The hire will no doubt reverberate through the curling world, especially across Canada, as Gushue will lead the United States’ High Performance program aiming to capitalize on a successful international campaign that saw Cory Thiesse become the first woman to win an Olympic curling medal, a young men’s team make their Olympics debut, and another men’s team win a world junior championship for the first time since 2008.

While I had heard a few different names of possible candidates and applicants for the position, Gushue’s name was one that never remotely entered my thought process. Gushue has a long list of accolades:

• won gold at the winter Olympics in 2006, then defeated the United States in the 2022 Olympics bronze medal game

• won a world championship in 2017 and four silvers between 2018 and 2024

• is the winningest curler in Brier history

• has a following of a fan club of women in pink shirts

Why would anyone think to consider him as someone interested in taking over the United States Curling program?

It’s almost like if Derek Jeter was hired to be the General Manager of the Minnesota Twins. A man that had one of the most illustrious careers of all time, frustrating fans of opposing teams with his success. Now, he’s crossing the border to lead a program he has often beaten.

One Program, Two Different Situations

Gushue will have his work cut out for him as he assumes leadership over a USA High Performance program with two wildly different situations. While there are still questions at play regarding the futures of established veterans John Shuster, Matt Hamilton, and Korey Dropkin, Gushue inherits a men’s program with a strong pipeline of young talent.

Danny Casper is coming off his team’s ascent to the top of the US Olympic Team Trials and eventual qualification for the Olympics, finishing one game shy of the playoffs. Caden Hebert’s rink became the first US team to win a World Junior Curling Championship in nearly two decades. Add in Kevin Tuma’s team and whoever from Andrew Stopera’s squad decides to return next year along with a number of other young curlers, and you’ve got a long list of options with which Gushue can tinker.

Gushue, whose run to his Olympic gold at the age of 25, has the potential to be just the right thing at just the right time for skips coming into their own.

Meanwhile, on the women’s side, he will be needing to make sense of a women’s program riddled with more questions than answers. I expect Gushue will have to navigate a program with turnover at key positions and will need to work with coaches to bolster development of young talent who are still likely a couple years away from taking the next big step.

While there are some strong individual curlers, and some teams who have some promise, it’s likely a longer, windier path to success for the women’s teams. Not only will Gushue have to create a pathway for more consistent development of a pipeline of women to the top of the sport in the long term, but he may also need to weigh in on team construction of a women’s team in the short term.

“I’m excited to work alongside athletes and coaches to help them reach their full potential,” said Gushue in USA Curling’s press release.

A Unique Pedigree

There is no questioning the success that Brad Gushue has had on some of the biggest stages in the world. He was known for running his teams in a very specific way, and in a sport with so much turnover, roster changes were few and far between over the years.

But Gushue is an unknown when it comes to leading national programs and creating development pathways. The United States and Canada have very different levels of resources available to them, and while the 2006 Olympic gold medalist had to navigate his own challenges coming from Newfoundland and Labrador, he takes on a US program that was on the edge of disaster just 6 months ago before Peterson and Casper qualified the United States’ four-person teams for the Olympics.

Candidates were interviewed not just by USA Curling CEO Dean Gemmell, but also by members of the Athlete Commission, the USOPC, and members of USA Curling’s Board of Directors. Clearly, Gushue was able to successfully communicate a plan to the interviewers, and it stands to reason his recently acquired MBA will no doubt help with other management and leadership elements of the role.

But where Gushue stands in accomplishments and name recognition, he is something of a question mark when it comes to development and leadership of a national organization until he can prove it otherwise.

One thing’s for sure: it’s a big swing for USA Curling, and it’s one that could very well make a massive impact on the organization.

For better or worse.

Tour Talk is the segment of the Stones & Stripes newsletter focused primarily on United States’ curling athletes who are curling on the world tour.

Another championship season wrapping up for curlers across the United States.

Just a few days ago, the 5-and-Under National Championship wrapped up in Seattle, Washington. One week prior, new champions of the Mixed Fours National Championship were crowned in Denver, Colorado. Coincidentally, I was actually in Seattle and the Denver areas while each of these championships were happening, but I was in each place for entirely non-pebbled ice reasons. While I tried to find a way to get myself to each club for some brief “on-the-ground” coverage, my life did not find a way.

Thankfully, we are in the year 2026 and hosts of each of these championships have live streaming, so I, along with everyone else, could tune in. Let’s get into it.

5-and-Under National Championship

Gold: Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)
Silver: Gilbert (Oval Curling Club)
Bronze: Dei (Potomac Curling Club)

One season ago, Jeff Kunkel was in the 5-and-Under semifinals in St. Paul against another team from Coyotes Curling Club. His team stole in the 8th end but came up short. They went on to win the bronze medal while he watched his fellow club members win the championship. For a moment, it looked like he might end up with a similar fate in Seattle.

Kunkel’s rink was again playing without hammer in the extra end of a semifinal after tying the game in the 8th end. This time, though, he was able to make his final shot and forced Trevor Wysocki to throw against the loss. When Wysocki’s rock overcurled, last year’s bronze medalists guaranteed themselves a medal upgrade in 2026.

They would face off against a familiar opponent, Team Gilbert from the Oval Curling Club. Gilbert and Kunkel both advanced to the playoffs from Pool D, with Kunkel going undefeated and Gilbert having the Draw Shot Challenge edge to win the three-way tie for second. The lone arena club team in the playoffs, Gilbert won the quarterfinals in an extra and blanked the 8th end to win their semifinal to rematch Kunkel in the championship.

The Coyotes team won the first matchup when they broke open the game with a score of four in the fourth end of pool play, and they wasted no time in repeating a similar feat in the rematch of the desert states on championship ice. Jeff Kunkel immediately was comfortable loading up the four-foot-circle with hammer in the first end of the championship game, and he was rewarded for his efforts as Team Kunkel made shot after shot to start the game. Gilbert was forced to chase throughout the first end, but for every half-miss from the Utahns, the Arizonans had a full-shot answer, resulting in a score of 5 to kick off the game.

