5U Worlds & Filling the Fields
A quick glance at the inaugural 5-and-Under world event and a closer look at what nearly-qualified teams have the chance to find themselves at a national championship this season
The end of one year and the beginning of a new year brings about a great time for reflection. I wanted to lead this off with a quick note of gratitude.
I started doing this silly little newsletter back in September not knowing what all was going to come out of it. It’s been just shy of three months, and while it’s been a lot of work, it’s been so much fun highlighting teams who deserved to be known and who many of us wanted to know more about. The free subscriber base growth has been consistently growing, and that’s thanks to you all for sharing as you’ve subscribed and read. (Also, thanks to John Cullen for the note on his latest mailbag.)
Please continue to share and subscribe so we can shine a brighter light on grassroots competitive curling. I’ll have some links to a couple of other ways to offer support at the end of today’s blog. Again, thank you for your support. It means a lot.
As I mentioned in my last post, January is going to be incredibly busy with a lot of club playdowns and 5-and-Under qualifiers filling up the month. I’ll save the chaos for later this month. For now, let’s look ahead to a new event and see how teams stack up to qualify for a couple others.
World 5-and-Under
In November, I wrote an article for The Curling News about an inaugural world 5-and-Under event. The event, announced by co-organizers Matt Apesos and James-Grant Robertson, is the initial attempt to capitalize on the success of 5U curling in the United States.
While the event itself is not officially sanctioned or run by World Curling or USA Curling, the co-founders worked hard with those entities as well as other entities around the world to get this event kicked off. The good news for the rest of us? Another bonspiel with streaming for us to watch!
The event runs January 9-12 at Pittsburgh Curling Club and features 16 teams. Some of the international teams are also curlers based in the US who have represented their teams, and the field is made up heavily of US teams. It’s important to keep in mind 5U curling is relatively unique to the United States from a national perspective, so for the first event, it shouldn’t be a big surprise to have a larger contingent coming from here. Ideally future iterations of this event will have a larger international field.
United States Teams
Anderson (Fargo-Moorhead, Grand Forks)
Binish (Milwaukee)
Bliven (Green Bay, Appleton, Stevens Point, Wausau)
Johnson (Schenectady)
Lee (Triangle)
Mathey (Pittsburgh - host team)
Meyer (San Francisco Bay Area)
Robertson (Racine, Atlanta, St. Paul, Chicago, Nashville)
Rose (Denver)
Wysocki (Stevens Point)
International Teams
Canada: Doyon (Aurèle-Racine)
Canada: Pinoul (Glenmore, Lachine)
Canada: Shaw (Lakefield)
Philippines: Delarmente (Orange County)
Pan-Asia: Mewers (Orange County, Silicon Valley, Pittsburgh, San Francisco
Jewish delegation: Penkar (Atlanta, Rocket City, Ardsley, Racine)
Event Preview
It was fun to see the team names come through for this event, as I’ve either played against or in the same event as a member of every non-Canadian team with the exception of the host team from Pittsburgh, Team Mathey. The reigning USA 5U national champions, Team Mellin, are not competing which should leave the field wide open overall.
Even though Canada as a whole is missing the boat on 5U curling, Curling Québec is not. They have a strong 5-and-Under program known as the Colts. The 2nd place (Pinoul) and 4th place (Doyon) teams from the 2024 Colts provincial championships are making their way to Pittsburgh.
Pool A
Team Pinoul comes in as the reigning 2nd place finisher out of Curling Québec’s Colt’s provincial championship, so I’d put them at the highest odds of coming out of Pool A. Team Johnson came out of nowhere to win their group at the 2024 USA national championship, but I’d still probably say Team Anderson has the highest potential of the US teams in this group. They were the only team to beat the Mellin rink in 2024, and when they’re on, they’re as good as anyone. Pittsburgh’s Team Mathey is definitely the underdog in Pool A with a steep hill to climb to make it out of pool play.
