Curling Fever
Playdown season is heating up with some familiar names
As expected, it’s been a wild couple of weeks, and the wildness is only going to continue for a little while here. It’s almost going to feel boring once the playdowns are done and the US national championships are over (just kidding, it won’t).
There are a lot of results to get to from the past 2 weeks, so let’s get to them.
World 5-and-Under
Gold: Team Rose (Denver Curling Club, USA)
Silver: Team Doyon (Aurèle-Racine Curling Club, Canada)
Bronze: Team Bliven (Appleton, Green Bay, Stevens Point, and Wausau Curling Clubs, USA)
The inaugural World 5U event took place in Pittsburgh earlier this month, and from what I heard, it sounded like the event went really well. Kudos to all involved who took part in the planning and running of the event. Despite this happening during Big Spiel in the Twin Cities, I was able to tune in for a few ends.
After all was said and done, the top two teams in the field came from the same pool. I had picked both Rose and Doyon to come out of that pool based on the impressive finishes each had to their 2023-24 seasons, and they both looked the part.
While Doyon won the pool play matchup, Rose came out firing in the gold medal game, scoring 3 in the first and third ends while forcing Doyon to make a tough double for a single point in the 2nd. After a steal in the 4th end to go up 7-1 in the 4th, the game was all but over. Rose would maintain control to win 8-3 and bring home gold at the first iteration of this event.
Here’s to hoping we can see another iteration of this event next year with more international teams, and ideally, a greater emphasis on 5U curling outside of the US.
Club Playdowns Results
Pacific Northwest
Women’s Champion: Team Brown (Granite Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Team Maywalt (Evergreen Curling Club)
The Pacific Northwest Curling Association held their playdowns at the 3-sheet Evergreen Curling Club. With 15 teams playing down between the men and women, the PNWCA and Evergreen made the wise decision to split their playdown into two weekends with the women going first.
Shannon Brown’s rink of Granite Curling Club and Sarah Maywalt’s Evergreen rink were the class of the field all weekend, each going undefeated through pool play. Interestingly, the 7-team field did not do a full round robin, and the only team in the pool Brown and Maywalt did not play was each other. The finals fixed that.
Maywalt started the game putting a massive amount of pressure onto Brown in the 1st end, getting rewarded with a steal of one. And in the 2nd end, the Evergreen rink had one of those ends. You know the ones I’m talking about - ends where nothing goes your way, and the type of end you’d rather happen in any place other than a final. Brown was able to capitalize on Maywalt’s bad breaks, scoring 5 in the 2nd end. And yet, the game was far from over.
After taking their one in the 3rd and stealing 2 in the 4th, Team Maywalt found themselves right back in it, just down 1 at the break. Brown was again able to capitalize in the 5th end after Maywalt’s last rock wrecked on a guard, this time for three points and a commanding 4-point lead with 3 ends to play.
Maywalt again tried to battle back. They took 1 point in the 6th after Shannon Brown made a nice double to eliminate the multi-point threat and stole another 1 in the 7th to be down by 2 without hammer in the 8th, but it wasn’t enough. Brown’s 2nd to last rock in the 8th tucked just enough under a guard that Maywalt’s last rock wrecked, and the Granite Curling Club rink earned their berth to club nationals.
Men’s Champion: Team Bond (Granite Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Team Schaak (Evergreen Curling Club)
The next weekend, the men picked up where the women went off and we saw another runner-up from Evergreen show a lot of resilience. Team Schaak found themselves in a 3-way-tie in their pool. They managed to win the tiebreaker game and move into the semifinals where they then defeated the top pool play team from Pool A and earn their way into the final.
Team Bond, on the other hand, lost one game in pool play and eked out a 6-5 win in the semifinal to take on Schaak. As with the women’s final, the 2nd end brought about a big score for the eventual victors. This time it was a 4-ender for Chris Bond’s rink, followed by a steal of 3 in the 3rd.
Back-end Chris Bond and Sam Galey, in particular, really had their draw weight dialed in this game. They were regularly making precise guards and pressure-inducing draws throughout the final, but it got a little hairy in the 6th end. Had Dan Schaak been able to move the shot and 4th-counting rock a few more inches, he could have sat as many as 6. Instead, he took just two and was unable to complete a comeback.
Just a few years ago, Granite Curling Club’s Bond and Galey were comping together at the USA Curling National Championships. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do at the club-level championship in 2025.