The Oval rink would do well to stay competitive, entering the 8th end down by three without hammer, but the early deficit proved to be too much. Gilbert ran out of rocks, and Team Kunkel earned the second consecutive 5U national championship for Coyotes Curling Club, an impressive feat considering the victories came at the hands of two different teams.

For Gilbert, the fourth-year curlers achieved the highest finish at the 5-and-Under National Championship for an arena-based team since USA Curling took over the event in 2022. They are the first arena curlers to medal at this event.

In the bronze medal game, Potomac Curling Club’s Team Dei defeated Stevens Point Curling Club’s Team Wysocki 7-4. The win was secured by Josh Dei making this fantastic shot to run Wysocki out of rocks in the final end. The win game made Sharp and Hornlein the first women of a 4-person team to step on the podium at the 5-and-Under National Championships since this became a sanctioned event by the national governing body. They join Sydney Jorgensen as the only women to win a medal in this event. Jorgensen, a rotational player with the 5-person Team Meyer, won a silver medal in 2024 in Chaska.

Mixed Fours National Championship

Gold: Workin (Dakota)
Silver: Falco (Mid-America)
Bronze: Roth (Wisconsin)

In June 2024, World Curling announced they would be cancelling the 2025 World Mixed Curling Championship due to the addition of Olympic Qualifying Events to their calendar for the 2025-2026 season. The governing body of the sport shared in the same announcement that the event would return in 2026-2027. As a result, Team Falco’s back-to-back wins of the Mixed National Championship resulted in just one trip to worlds.

Their attempt to win three consecutive national championships was thwarted by Team Workin at Denver Curling Club. Evan Workin’s upended Falco 8-2 in their final game of pool play to earn the number one seed in their pool and get a bye to the semifinal. They won their semifinal against Denver’s Darrick Kizlyk with Workin hitting the paint to score one with the hammer in the final end of a tie game.

The final between Falco and Workin was a tight one. Workin made a hit to score two with the hammer in the 6th end, taking a 4-2 lead, but the game was far from over. Falco scored one with hammer in the 7th and then stole a point in the 8th to force an extra end when Workin’s last shot did not curl enough to take out the Falco shot stone.

In the extra end, Evan Workin found himself once again throwing at a Falco stone behind a guard, though this time it was more exposed. The second time was the charm for Workin as he was able to make the hit to score three and take the victory. This win put Team Workin back on top of the podium for the first time since 2018 when they won their first Mixed National Championship.

Barring any changes from World Curling, the Workin rink will represent the United States at the 2026 World Mixed Curling Championship.

Regions Cupdates

When USA Curling first announced the Regions Cup last summer, they were still working on a points system with the hopes they could find a system where everything would still be up in the air come the final points-earning championship of the season, Mixed Fours. It’s hard to imagine any better of an outcome for the first go-around.

Entering Mixed Fours National Championship, the Minnesota region led the way with 85 points, followed by Mid-America with 75 points, and Dakota with 69 points. Not only did the championship come down to the final championship of the year, it came down to the final shot. When Workin made his shot to secure the championship, he also secured the Regions Cup for the Dakota region with 94 points, one point clear of Minnesota and MACA.

Dakota’s win of the Regions Cup was effectively secured through the first and last championships of the season. Morgan Weber led off the Cup calendar winning gold at arena nationals to be the only other champion from the Dakota Territory Curling Association. They were also buoyed by a second-place finish from Miles Grabow at the U18 National Championships in January.

With such a successful first iteration of the Regions Cup, I’m guessing USA Curling will keep the existing format for a second year, but it’s hard to imagine any scenario having a more exciting finish than this.

More to Come…

The great 20th century philosopher Dan Wilson once wrote, “Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”

The 2025-2026 championship season is done, but that just means the 2026-2027 season is already underway with regions already completing their playdowns for the 2026 Arena National Championships.

I’ll have more on those playdowns and the exciting announcement of Dallas-Fort Worth Curling Club hosting that championship in their new facility in my next newsletter. But for now, it’s Closing Time for this newsletter.

Until next time, as always, good curling.

This year, I tried to level up my process for collecting information, and as a result actively logged every single game from every single qualifier across the country. While some information was difficult to find, I was able to log 1,269 games across the 24 national championships. Before we look at the rest of the field, let’s take a look at some interesting numbers about the field.

596

The number of non-unique entries across the 24 qualifying events. This is an increase from the 561 entries in last year’s qualifiers. With my database this year, I was also able to keep track of “unique-ish” teams, those who individually met my “skip plus one” stat-keeping logic. We had over 370 teams meeting this “unique-ish” logic this season.

7

GNCC once again leads the way in regional representation with seven teams entirely from the Grand National Curling Club region. Last year, that total was 9 teams, but there are two teams in the field with curlers from multiple regions, and both of those teams have curlers from the GNCC. Both the MoPac and Wisconsin regions have 5 representatives apiece.

6

We saw a bump in women’s representation at the skip position this year with six teams qualifying with women at the helm, up from 4 last year. (It looks like a 7th skip has joined the mix, but did not skip a qualifier — check out the team previews to learn more.) By my count, the number of women in the field this year has increased by at least 40% from last year’s championship. This is a promising trend if we are going to see a women’s 5U championship in the future.

7 (again)

After a season with only two returning teams meeting my returnee/stat-keeping logic, seven teams are returning from the 2025 championship in St. Paul. Two teams from the 2024 championship who did not make it back in 2025 are returning to action in Seattle.

Meet the Teams

Teams are listed in alphabetical order.

Important note regarding my stat-keeping logic for 5-and-Under: 5U teams have varying rosters throughout the season and often play in many different iterations at events. When calculating records and/or comparing with past performances, I only combine the statistics from events where the team has the same skip and at least one other repeated teammate. (e.g. if 3 of the 4 team members of a team went 5-0 at two events, but they had a different skip for each event, I consider those two different 5-0 teams.)