My top 2: Team Pinoul (Canada) & Team Anderson (USA)
Pool B
Central and northeast Wisconsin’s Team Bliven has been in the medal rounds at each of the last three 5U national championships, including a gold medal finish in 2023. Only the skip, Dan, and vice, Ben, have been competing together this season. While the 4 had limited time on the ice together in 2024, they still brought home a bronze medal from nationals. Team Lee has competed at multiple 5U national championships and is likely going to be the biggest challenge for Bliven. Team Penkar is the team with the least 5U national experience in the pool, but I would not be surprised to see a very similar style of play between them and the Pan-Asia representatives Team Mewers. I expect to see houses with a lot of rocks in play which should make for entertaining games.
My top 2: Team Bliven (USA) & Team Lee (USA)
Pool C
This pool is probably the hardest pool to predict. It features two past USA 5U national silver medalists in Team Meyer and Team Binish. Team Robertson has been a mainstay at 5U events nationwide for 4 years, and Team Shaw out of Ontario is a total unknown to me. I’m most fascinated to see the Binish-Meyer matchup, as these two teams have been at the same national championship multiple times, have each found their way to the podium, but they’ve never faced each other. The two have very different styles of play, and I think the winner of their game will be winner of the pool.
My top 2: Team Binish (USA) & Team Meyer (USA)
Pool D
Another pool where just about anything could happen, Pool D features the other Curling Québec representative, Team Doyon. Based on the scoring reports from the Colts provincials, I’m guessing they will have a bit more of a defensive approach and will be a tough game for everyone. Team Rose really impressed me at 2024 nationals, finishing just off the podium in 4th, and I am excited to see their progression into the new season. This pool also features a team fresh off a victory at a 5U qualifier in December, Team Wysocki. The representatives from the Philippines, Team Delarmente, will be a true wild card. Vice Kyra Manayan has competed at 5U and arena nationals in the last year, and skip Benjo is a familiar face to many of the teams in the field this weekend.
My top 2: Team Doyon (Canada) & Team Rose (USA)
5U is a fickle demographic in curling, but that’s also why am such a big fan of it (aside from its impact on my personal curling journey). It’s entertaining, and I expect this event is going to be wildly entertaining.
Will some shot calls have you scratching your head? Yes. Will you see some great shots? Also yes. If you’re not on the ice yourself, I highly recommend tuning in to Pittsburgh’s streamed games from the event, January 9-12!
Filling Out National Championship Fields
What happens to 2nd place teams at national qualifiers?
The club, arena, and 5-and-Under national championships all have different avenues to fill championship field. Club championships are guaranteed to have a team who did not win a regional playdown, while 5U nationals may or may not need to have teams fill in. Here’s how each championship has those vacant spots get filled, and where things currently stand for filler teams.
5-and-Under
The past few years have demonstrated that 5U qualifier runner-up teams will make it to nationals, but how many of those teams make it varies from year to year. If one team wins multiple qualifying events, or if a qualified team is unable to make it to the national championship, then the runner-up of the qualifier spiel with the most teams receives an invitation. If they have already been invited, then it moves on down the list until a field of 24 is reached.
In 2024, 3 runner-up teams ended up competing at 5U nationals, with one of those teams qualifying for playoffs. Because 5-and-under events can be so variable, it’s not altogether surprising if the best team doesn’t win a spiel or if a team that was only one win short goes on a run once they do get to the national event.
Here are where the runner-up teams currently stand, in order, based on USA Curling fill criteria:
You’ll notice there are only 8 listed teams with 10 completed qualifiers. This is due to the Cool Duck qualifier having a team ineligible for 5U Nationals in the finals and Team Dei being a runner-up in one event and winning another event.
There is yet a lot to be determined, as some of the largest bonspiels are yet to take place. Madison is filled with 40 teams while Duluth and Huntsville will have 32 teams apiece as they did last season. The runner-up from those spiels will stack up to have first dibs on qualifying spots.
As it currently stands, here are how the spiels line up:
Disclaimer: the total team registrations for the Dakota Territory 5U and the USWCA Racine Women’s 5U are estimates or not known at this time. If a bonspiel does not fill or it expands capacity, the rankings will change accordingly.
