Season in Review
The first season of Stones & Stripes comes to a close
It’s crazy to think that I started this silly newsletter nearly 9 months ago on September 1st. On the other hand, September 1st, 2024 feels like it was ages ago.
This newsletter started by digging into the 2024-2025 5-and-Under qualifiers announcement, so it only seems fitting I close out the season around the same time that the 5U qualifiers will be announced for next season. There will be plenty of time to go over aspects of the 2025-2026 season, but I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what a crazy year we just experienced.
Let’s dive into some of the storylines from this past year, and I wanted to wrap up this year with some gratitude and personal housekeeping notes going into the offseason.
Everest In, Everest Out
The season started with a bang as we got to watch club curlers in an event simulcast on CBS Sports in the USA and TSN in Canada. The 2024 Club National Champions competed against Canada’s men’s and women’s championship teams at the Everest North American Curling Club Championships.
Thanks to a $47 round trip flight, I had the unique experience of attending the women’s game in person and watching the men’s game on TV. Both experiences were really enjoyable.
Unfortunately, Everest Funeral Concierge decided to step back from their investments in senior and club curling in Canada as well as this international event, so we won’t see a return of the fun format again next year. Everest will be focusing their investment with World Curling moving forward, but we have yet to see an official announcement of what all that will look like.
Hopefully someday again, we’ll see Jennifer Jones and Matt Hamilton offer on-ice coaching for club curlers, but it won’t be next season.
Streaks Stopping and Starting
This season saw some long-standing streaks come to an end, and it also saw some new streaks begin.
Over the last four-plus years, Texas has dominated the Arena National Championships on both the men’s (DFW) and women’s (Houston) sides. The Mid-America Curling Association saw their clubs’ streaks come to an end this year with the MoPac region taking both titles. The reigning arena national champions (Asis from Silicon Valley, Spangler from Wine Country) are invited back to defend their title the following year, which should make for some interesting arena nationals qualifying next season.
Even though some streaks came to an end, other new streaks started. Team Farbelow repeated their Senior Men’s victory in Traverse City, and Team Falco had another strong showing on their home ice in Denver Curling Club to win back-to-back Mixed National Championships. Unfortunately, Falco won’t have an international World Mixed Championship to return to this coming season, thanks in part to the Olympics.
On the women’s side Team Schroeder won the Club National Championship in their home state, and they managed it in wild fashion. With next year’s championship headed to Chaska, Minnesota. Will we see a Podoll-Schroeder matchup in the finals for the third straight year?
Drama, Drama!
It wouldn’t be a season of curling if there wasn’t a little bit of drama sprinkled in. On the world stage, we saw FoamGate (and seemingly nonstop roster changes) dominate the headlines. I, for one, look forward to the next chapter of broom drama being narrated by John Cullen.
In the United States, though, most of the drama stemmed from 5-and-Under curling. For anyone who has been in the 5U world, this should come as no surprise.
Thankfully, most of the drama was at a minimum this year. Probably the biggest issue that came to a head was the last-minute switch of a qualifier. As I discussed last fall, this was really a remnant of the GNCC-USA Curling challenges, and ultimately, I don’t know if there were any better solutions than what was offered.
There was also some frustration this season with teams winning multiple qualifiers, despite the lowest number of repeat winners this year that we’ve ever seen. I know a lot of folks have been brainstorming alternative methods, but I don’t see any major changes coming to the qualifying process next year. Every system has its flaws, and for the time being, this current system is the one of the most reasonable.
Olympics Uncertainties
While it’s something I wrote about this past year, especially since this newsletter has primarily focused on grassroots curling, one of the biggest storylines in the United States is that no 4-person teams have yet secured spots for the USA at the 2026 Olympics.
Due to back-to-back years finishing in in the middle or bottom of the pack at the world championships, the United States will be sending men’s and women’s teams to Kelowna, B.C. in December to try to nab one of the final two Olympics spots. This means that the winners from the Olympic Trials in Sioux Falls this November are not guaranteed to be in Cortina in February. They’ll have to have a strong showing at the last chance Olympic Qualifying Event.
Thankfully, though, Americans are guaranteed to have some curlers on the biggest stage in the world when Leo Arnaud’s “Bugler’s Dream” plays on NBC come February. Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin’s 5th place finish at the Mixed Doubles World Championships secured their spot in Cortina.
Beyond Substack
I did not know what starting this Substack would bring for the upcoming season. I merely thought I’d write a few newsletters, hope that a couple people would read it, and it would be a fun outlet during the season.
So imagine my surprise when I received a request to be a contributor for The Curling News. It turned out to be a fun outlet to talk about all types of curling in the US. I had the opportunity to write about grassroots curling going through some growing pains, Team Dropkin reaching the pinnacle of American curling, and what was probably my most notable bit of writing this year: an unrequited love letter to TSN. (Neither TSN nor Curling Canada actually followed through on offering opportunities to watch their national championships live, by the way.)
Special Shoutouts
There is no way I would have continued with this newsletter the way I did without an incredible amount of support in the first year of this silly newsletter. I have so much gratitude for the curling community, and the support I received all season was amazing.
Thank you to these people in particular:
Johnnie Papineau, Matt Apesos, Anto Serna, Rebecca Peichel as well as all playdown and qualifier organizers who helped me track down information and data from approximately 30 events all season. There are a number of others who also helped me this year, so I’m sorry for any names I forgot here!
Jeremy Whitman of Whitman Photography for allowing me to use so many of his amazing curling photos throughout the season.
Jared, Jeff Polo, Nancy, Houston, Jesse, Debra Aubrey, Nic, Cate, and Paige for pledging your support
USA Curling for answering my questions when I had them,
Everyone who shouted out the newsletter on their platforms, including
And finally, to everyone who shoots me notes of positive encouragement, asks how they can help or where they can share this, and to any of the 298 people who currently subscribe. I am so endlessly grateful for all your support.
Curling is good. Curlers are the best.
What’s On Deck
I’m planning to continue with the newsletter once again for the 2025-2026 season. Newsletters will be a little more sparse during a very busy summer, but I hope to find a consistent cadence once the dedicated ice season gets in full swing this fall.
As always, any help from anyone tracking down playdown qualifier results (especially arena playdowns, which are happening now!) is much appreciated. Helping me stay in touch with the various playdowns winner ensures I can continue to spotlight grassroots curlers across the US.
What should you expect next year?
Just as I did this season, I plan to cover arena, club, and 5U curling
I am hoping to add in some additional content where possible, including possible brief Q&A with grassroots competitive curlers
While this may not be on the newsletter, I’m also planning to cover some of the US high performance curling, including the Slam in Tahoe as well as the men’s world championships being held in Utah next year!
If you have any other ideas for types of content you’d like to see, please feel free to shoot me a note. I’m open to any and all feedback! Whether or not I have the capacity to implement it will remain to be seen.
After all, I still need to be getting out on the ice myself! Looking forward to seeing who of you I will get to run into next season.
Good curling!