Pool C

Dei (Potomac Curling Club)

Qualified via Potomac, Ardsley/Nutmeg, Triangle

The GNCC had three regional events serve as 5-and-Under qualifiers this season, and members of Team Dei pulled off an impressive sweep of those events with their 5U nationals roster winning the Kayser Mixed, skip Josh Dei winning the Dykes (men’s) with Conor McCadden while Jackie Sharp and Leena Hornlein won the Childs (women’s). The men’s and women’s teams at those events joined with Team Parira (mentioned in Part 1) to form some formidable men’s and women’s teams — it was like the 5U version of Rock League!

The 5U rosters skipped by Josh Dei this season posted a 21-6 record, and that’s not including the 5-0 record from Sharp’s rink at the Childs. This squad went 4-1 at 5U nationals last season but missed out on playoffs due to a 3-way tie decided by the draw shot challenge. I fully anticipate them to be in the hunt again this year.

Gumz (Portage, Madison, Stevens Point Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Stevens Point

Jacalynn Gumz is a newcomer to the 5-and-Under National Championships. Her team qualified by winning the Jingle Rocks 5U in Stevens Point and also finished as the runner-up in Portage a little more than a month after that. Gumz finished 3-3 against fellow 5U nationals teams this season, including victories over Mack, Papineau, and Vig in Stevens Point. Occasionally, Gumz and vice Anthony Worzalla would swap throwing order for certain games, and I’ll be interested to see if they do that once again in Seattle based on their matchups.

Nie (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)

Qualified via Evergreen

For the second consecutive year, Team Nie will appear at the 5-and-Under National Championships. The Bay Area team will be looking to improve on their 3-2 performance from last season where they missed the playoffs due to a head-to-head tiebreaker. They played in three events this season, posting a 12-2 record and going undefeated in the 15-team qualifier in Portland. Nie isn’t afraid to call (and make) aggressive draws which can cause challenges for top teams if the team has a good feel for drawing. They’ve got some stiff competition in the group for a top-2 playoff spot, but this is a team that should be in the running.

O’Donnell (Triangle Curling Club)

Qualified via Ardsley

It’s always fun for me to learn about possible lineup changes based on what’s in the Event Hub, and it appears that Kiera O’Donnell will be skipping the team based on their listed roster. With Pat Moran skipping, the team qualified at The Cool Duck in Ardsley, New York early in the season. Together, the team put together a 10-7 campaign over their four qualifying events. It appears O’Donnell may have skipped the team at the Kayser. I look forward to seeing how this lineup performs in Seattle.

Record (Madison, Milwaukee Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Madison

Once again, the runner-up from Madison’s Frozen 5-and-Under earned a spot at the national championship, and this year it was Hannah Record who won that distinction. Record played in just two events this season and posted a 7-3 record, but every single one of those losses was to a team in the national field. In the Madison final, I thought Record called a really excellent game, and some improved execution probably results in a win. If the team can execute the shots Hannah calls, they’ll be a test for each and every team in Pool C.

Swift (Denver Curling Club)

Qualified via Denver

Two years ago, Christian Rose showed up at his home club’s 5U qualifier without having played in other qualifiers and blitzed through the field, eventually finishing in 4th at that national championship. His teammate at this year’s club playdowns, Ryan Swift, is hoping to accomplish the same sort of feat. Swift did play in one other event this season, Frogtown, where he lost in the playoffs to Trevor Wysocki, but Swift’s performance on his home ice last month was impressive. His run included a win over the reigning 5-and-Under national champion, Darren Campbell, which ultimately stopped Campbell’s attempt to return to defend his title. They’ll need to put together a strong performance, but if they can perform like they did in Denver, watch out.

Pool D

Gilbert (Oval Curling Club)

Qualified via Coyotes

After this team made their national 5-and-Under debut in Chaska in 2024, they ran into some unfortunate luck last season in their quest to return to nationals. I had them pegged as the best team to not qualify last year, but Team Gilbert wasted no time booking their ticket to Seattle this season. They rattled off three consecutive wins in the playoffs against 2025 5U nationals teams, including reigning champion Darren Campbell, to win the Phoenix qualifier in October. On the season, they went 11-1 in 5U events and also were in the playoffs at the arena national championship last fall.

Hammond (Rocket City, Kettle Moraine Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Rocket City

Brad Hammond had a circuitous route to this year’s championship. While last year, he curled as a member of Abbey Carlson’s rink, this year he qualified without winning an event as a skip. He played as a member of Bekka Mack’s team with Kettle Moraine’s Matthew and David Wagoner in The Space Race. With Bekka and George Mack taking their Appleton squad, Brad and Sara Hammond will play with the Wagoners in Seattle, and Hammond’s skip from last year, Carlson, will serve as their alternate. Hammond did go 8-4 as a skip in 5U qualifying events this season.

Hodges (Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville, Rocket City Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Cincinnati

Like a number of other teams, Nate Hodges bounced around the country competing in multiple qualifiers this season. He was finally able to break through with his combined team from multiple clubs at the Queen City 5U a couple months ago. Hodges notched a win against Brad Hammond in Cincinnati in that event and posted a 10-2 record on the season. His vice, Mike Lopykinski, skipped a number of events this year on his own to a 17-6 record. These two have no shortage of games under their belt going into their national championship debuts.

Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)

Qualified via Drayton

For a while, it was looking like Jeff Kunkel might find himself on the outside looking in for this year’s championship after winning the bronze medal last season in St. Paul. Kunkel’s rink was the runner-up in Phoenix to begin the year, and three of his four losses came to national teams. The team made one last attempt to qualify by trekking to Drayton, North Dakota where they won the Dakota Territory 5U in convincing fashion. If they everything can start to click for them like it did last year, they’re going to be a podium threat once again.