While we have yet to see a 5U national championship without a runner-up team, it will be interesting to track what happens as the season progresses, especially if we get to 3 runner-up teams making their way into the national event. Huntsville’s Space Race qualifier is the last event of the season, and it is entirely possible teams two teams enter that final knowing they’re both headed to nationals. It’s also possible they’ll be fighting for the final spot in St. Paul.
Club Championships
The club national championship field is made up of 12 teams. Each of the 10 regional associations gets a spot, the host club has a representative, and then the regional association with the highest number of registered teams gets a bid as a wild card. If any regions do not send a team, additional spots are filled using the wild card process (i.e. region with the next highest number of teams gets the spot).
Compared with 5-and-Under, there is much less drama and predicting who will get invited as a wild card is much more straightforward. As a bonus, this setup should also create a stronger championship event. Realistically, regions with larger numbers of teams should have a higher level of competition, and more competition should mean stronger teams making it to the national championship.
We’ve already had two regions complete playdowns, and every region except for Alaska will have their playdowns complete in the next month. It’s usually safe to assume Alaska will only have a small handful of teams in their playdown, so they are not expected to factor into the wild card bids.
Based on current registration numbers, it appears Dakota will get the men’s wild card bid with 17 teams registered for their playdown beginning in the middle of January. As of January 1, no men’s teams had registered for the Alaska playdowns. If no men’s teams register, Wisconsin’s Team Wiza would likely be slated to get the bid.
On the women’s side, it’s a lot tighter. Three regions have 7 women’s teams registered for playdowns, which means the tiebreaker moves to the region with the most entries last season. Last year, MoPac had 7 entries, which means the Mountain Pacific will most likely be awarded the wild card berth.
Every region has at least one entry on the women’s side, and I have heard of at least one women’s team to be competing at the Milwaukee host playdowns. As a result, it appears there will only be the one wild card this year. It is important to reiterate, however, that these numbers are subject to change and the most unofficial of unofficial numbers. If a team has to drop out of playdowns, or perhaps a team is allowed late registration that I have not seen, then it could cause a vital shift in who ends up getting that coveted 12th spot at club nationals.
How You Can Help
January is going to be wildly busy, and I’m going to be following everything going on and sharing results here over the course of the month. However, I’m just one person, and I appreciate any and all support. Here’s how you can help me as we kick off the busiest period of the season.
Stat Tracking
It might be relatively clear by now that I do quite a bit of stat tracking from these various bonspiels. By and large, I’m compiling everything on my own, though there are a few helpful curlers who have been sending me information throughout the season. Otherwise, I’m tracking down results through social media posts, results posted on bonspieler, and reaching out to organizers after an event.
If you are either organizing or attending one of the playdowns or 5U qualifiers, please contact me with any of the following:
If the draw schedule and results is going to be updated anywhere online
A draw schedule before the event
A list of all game results after the event
The results can come in any format, though spreadsheets are my favorite! Ultimately, whatever is easiest for you. You can email me at hoppecurls@gmail.com.
Subscribing and Sharing
If you’ve gotten this far in the newsletter, odds are you’ve already subscribed. If not, there is a subscribe button at the top of this post!
Sharing my newsletter is a huge help, though, and is another way for event organizers to see that I am looking to gather information so I can shout out the curlers competing in their events. The more eyes that see these, the more information I can gather, and the more curlers I get to talk about!
Supporting My Cause
This is a very personal note, separate from curling, but it’s important to me all the same. Earlier this month, I shared a fundraiser my wife and I are doing for Turner Syndrome. A syndrome resulting in one of the two X chromosomes is fully or partially missing. Turner Syndrome is estimated to occur in 1-2% of conceptions, and it’s estimated that only 1% of those conceptions survive through pregnancy.
Tampa Bay Rays pitcher, Pete Fairbanks, had an emotional interview last season where he talked about losing his daughter, Ellis, during pregnancy. My wife, Lauren, is unique, having made it to adulthood living with Turner’s. We are raising money as we approach Turner Syndrome Awareness Month this February to try to help more Ellis’s become Lauren’s. We appreciate any help you can offer as we work towards our goal of $1,000.
Thanks again for reading, and good curling! We’ll be back in a couple weeks with some updates on results from the busy season!