Great Lakes
Women’s Champion: Team Benson (Detroit Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Team Amador (Mayfield Curling Club)
With 20 teams between the men (13) and the women (7) playing down at the 4-sheet Fort Wayne Curling Club across 4 days, the Great Lakes Curling Association had to be creative with how they set up their draws. On the women’s side, the teams were split into a 3 and 4 team pool with a bracket coming out of each pool to determine the pool representatives.
After Team Amador went 1-1 in their pool, they went without another loss in the bracket portion of play to emerge from Pool A. Team Benson, on the other hand, went undefeated in pool play, but dropped their first game of the bracket portion. As that was their first loss, they were not yet eliminated and ended up coming out of Pool B.
Despite being down 4-1 at the break, the Detroit rink came roaring back with 3 in the 5th to tie it up. Julie Benson followed it up in the 6th with a perfect pair of skip’s rocks to put a relentless amount of pressure onto Jenny Amador resulting in a steal of 3.
It all looked like it would be for nothing when Amador had an opportunity to hit for 5 in the 7th end, but the stone went wide and the team from Mayfield found themselves forced to one instead. With Amador unable to sit two going into Benson’s last rock, the Detroit rink was able to hold on in a wild game to advance to Milwaukee’s club nationals.
Men’s Champion: Team Levy (Detroit Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Team Strouse (Traverse City Curling Club)
The GLCA men’s format was even more wild than the women’s with the 13-team field playing a double-knockout format and a unique page(ish) playoff bracket. Team Strouse came out with of the qualifying rounds with an undefeated record, whereas Team Levy lost their first game of the event and went on a winning streak to advance to the finals against Strouse.
Because Strouse had not yet lost and Levy had already lost once, Levy would need to defeat Strouse twice to win the playdown. Strouse needed to win only one of those two games. In the first game, Team Levy won in commanding fashion, 7-1 to force a second game.
Game two started much closer with Traverse City’s Strouse only down 1 without hammer going into the 6th end. Scott Strouse was set up well to force Levy and get hammer back into the 7th, but he needed to make a draw to sit second shot to force Levy into a challenging shot for two. Instead, the draw came up light and left open the remaining Traverse City rock in the house.
Ben Levy made the nose hit and found himself sitting four. Pushing the lead to 7-2, Strouse conceded, and Detroit found itself having both a women’s and men’s representative at club nationals in 2025.
Mountain Pacific
Women’s Champion: Team Aubrey (Coyotes Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Team Walsh (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)
One of multiple finals rematches from the 23-24 season, the MoPac women’s playdown once again saw Aubrey and Walsh clash in the final.
Looking at the line score doesn’t really do this game justice. There was a lot of really well thrown shots from both teams, but overall Team Aubrey executed just a bit better and the angles worked out in their favor more often than not.
After a draw from Sarah Walsh came up just short for a 4th point in the 4th end and a force in the 5th to get hammer back, Aubrey put a lot of pressure onto the Bay Area rink. Walsh could never really get set up well for a score of multiple to get back into it, and Aubrey took the win to go 6-1 on the weekend.
Based on the registration numbers we’ve seen thus far, it looks like MoPac will likely get the wild card spot for women’s club nationals. In that scenario, Walsh would return back to club nationals once again this year. Both teams competed at club nationals last march, going a combined 8-4 in the event with Team Aubrey winning the bronze.
Men’s Champion: Team LeClair (Coyotes Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Team Campbell (Coyotes Curling Club)
The men’s final was an all-Coyotes affair, and it was made even more interesting by the heavy contrast between the two teams. Bob LeClair’s rink has won multiple senior national championships, while Team Campbell is an entirely 5-and-Under team that just qualified for their first 5U national championship earlier this season.
In the past I’ve seen at least one member of Team LeClair working with Team Campbell, and it’s a great thing to see the mentees become the challengers. The final ended up being a really good back and forth battle between the two teams with Campbell just down 1 going into the 6th end.
Throughout the game, LeClair’s experience was clear as he was more confident playing aggressively, and the aggression paid off. A steal of 3 in the 6th end effectively put a wrap on the final, and Bob LeClair’s rink secured their return to the club championships for the first time since they won the silver medal in 2020.
Dakota
Women’s Champion: Team Podoll (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Team Bohlman (Grand Forks Curling Club)
The Dakota women’s playdown only had two teams this year which meant the two teams would get very familiar with each other very quickly. Podoll and Bolhmann lined up for a best-of-5 series, and the reigning club silver medalists, Team Podoll, took care of business with a 3-game sweep.
Ann Podoll’s rink will be a top contender for the club national championships again in 2025.