Salmonson (Duluth Curling Club)

Qualified via Duluth

Duluth Curling Club will once again be represented at the 5-and-Under national championship after Tim Salmonson won his hometown Lakeside Curling 5-and-Under in January. My records had Bryan Sather as the skip, but I am unsure if this is a lineup change or simply how they were configured for that win. Sather skipped the team at the Frogtown qualifier as well this year, and the team posted an 8-3 record which included their win against Zach Vig in the Duluth final.

Tygert (Albany Curling Club)

Qualified via Ardsley/Nutmeg

As the Francis Dykes GNCC men’s bonspiel is the largest qualifying event in the country, the runner-up gets first dibs at the national championship in the event a team wins multiple qualifiers. As a result, I expect it was a bittersweet experience for Keith Tygert to be the runner-up to Josh Dei at the Dykes. Tygert lost the final, but that win was Dei’s second qualifier victory of the season, ensuring Tygert would be going to Seattle anyways. Tygert’s Albany rink went 10-5 on the season, and it’s good to see one of his teammates from the Kayser Mixed will be also joining the team as an alternate as the team gets their first taste of 5-and-Under nationals.

Podium Predictions

Gold: Wysocki (Stevens Point Curling Club)
Silver: Rice (Coyotes Curling Club)
Bronze: Gilbert (Oval Curling Club)

Every time I try to make my picks for any of the national championships I write about for my newsletter, it’s something of a crapshoot. The 5-and-Under National Championship is probably the epitome of said crapshoot. 5U has an incredible amount of variability on its own, and the playoff format of a single elimination, 8-team event makes it even more difficult to pick a podium as seeding matchups are even harder to predict.

Based on the entire body of work, I am going to go with Team Wysocki out of Stevens Point to get revenge on their loss to a Coyotes Curling Club team in the playoffs this year. This is an incredibly well-rounded team who also has multiple years of national championship experience on their side. While I see the MoPac region as having the highest level of 5U competition in the country, Wysocki’s experience coupled with strong resume means they are my team to curse pick for this year.

Some of what I said about Wysocki can also be said for newcomers Team Rice as well. I think they’re in great position to put Coyotes Curling Club back on top of the podium for a second consecutive season. I see them as able to hold their own against any type of playstyle, and as long as they can keep control of their emotions and nerves, this team is capable of beating anyone. The biggest question mark for me is how they handle the pressure and any adversity they may face.

I was struggling to choose between a number of teams for this final spot. It may seem like a poor choice to leave the only medalist returning from last year, Kunkel, off the podium, but I’m going to choose an arena team, Ramin Gilbert from the Oval, for the bronze medal position. They’re a very defensive team, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they’re the best hitting rink in the event this year. The defensive playstyle can be suffocating for some teams, but their ultimate success will come down to their ability generate points with hammer.

Recap Loading…

I’m excited to see how this final championship of the 2025-2026 season wraps up, and I hope you’ll find time to support the teams by watching the livestream provided by Seattle.

I’ll be back with a recap of the 5-and-Under National Championship, the Mixed Fours National Championship, and a look back at the Regions Cup final standings once the play in Seattle has come to a close.

Good curling!

5-and-Under curling has origins that go back quite a few years, but this became an officially sanctioned USA Curling national championship in 2022. Prior to that, the national championship had its beginnings with the United States Women’s Curling Association (USWCA). This is not the first time the USWCA has done the legwork of starting a successful national event and handing it over to USA Curling. They used that same formula over four decades earlier when they organized the very first USA Women’s National Championship and later handed it over to the national governing body.

Since USA Curling took over the event and qualification for that 2022 championship in southern California, the program has gone through immense growth and related growing pains. While overall team registrations have generally stabilized in the last couple seasons (more on these numbers in part 2 of my preview), local organizers have had to grapple with challenges. Teams dropping out of qualifier events because they’ve already qualified, trying to fill events at the last minute because of changes, or teams competing in a qualifier despite having already been qualified (I briefly touched on this last season).

It’s likely that at some point in the next year or two, we’ll begin seeing some changes. USA Curling has indicated they’d like to have a 5U women’s national championship in addition to the current “open” format championship. As with anything that is new, it will likely take years and multiple tweaks to eventually get this event (or event series) to a stable position. In the meantime, it is my hope that 5-and-Under curlers can embrace this outstanding opportunity to find competition among fellow curlers who also have found their way to the game as adults. But I also would love to continue seeing these curlers work hard to engrain themselves in the larger curling community, both at their home clubs and across the country.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll quickly cover the formats and then introduce you to the teams in Pools A and B of this year’s event. Part two of my championship preview (coming in the next day or two) will include the teams in Pool C and Pool D while also diving into some numbers from the season and, as always, my podium picks.

How To Watch

All sheets of the 2026 USA Curling 5-and-Under National Championship are going to be streamed on the Seattle Curling Livestream YouTube channel. Seattle’s Granite Curling Club has done a great job upleveling their livestream setup over the past year or two, and we all will benefit from that! I have not heard if any sheets will be commentated, but I will update this newsletter with any commentary info shared with me.

Update: The event hosts are currently planning to commentate 1 sheet per draw. This will most likely be sheet 3.

Draw Schedule

For the first time in the history of the event since it became sanctioned by USA Curling, the event is being held at a club smaller than 6 sheets. Granite Curling Club is a 5-sheet facility, meaning the event will start on a Wednesday afternoon instead of a Thursday.

Pools A and B will always play at the same time while Pools C and D will always have their draws together. Two teams from a pool having a bye during each draw (e.g. all six pool A teams will play in the first draw, but only four of the six pool B teams will play in the first draw).

Pool play begins on Wednesday afternoon and will finish on Saturday.

The top 2 teams from each pool will advance to an 8-team, single-elimination bracket. The quarterfinals begin Saturday at 8pm. On Sunday, the semifinals are at 9am with the 1st and 3rd place finals at 1pm. All times are Pacific Daylight Time.

The full schedule as well as live scores and standings can be found on the USA Curling’s 5-and-Under Championship event page.

