A Break Before the Rush
We've had one busy season, yes. But what about second busy season?
If you have been bored with curling these last few weeks, I don’t know if we can be on speaking terms. Between some great events and drama on the professional circuit (the Broom Brothers interview with Brad Jacobs was incredible), six more 5U qualifiers (including four on the same weekend!), our first two regions completing club playdowns, and not to mention my first Mixed Doubles bonspiel, I’m ready for a little bit of a breather.
In fact, a breather is needed because looking ahead to January, it’s about to get even busier. Read all the way to the end of the post for a preview of what’s coming up in January!
I’m not going to apologize for this being a longer post. For two reasons:
It’s free, and you can stop reading when you want (please keep reading though)
There’s no drama (other than dramatic games), only curling.
Below you’ll find nothing but highlighting grassroots competitive curlers who have qualified for a national championship over the past month. Don’t read it for me, read it for them. They earned it.
Club Playdowns
Two regions kicked off club playdowns in December, and there’s no better way to kick it off than with the region whose 23-24 winners we saw on TV in September at the Everest North American Curling Club Championships. Let’s see who is headed to Milwaukee in March!
Wisconsin Women’s
Winner: Team Schroeder (Madison Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Roessler (Centerville Curling Club)
Last year, Team Schroeder found themselves needing to win tiebreakers and win tight games just to get to club nationals. At club nationals, they made a bunch of clutch draws to get to the finals and win the finals. This year, the reigning USA club champions made it much less dramatic at the playdowns hosted at Medford Curling Club.
The rink from Madison dropped one game all week to fellow Madison curlers Team Bookhout but got revenge in the second time through round robin play. They finished with a 5-1 record with all wins coming by at least 3 points. Team Schroeder successfully defended their Wisconsin title, and now they’ll have a target on their backs in their home state this spring.
Wisconsin Men’s
Winner: Team Nelson (Madison Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Wiza (Madison Curling Club)
The men’s side in Medford featured 15 teams, including 8 from Madison (though one team was unable to compete). The draw for the men’s side split into 3 pools of single round robin play. Wisconsin utilized the 2-loss elimination rule which meant no team with just one loss can be eliminated from contention. At the end of pool play, 5 teams remained with 0 or 1 losses: Nelson (Madison), DeJongh (Madison), Ward (Eau Claire) Violette (Stevens Point), and Wiza (Madison).
While Nelson may have benefitted from a team from their pool dropping out, you can only play who is in front of you, and they did just that. They proceeded to eliminate DeJongh from contention, and after Wiza emerged as the lone 1-loss team, the final was set. Wiza needed to defeat Nelson in two straight games on Sunday to advance, but Nelson took care of business and eliminated any need for a second game. They won a tight 3-2 game to claim their spot at nationals.
Will Buckingham is the father of Team Schroeder’s Lois Buckingham. If both teams find success in Milwaukee, they’ll have to temporarily rename Madison Curling Club to Buckingham Palace. (Yes, I understand that’s a horrible line, but let me have this.)
Mid-America (MACA) Women’s
Winner: Team Segovia (Curling Club of Houston)
Runner-Up: Team Turbow (Denver Curling Club)
To say the MACA playdowns were entertaining would be an understatement. I was grateful Rock Creek Curling always had one men’s game and one women’s game streaming for each draw, but seeing some of the scorelines for the non-streamed games made me feel like I was missing out.
Same as Wisconsin, MACA utilized the 2-loss elimination rule, and it played itself out on the women’s side.
Through three games, it seemed pretty clear that the perennial arena nationals finalists, Team Segovia, were on their way to a tiebreaker with Team Turbow, but for a fleeting moment on Saturday afternoon, it almost wasn’t to be. Segovia was down 7-1 after 6 ends. A loss would mean they needed to win out, including a win versus undefeated Turbow, to force a tiebreaker. When bonspieler.com refreshed the line score update, I was shocked.
7 in the 7th gave Team Segovia new life. Though they would go on to drop their final round robin game to Turbow, the round robin game against Stavely showed to never count out the ladies from Houston.