Men’s Champion: Team Berg (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Team Workin (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)
While the women’s playdown only had 2 entries, the Dakota men’s playdown was jam-packed with 17 teams. As with last year, Teams Berg and Workin were the final two. Neither team really had any close games to get to the final. As at 2024 club nationals, reigning club national champion Team Berg won, this time with a 7-3 score over reigning club bronze medalist Workin.
There were a few interesting storylines coming out of the Dakota men’s championship to keep tabs on. Evan Workin will be playing with Team Berg’s Tim Hodek and Josh Moore at the USA Curling National Championships in Duluth next week. Ethan Sampson, one of the rotating front-end players for Team Berg, will be skipping his own team at nationals as well.
There is no shortage of connections between the Dakota curlers, and they Fargo is one of the curling hotbeds in the US. While I don’t have the answer here, this does bring up some interesting things to consider for the club championships and the intended competition pool. Should there be any limits on how eligibility for club championships for curlers who are also competing at the highest level in the USA championship system?
Host
As I’ve mentioned in past posts, the host club gets a men’s and women’s representative at club nationals. At last count, there are 6 teams that will be vying for the host club spot on the men’s side from club nationals host, Milwaukee Curling Club. However, only one team threw their name in the ring for the women’s side which means Team Hansen will be Milwaukee’s women’s representative.
5-and-Under Qualifiers Results
Frigid Apple 5U (Appleton, WI)
Winner: Team Visser (Chicago/Windy City Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Team Hill (Milwaukee Curling Club)
The Frigid Apple in 5U this year had a strong field. Quite a few teams had either already qualified for nationals or had been in a final already this year, but when it came down to it, the two teams in the 1st event final on Sunday were newcomers to the 5U finalist tables.
Shout out to Appleton Curling Club for getting a stream up and running for the spiel, allowing those of us outside of the Fox Valley to tune in! Team Visser out of Chicago and Windy City Curling Club had a tough road to the final, including a win over Kettle Morain’s 5U runner-up, Team Krehnovi, and a win over 5U qualifier Team Dei of Potomac Curling Club on a warm draw to the button.
In the final against Hill, skip Aaron Visser made a few nice shots to put themselves in strong position. That combined with some tough breaks for Team Hill resulted in a victory for Visser and his team earning a spot in St. Paul at the end of April.
Lakeside Curling 5U (Duluth, MN)
Winner: Team Mellin (Duluth Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Purves (St. Paul Curling Club)
For the 3rd season in a row, Matt Mellin has won the Duluth’s 5-and-Under spiel. This time, though, it’s without his usual team (that reigning national championship team already won a qualifier in Stevens Point). This brings about an interesting conundrum: what does the team do?
It’s expected that Matt will run it back at 5U nationals with his typical lineup with Joe Daly, Derek Farrell, and Jackson Purdy. Teams only need 3 of 4 or 3 of 5 of teammates from the qualifying event to be eligible, so the team that won this past weekend in Duluth just needs to add a 4th curler in Matt’s place to still be eligible for nationals.
While it’s tempting to put a lot of the emphasis on the skip for coming up as a winner at two different events, I don’t think that’s entirely fair to the rest of the team. They still had to make shots and put Mellin in favorable positions to win games in each spiel. Maddie, Joey, and Gary earned their spot at 5U nationals just like any other team, they’ll just have to find another curler to fill in Mellin’s shoes.
I’ve got a fever, and the only prescription is… more curling!
We’re right in the middle of the best time of year, especially when it comes to qualification for national championships. Could you tune in to one of the Canadian provincials? Sure, you could. But you’ll see a lot of those teams at the Scotties and Brier anyways. Here are the upcoming championship qualifying events south of the border (known links or draws for those events are linked)
Minnesota Club Playdowns, January 23-26 at Bemidji Curling Club
Midwest Club Playdowns, January 23-26 at Exmoor Curling Club
Evergreen 5 & Under national qualifier, January 24-26 at Evergreen Curling Club
Frozen Five & Under national qualifier, January 24-26 at Madison Curling Club
Stream links might get posted on their Facebook page
GNCC Club Playdowns, January 30 - February 2 at Potomac Curling Club
Furthest North 5U national qualifier, January 31 - February 2 at Fairbanks Curling Club
And of course, be sure to tune in to the USA Curling Men’s and Women’s National Championships running from January 27 - February 2. If you want to read more from me about a couple teams at the upcoming national championships, I will have some going up over at The Curling News in the coming days.
Thanks again for reading, and good curling!