Meet the Teams

Teams are listed in alphabetical order within their pool.

Important note regarding my stat-keeping logic for 5-and-Under: 5U teams have varying rosters throughout the season and often play in many different iterations at events. When calculating records and/or comparing with past performances, I only combine the statistics from events where the team has the same skip and at least one other repeated teammate. (e.g. if 3 of the 4 team members of a team went 5-0 at two events, but they had a different skip for each event, I consider those two different 5-0 teams.)

Pool A

Egan (Triangle Curling Club)

Qualified via Potomac

Team Egan qualified as a mixed team through the GNCC’s Raymond Kayser Mixed bonspiel. They were a runner up to Josh Dei’s rink and their runner-up bid was aided by Dei’s team (along with a few others) winning multiple qualifier events this season. Coady Egan went 8-2 as a skip this season, losing just one game in each of the two GNCC qualifier events she competed in.

Elliott (Nashville, St. Paul Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Portage

Chris Elliott returns back to nationals for another season after skipping his team to a 1-4 record at nationals in St Paul last year. Elliott played with a number of different team configurations throughout the season this year but eventually broke through in Portage, Wisconsin with a team of curlers from Nashville and St. Paul. The win in Portage did include wins over skips also in the field in Seattle, Gumz and Wysocki.

Mack (Kettle Moraine Curling Club)

Qualified via Appleton, Rocket City

Nobody competed in more 5U qualifiers this season than Bekka Mack of Kettle Moraine Curling Club. Like Elliott, Bekka and George Mack played with a wide-ranging cast of curlers throughout the season, posting a 24-10 record across their events this year. I was impressed with Mack as a skip throughout the season, and the results bore that out. Her teams won two events, Appleton’s Frigid 5U and the Space Race in Hutsville, AL while also coming in as the runner-up in Fort Wayne and Stevens Point. This is a newcomer to 5U nationals that I’m curious to see debut in Seattle.

Martin (Rocket City Curling Club)

Qualified via Rocket City

A team that is no doubt familiar with Bekka Mack would be Robert Martin’s rink out of Huntsville. Rocket City is represented once again at nationals this year with some new and returning faces. Martin qualified as the runner-up on home ice at the Space Race, the final qualifying event on the calendar. Martin’s team does include Lea Stall who threw lead rocks on Abbey Carlson’s team last season in St. Paul. Robert and Jessica Martin as well as Molly Hackett, who has played a few events on mixed doubles tour, are all making their first appearance at 5-and-Under nationals.

Neumann (Granite Curling Club of Seattle)

Qualified via Host Qualifier (Granite)

As with some of the other national championships, the host club has their own individual qualifier for this championship, and Team Neumann made that the only 5U event they played in all season. They came out of the event with a 6-1 record and a return to nationals for the first time in two years. At Chaska in 2024, Neumann went winless, but I don’t expect that will be the case on home ice in Seattle.

Wysocki (Stevens Point Curling Club)

Qualified via Frogtown, Kettle Moraine

With wins at Frogtown and the Midwest Cup at Kettle Moraine, Team Wysocki effectively qualified for their consecutive 5U national championship. They had a veteran skip two years ago in Chaska, and last year Wysocki skipped the team to a 5-0 record in pool play before they lost to the eventual champions in the quarterfinals. I haven’t seen anything to deter me from my optimism about this team so far this season as they posted an 18-3 record across four qualifier events. All three losses came after they’d already won their first two events. I would expect to see the boys from Stevens Point in contention for a playoff spot.

Pool B

Casey (Granite Curling Club of Seattle)

Qualified via Fairbanks

Team Casey needed just one attempt to earn themselves a chance to play for a national championship on their home ice. John Casey’s rink took full advantage of the 4-hour direct flight from Seattle to Fairbanks, Alaska. They went 8-0 in the marathon that is the Furthest North 5U. This bonspiel features pregame practices and timed games which should help prepare Casey to have a routine in place for nationals.

Papineau (Appleton, Milwaukee Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Madison

Last season, Johnnie Papineau had already qualified for 5U nationals playing front end for Dan Bliven before winning a qualifier event as a skip in Mapleton, Minnesota. Papineau won a silver with Bliven while his teammates brought on a new skip for the event. This season, the team again won a qualifier, but this time, they’ll have their full team playing together at nationals with Papineau skipping. The Appleton and Milwaukee combined squad put together an 18-5 record on the season and will be in the running for a top two spot in a very competitive pool.

Parira (Potomac Curling Club)

Qualified via Fort Wayne

When qualifying through an event early on in the season, it can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint which teams had a harder road to qualify. Looking back now on Tiyash Parira’s win at the Mad Anthony in November, four of their five opponents had at least one team member who will be curling in Seattle. Two of those opponents are full teams in the field (Mack in pool A, Papineau in pool B). I was particularly impressed with Parira’s ability to generate points with hammer in that final. The mixed team from Potomac put together a strong campaign, going 14-6 on the season. If they can play like they did in Fort Wayne, they’ll be a tough test for anyone.

Pytlarz (Silicon Valley Curling Club)

Qualified via Lake Tahoe

Jaclyn Pytlarz and company wasted no time booking their ticket to the 5-and-Under National Championship this season. The very first qualifying event on the calendar was the Tahoe Tessie women’s qualifier in Stateline, Nevada, and Pytlarz came out on top. Not included in their 8-6 season record were ties with 2025 champions Darren Campbell and 2025 4th-place finisher David Hernandez at the MoPac 5U. They have proven they can hang with anyone, especially if they are able to keep a lot of rocks in play.

Rice (Coyotes Curling Club)

Qualified via Charlotte, CurlVegas

Joe Rice’s rink has been working diligently at improving in their attempts to qualify for 5U nationals. It looked like they were going to have a chance to play for that berth in their first qualifier event of the year in Phoenix until an unfortunate wick in the semifinals ended up in a terrible position and effectively stopped them dead in their tracks. That was their only loss of the qualifier season, with the team going 17-1 across three qualifying events, winning two of them. This is a team that isn’t afraid to have rocks in play, and I’ve been impressed with Rice’s ability to call a game all year. They went 4-1 against other teams in the field this year, and 5-1 against teams who were at nationals last season.