Team Segovia would need to win two consecutive games against Turbow on Sunday to advance to club nationals, and they managed to win 4-1 in the first game and hold on in a barnburner for game 2. Even in tight scenarios, everything seemed to go right for Segovia in the tiebreaker games. Check out this perfect tap to a freeze from Segovia. I wasn’t able to catch if the call was the draw to a freeze or a tap, but the tap was made perfectly and perfectly encapsulated the impressive run Team Segovia went on Sunday. They’ll be a tough game for anyone in Milwaukee.
Mid-America (MACA) Men’s
Winner: Team Davis (Denver Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Spielman (Rock Creek Curling)
The MACA men’s playdown was a little less dramatic than the women’s side, as no tiebreaker/elimination games were needed. That’s not to say it wasn’t boring, though. Last year’s playdown saw Team Kizlyk defeat Team Spielman, with Kizlyk going on to take silver at club nationals. This year, with Kizlyk dropping 3 of his first 4 games, it became clear we’d have a new MACA rep at nationals.
As on the women’s side, the round robin play through three games made it look like we had a clear two teams on their way to a tiebreaker in Davis and Spielman, and their matchup in the 4th draw was tight, with Davis winning 5-4 in extra ends. With the Spielman rink dropping their last game of round robin to Kizlyk, it didn’t matter that Davis lost their last game as they were the only team remaining at the end of pool play with fewer than 2 losses. MACA generally performs well at the national level, so I’m looking forward to seeing how Team Davis is able to perform.
5U Qualifiers
We had our first 5U bonanza in December. The weekend of December 6th featured 97 (!) teams across 4 qualifiers. It’s the only 4-qualifier weekend on the schedule, with two 3-qualifier weekends slated for 2025. It’s always interesting when so many spiels happen as you get a wider spread of talent across the events. Here’s who has qualified since my November post!
Pacific Northwest Curling Association 5U
Winner: Team Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Nie (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)
Coyotes Curling Club is on a roll. Team Campbell was the first team to earn a berth to 5U nationals, and with Team Kunkel’s win at the Pacific Northwest Curling Association 5U in Seattle, Coyotes is the first club to have two different teams to be representing them in St. Paul.
The semifinal and final matchups in Seattle were tight games with a lot of shot making. It’s always good to see a team win on a made shot, and Jeff Kunkel delivered in the last end. After Jason Nie made a clutch runback to sit shot, Jeff Kunkel had to draw to the full 4’ for the win up 1 with hammer. I hope Jeff bought his front end some drinks, because they carried his rock down to Nie’s shot rock for the spot in St. Paul.
Pittsburgh 5U
Winner: Team Dei (Potomac Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Mills (Bowling Green Curling Club)
Earlier this season, I was really impressed watching Team Dei at the Mad Anthony 5U in Fort Wayne. Unfortunately for them, they were outdueled by Rocket City’s Abbey Carlson in the A final and found themselves on the runner-up list. They weren’t letting that happen again.
32 teams took the ice at the Pittsburgh 5U, and after an impressive run to the finals, Potomac Curling Club’s Team Dei had their hands full with Team Mills from Bowling Green. Tied without hammer in the 8th, Josh Dei found himself with no guards out front and 2 opponent stones in 12-foot. His only shot was use one of Mills’ red rocks as a guard, and Dei threw a beautiful draw, perfectly buried on the back button. Steven Mills had a tough shot, no matter what he chose, and he elected to try running back his red. Unfortunately, the rock overcurled, and Dei’s timely draw served as the lone yellow counter for the win and nationals-clinching shot.
USWCA 5U Women’s East/Albany
Winner: Team Pytlarz (Silicon Valley Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Lee (Broomstones/Petersham Curling Clubs)
The 2023-2024 season saw one women’s qualifying 5U event, and for the 24-25 season, USA Curling announced 3 women’s qualifiers: GNCC’s Elisabeth Childs Challenge, a US Women’s Curling Association (USWCA) sponsored event in Wisconsin (registration just opened!), and a USWCA-sponsored event in Albany, New York. 9 competed at Albany’s 2 sheet club, and the final was a dramatic one!
(Unfortunately, Albany’s Twitch account had already archived the video by the time of this writing, so I was unable to clip highlights.)
