a rematch with Anderson in the final. The final itself was a tight one, with neither team able to pull away. Down by two in the 7th, Anderson made a draw for three to take the lead going into the final end.
With a busy house coming into skip rocks, Waind was sitting one for a tie and needing to get a second rock full into the 8-foot to win. He was able to make the draw, actually getting a wick off of his own rock, and Team Waind secured their first trip to 5U nationals.
Only a few qualifying events for the 24-25 season still remain on the docket. Coming up this weekend is Alaska’s club playdown, and then we’ve got three remaining 5U qualifiers to finish rounding out that field.
The next newsletter should be in about two weeks, and since there will be not as many games to recap, you can expect to see a little more commentary on some storylines that have popped up through the season as well as previews for the national championships.
Just as I did for the arena nationals, you can expect to see a newsletter dedicated to previewing both the women’s and men’s club national championships before those kick off on March 26th.
Thanks for reading! May your wins always end on a make, and remember to enjoy the journey, even if the losses sting along the way.
Another great article!