Last year a new-to-nationals team from Coyotes won it all, can Rice repeat that feat?

Vig (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)

Qualified via Mapleton

Zach Vig has been a mainstay on the 5U circuit for the past few years, and finally in 2025-2026, the team was able to break through. After a runner-up finish in Duluth, which would have had the team on the outside looking into nationals once again, the Fargo-Moorhead rink was able to win Heather Curling Club’s qualifier in Mapleton, Minnesota. Last year was the first season a team from Fargo was not in the event, so it’s good to see the club represented once again on this stage. Vig went 19-6 on the season, including winning the Dakota Territory 5U regional championship. They’re another team that will be a playoff contender in the tight Pool B.

Stay Tuned for Part 2!

I’ll be back in the next day or two with the introduction of all 12 teams in Pools C and D, some numbers and trends from the 5-and-Under season that was, and my podium picks for the field.

While you’re waiting for part two, be sure to tune into the playoffs of the Mixed Fours National Championship. Sheets B and C are being streamed on the Denver Curling Club YouTube channel. Schedule, standings, and scores can all be found on the Mixed Fours National Championship event hub.

Good curling!

If you have the chance to watch some of the best teams in the world curl in person, do what you can to go. We had some really great crowds on opening weekend, and the Sunday afternoon draw with Canada vs USA while Scotland was on the adjacent sheet was a really fun experience.

I was attending as a member of the media, and I cannot speak highly enough of all of the players who came through the Mixed Zone throughout the course of the week. I know a number of curlers got to interact with and meet players after games and during some of the post-event festivities.

Hopefully more of these events can come to the United States in the future. This past season saw the (now-defunct) Pan-Continental Curling Championships, a Slam, and the World Men’s Curling Championship all take place in the USA. It’s been nearly 25 years since the last time the United States hosted a women’s worlds (2002, Bismarck), hopefully we can see the world’s best back again soon.

Onto the results from 5-and-Under curling over the past month!

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

Dakota Territory Five-and-Under (Drayton, ND)

Winner: Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Danielson (Last Chance Curling Club)

The Dakota Territory 5U welcomed teams from around the country to their unique qualifier format where both a Dakota champion and bonspiel champion are named, but the two may not be the same.

Eight Dakota teams were placed into two pools while a third pool consisted of non-Dakota teams. The Dakota pools faced each other while the non-Dakota pool had a round robin of its own. Zach Vig defeated Jason Danielson in the Dakota Territory championship. Because Vig had already qualified for nationals, it was Danielson who faced off with an undefeated Jeff Kunkel to determine who would earn a spot at the national championship.

Kunkel’s long trek to Drayton, North Dakota paid off with a dominant performance and a return trip to the 5U national championships where they’ll try to upgrade from last year’s bronze medal performance.

Host Qualifier (Seattle, WA)

Winner: Neumann
Runner-Up: Parrish

Seattle’s internal qualifier to determine their host team for 5U nationals had an impressive 9 teams signed up. As a format nerd, I was excited to see this was the first 5U qualifying event I can recall seeing a page playoff.

The top two teams from each pool played each other while the second-place teams from each pool also faced off on a Sunday night. The winner of the top-seeded teams went straight to the final, the losing team played in a semifinal against the winner of the second-place teams. It’s rare for a good opportunity to put this format to use, and Seattle picked a great time for it.

Kevin Neumann and Cyndi Parrish were the top teams from their groups in pool play, and Parrish won the 1v2 page playoff to have the direct berth in the finals. Neumann dropped to the semifinals but was able to get back to the finals for a rematch, and this time, the script was flipped.

After scoring two with the hammer in the fourth end to take the lead, Neumann’s rink would go on to steal the 5th, 6th, and 7th ends to take the victory and earn the home team slot at nationals. All four members of Team Neumann curled at the 2024 5U Nationals in Chaska.

Denver Five-and-Under (Golden, CO)

Winner: Swift (Denver Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Green (Bucks County Curling Club)

For the third straight year, the final dedicated ice 5U qualifier of the season took place in Denver, and it was a strong 32-team field of many Colorado teams as well as a number of teams taking their final swing at qualifying for nationals. Three teams in the field were at nationals last year, including reigning champion Darren Campbell’s rink, and all three teams qualified for the semifinals.

Campbell, however, was unseated in the semifinal by Denver’s Ryan Swift squad. Swift played in just one other qualifier this year, losing in the semifinals of Frogtown to eventual qualifier winner, Trevor Wysocki. In the other semifinal, Rob Green’s rink, a combination of multiple national championship teams from last year, defeated Dillon Wright in the semifinal. Two of the members of Team Green won the final in Denver last season and were seeking a return to the top again this year.

In the final, Green started out with a score of two with the hammer, but it was all Swift after that. Swift scored two in the second and put constant pressure on the Bucks County rink in following ends. Outside of a 4th-end blank, Swift earned steals of multiple points in three ends to force a concession after six to win the qualifier on their home ice.

The Space Race (Hunstville, AL)

Winner: Mack (Kettle Moraine, Rocket City Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Martin (Rocket City Curling Club)

Once again, the 5-and-Under qualifier calendar came to an end in Huntsville, Alabama, perhaps (and hopefully, for their sake) the last time this event will be held on shared ice. Rocket City Curling Club is aiming for a dedicated curling rink opening in early 2027.

32 teams splashed down in the Rocket City for the bracket-style event. No streaming was available, but I always appreciate a bonspiel who puts their scores on bonspieler.com making tracking much easier for fans! The final featured two teams with members of the team from the home club.