A team from the west coast traveled across the country, and I’d say they got their money’s worth. They had a strong showing and looked to be well on their way to a solid victory, scoring two with hammer in the first, third, and fifth ends. But after getting forced in the 6th, Team Lee managed to steal in the 7th and 8th to force an extra end. Jaclyn Pytlarz was able to set up the extra end, and Patty Lee wasn’t able to force Jaclyn to throw her last. With the victory, Team Pytlarz is the first women’s team to clinch a berth at 5U nationals, and the curlers from Silicon Valley Curling Club means yet another arena-based team will be in St. Paul.
2024 Midwest Cup
Winner: Team Wysocki (Stevens Point Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Krehnovi (Wauwatosa Curling Club)
I had the joy of getting to meet Team Wysocki at 5U nationals in 2024 where they were skipped by Josh Chojnacki. This is a group of guys who are good curlers on the ice, and even better curlers off the ice. I had gotten a note from a curler at Frogtown’s qualifier last month noting that after things hadn’t gone Team Wysocki’s way on the ice after the first 2 games, “He decided to set aside curling and have himself a bonspiel.” Respect.
Good things come to those who bonspiel. At Kettle Moraine’s 32-team qualifier, things did go Team Wysocki’s way as they went an undefeated 5-0 on their way to the title. The Stevens Point-based team, returning 3 of 4 members from last year’s nationals team (save for aged-out skip, Chojnacki) defeated teams from Kettle Moraine, Appleton, Portage, and Wauwatosa on their way to the title.
Fighting Hornet
Winner: Team Wright (Broomstones Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team McGurk (Broomstones Curling Club)
I don’t know if anyone traveled more in 5-and-Under curling last year than Dillon Wright. I saw him almost everywhere I went, and it felt like almost everywhere I didn’t go. Almost without fail, you’d see his team make a run to the A event, only to drop a game in the semifinal. No game in the semifinal was dropped this year, as Team Wright and Team McGurk made it an all-Broomstones final in Charlotte.
Although Wright dropped their 2nd game of the event, Charlotte has one of my favorite 5U formats, which means you make the playoffs if you win 2 games before you lose 2 games. After dropping game #2, Wright didn’t drop a game the rest of the weekend making the finals as the 7th seeded playoff team. As happened to be the case with every final on December 8th, there was drama to the end.
After blanks in the first two ends, the game was delayed by a condensation or water drip issue in the 3rd end. Once play resumed, the teams went back and forth with a lot of tight ends and not many missed shots. Up 1 without hammer in the 8th, Wright was able to get a force with McGurk’s draw for 1 checking up just in time. In the extra end, vice Jonathan Bashford’s made a clutch double to sit shot, and a couple rocks later, Wright’s draw to the top of the button eliminated any chance of a steal for McGurk, and that was that. After a lot of hard work, time, and dedication for Team Wright, they’ve clinched a well-earned berth at 5U nationals in St. Paul.
Jingle Rocks 5U
Winner: Team Mellin (Duluth Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Miller (Madison Curling Club)
The 2023-2024 season was an impressive one for Team Mellin. After a loss in the A finals at the beginning of the season, the team didn’t drop a single game in 5U play the rest of the way, beginning with a win at the 2023 Jingle Rocks in Stevens Point and ending with an undefeated run to gold at the 5-and-Under National Championship in Chaska.
This is an impressive team who have put in a ton of time to be very good curlers, and they’re bearing the fruits of their labor. You had to think it would be a matter of time before they qualified, so it wasn’t too much of a shock to see them return to Stevens Point and defend their title. They went 4-0 to ensure they can make the drive south on Interstate 35 next April to try and defend their other title. I have a hunch I’ll be writing more about this team as the season goes along.
What’s Next?
The month of January is going to be absolutely bonkers.
Five 5U qualifying spiels across 2 weeks in January (January 17th & January 24th)
Seven men’s and women’s regional playdowns across 3 weeks in January (January 10/17/24)
The inaugural World Five-and-Under
I’ll probably have to break up recaps and previews across all of those things somehow in the month of January (not to mention heading to a bonspiel myself that weekend of January 10th).
Before then, I’m hoping to share some insights into how the fields are filled for these national championships and try to project what we will see from 5U and club runner-up teams.
I’m not sure when the next post will be out, hopefully in the first week of January, but until then, have a great holiday season, and good curling!
Great stuff Ben! Thanks for following all the "regular" curlers out there. 😃
Also, FYI, "Pytlarz" is spelled wrong throughout.