In the final, Bekka Mack’s rink was powered by a big score of 4 points in the 5th end followed by a steal in the 6th end, but Robert Martin stormed back with a score of 3 in the 7th end to tie the game. Mack would go on to score 1 in the final end to take the victory. After opening the event with a strong victory, Mack would go into the final end of every one of the remaining four games tied. They managed the victory each time.

Bekka and George Mack had already qualified for the 5-and-Under National Championship earlier in the season, but because they played with a 5-person team in Huntsville, those three players are eligible for their own team at nationals. Brad Hammond of Rocket City will be joined by Sara Hammond, Matt Wagoner, and David Wagoner for this team in Seattle.

Due to repeat winners across other events this season, Team Martin also qualified for nationals as the 24th and final team in the event.

Mixed Fours National Championship

The final event of the Regions Cup season begins next week Wednesday at Denver Curling Club. All regions will be represented again this season. An additional berth was awarded to the host club (Denver), meaning that the Mid-America region will have a second berth in the field. By virtue of having the largest playdown in the country, the Wisconsin region was also awarded a second berth.

Both of the finalists from last season, Falco (MACA) and Roth (Wisconsin) are the top seeds in their respective pools. Falco looks to win their third consecutive national championship and return to the World Mixed National Championship after the event was skipped this past season. Roth hopes to join them coming off her first club national championship victory.

The teams will be facing some stiff competition. Joining Falco will be the Dunnam (GNCC) and Workin (Dakota) rinks. Dunnam is coming off a 3-4 record at the men’s national championships with his brother Scott. Workin made the playoffs at mixed nationals last year, went 2-5 at men’s nationals with Tim Hodek, and is coming off a playoff appearance at club nationals just a couple weeks ago.

Joining Roth is Courtney Benson (Minnesota) who we saw finish in 4th place at the 2025 Duluth nationals and includes teammates who are no strangers to national championships. Gabrielle Coleman’s rink (MoPac) should figure to be a tough out coming off of a strong mixed doubles season for Coleman and her mixed doubles teammate, vice Connor Robertson. Also in this group is Darrick Kizlyk’s (MACA) host team playing on their home ice after just missing out on playoffs last year due to tiebreakers.

My Picks

Gold: Falco
Silver: Roth
Bronze: Benson

As mentioned earlier, Falco is aiming for his third consecutive mixed national championship and was looking like one of the best teams in the field at the world mixed in their lone appearance before an untimely loss in the playoffs. I’ll be boring and go with the two-time reigning champions facing off against a familiar opponent in the final.

The playoffs are sure to be a bloodbath. I could see a number of teams coming into contention for a spot on the podium.

Up Next…

My final national championship previews of the season are on the way. Part one should be ready to go in a little over a week from today!

Until then, good curling!

My feature recapping the 2026 World Men’s Curling Championship in Ogden, Utah, written for Rock Channel. Read this article on the Grand Slam of Curling website:

https://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/news/edin-wins-unprecedented-eighth-world-championship

It was a week filled with some unexpected (at least from my end) results and some familiar faces finding their way to bring home hardware. And for one team, that hardware doesn’t have to travel very far.

Congratulations to all the teams who competed this week in Chaska. No matter the finish, just qualifying and putting the effort in to get to compete at any national championship is an incredible accomplishment.

Women’s Championship

Gold: Roth (Madison Curling Club)
Silver: Berg (Bemidji Curling Club)
Bronze: Thangadurai (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)

For the third consecutive season, the same club has won the women’s championship at club nationals, but it is a different team this time around. Two-time Olympian Nina Roth skipped her Madison-based rink to a perfect record in the round robin and only had to play a full 8 ends twice in the week.

One of those two games in the semifinal against Subs Thangadurai in what was my pre-event championship game prediction. The game lived up to the billing with Roth forcing Thangadurai in the 8th end to take the hammer into the extra and securing a two-point victory to advance to the championship.

Her championship opponent was Bemidji’s Nia Berg. The 2026 U18 silver medalists went 3-2 in round robin play and advanced to the playoffs as the 3rd seed out of their group. They then outscored their opponents by a combined score of 18-1 in the quarterfinal and semifinal games to meet up with Roth in the championship final.

Roth blanked the first two ends and was facing a busy 4-foot going into vice Lynn Brown’s last shot, but Brown flipped the end on its head with a runback to open up the scoring area. Roth was able to make a tap on her first and a hit on her second to hang a score of three on the board.

Berg responded with two of her own in the 4th followed by a Roth blank in the 5th, setting up what would be the decisive 6th end. The Wisconsin state champions decided to bring play under the Berg center guard, and the young Bemidji team had a few wrecks and jams leave Nina Roth with a bundle of scoring rocks going into the final stones. Nia Berg threw an excellent in-off to try to get undercover and limit the damage, but Roth responded with an angle-pick to score five. This would be handshakes from Team Berg and the championship to Madison Curling Club for a third straight year.

Excellent sportsmanship was on display after the game as the two teams spent a number of minutes on the ice together talking, exchanging hugs, and celebrating their success together. Just as it should be.

In the bronze medal game, Team Thangadurai from San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club defeated Chicago’s Team Yaple. The game was a tight one through the first half, but the MoPac champions were able to load up the house against Yaple in the 5th end and stole four points after Yaple’s tap attempt for one point missed its target. The steal would ultimately prove too much to overcome, resulting in a bronze medal finish for Team Thangadurai.

Men’s Championship

Gold: Caldwell (Chaska Curling Center)
Silver: Murray (Coyotes Curling Club)
Bronze: Johnson (Fairbanks Curling Club)

Whenever I put together my pre-event preview, I usually try to put a caveat with my predictions that I’ll likely be made to look a fool. While I successfully picked all three teams on the women’s podium (albeit not in the correct order), I failed to put any sort of “this is a total guess” disclaimer into my men’s preview.

In fact, I went so far as to reference the limited success host club teams have had thus far in club nationals. I even used the phrase “uphill battle” to describe what I expected to see from the host team against a challenging group. Little did I know, Brad Caldwell would look like Johannes Klæbo going uphill.

Caldwell dropped two games in pool play, both 1-point losses, to advance to the playoffs as the second seed from his group. The host team then defeated Dakota’s Evan Workin and Alaska’s Jon Johnson in the playoffs to move onto the final where they’d meet Sean Murray of Coyotes Curling Club.

Murray finished in a 3-2 tie in round robin play with Caldwell and Wisconsin’s Neil Fruend. Freund was the odd team out based on tiebreakers, putting Murray into an opposite side of the bracket from Caldwell. The MoPac champions defeated Seattle’s Chris Bond on a stolen point in the quarterfinal and scored two with hammer in the final end against Team Dolan from Minnesota in the semifinal.

The final was a game of steals. Five of the eight ends in this men’s championship were stolen ends. Murray stole the first two ends, and Caldwell responded with a score of two in the third to even up the game. After a steal in the fourth, Caldwell made two excellent hits around a center guard in the fifth end to steal another point, and that deficit proved to be too much for their opponents from Arizona.

Caldwell was able to withstand the pressure from Murray, making a crucial dig in the 7th end, and then left no space for Murray to score two points in the 8th end. The host club earned the right to call themselves Club National Champions on home ice with a 6-3 victory.

Their fellow Minnesotans, Team Dolan, faced off against Alaska’s Jon Johnson in the 3rd place game. The Fairbanks rink entered the national championships as the lowest seeded team in the field, but the team led by longtime skip Johnson and joined by an ever-improving supporting cast made an impressive run to be the top seed in their pool. The Cinderella story came up just shy of the championship, but the clock never fully struck midnight for the boys from the Last Frontier. They kept Chris Dolan chasing all the way into the 8th end and eventually ran him out of rocks to earn the bronze medal.

Competitions like this matter. They matter for the curlers who have the opportunity to show pride in their curling clubs and their home regions. This year’s event in particular showcased younger curlers who are getting more exposure to competitive events, especially for those who have to travel further to play competitively. In Ogden this past weekend, I brought up the success of Colin Hufman’s home clubs, Granite Curling Club of Seattle and Fairbanks Curling Club, at this year’s club national championship and he brought up how success can breed success, especially in a small town with a mighty curling culture.

Junior Curling Camp

Speaking of junior curling, the US Junior Curling Association is putting on a number of junior curling camps this summer. We’ve already seen many junior curlers take a big step this year. The question is: who else will be in the next wave? Team Tuma, who recently announced they’re sticking together for the 2026-2027 season, will be helping to put on these clinics!

More information and registration can be found on the US Junior Curling Association website.

Regions Cupdate

Minnesota came out as the biggest winner of club playdowns with Caldwell of Chaska winning gold on the men’s side and Berg of Bemidji winning silver on the women’s side. Here are my very unofficial Regions Cup standings after awarding points from club nationals.

There is one final Regions Cup event remaining - the Mixed Fours National Championship. Denver Curling Club of the Mid-America region will be represented by two teams again this year, including the reigning two-time national champions, Team Falco. There are a few scenarios where the Mid-America region could overtake Minnesota. But a Mid-America regional representative will have to win a number of places about Minnesota, who will be represented by a team comprised of a skip from last year’s women’s national championship, Courtney Benson, and 2024 5U national champion, Matt Mellin.

While I will not be able to do a full preview, I will likely have a short newsletter briefly recapping Mixed Nationals in a few weeks’ time along with a final Regions Cupdate.

Next week, I’ll be back with one final qualifier recap for the 2025-2026 season, digging into the final 5-and-Under qualifying events of the season.

Be sure to tune into Rock Channel’s social media feed where you can catch my interviews with players from the ongoing World Men’s Curling Championship in Ogden, Utah as well as my event updates on The Grand Slam of Curling’s website.

Until next time, good curling!

Unfortunately for just about everyone, Everest moved on to working directly with World Curling in some capacity (nothing has been officially announced), and the “inaugural” event was a one-and-done spectacle. But what about club playdown registrations, were those impacted?

We didn’t know about the lack of Everest event until much later in the season, last year, so if teams did register because they wanted the chance to be on TSN and CBS Sports, they did so with an unfulfilled hope. Looking at the men’s and women’s registrations over the past three years, we’ve seen different fluctuations between women’s and men’s events.

Oddly, we’ve seen a bit of a bump in women’s registrations while seeing a simultaneous decrease on the men’s side.

On the men’s side, the Wisconsin region was the only playdown to have more teams registered this year than last year, up by two teams. Meanwhile, the largest decreases belonged to the MoPac (-4) and GNCC (-5) regions. For the GNCC, it’s not altogether surprising as they had their playdowns in Las Vegas, one of their member clubs stemming from the USCA-GNCC debacle of a few years ago.

On the bright side, however, are the changes on the women’s front. While the Pacific Northwest (-2), Minnesota (0), and GNCC (0) regions either remained equal or had a slight decrease, all other regions saw a bump in numbers over last year. Three women’s playdowns in the 2024-2025 season had an uncontested single entry in the women’s event last year with only one this season. Wisconsin nearly doubled their playdown size going from four teams to seven.

I do wish I had tracked this information prior to the boom of 5U curling. I personally believe that segment of curlers having a pathway into competitive curling will have a long-term net-positive impact on club and arena playdowns. I look forward to seeing what happens next season as we get another year removed from Everest and another year of hopeful growth across all regions.

How To Watch

The Chaska Curling Center will play host to this event, and over the course of the last two years, they have added streaming capabilities. All games will be available on the Chaska Curling Center YouTube channel.

Draw Schedule

As with all USA Curling national championships, the full draw schedule, team lists, live scores, and standings are available on the USA Curling Event Hub. The top three teams from each pool advance to the playoffs, with the top seed in each pool earning a bye to the semifinal.

Here is the draw schedule for the men’s event (all times Central).

Thursday, March 26
8:00am - Men’s Round Robin Draw 1
4:00pm - Men’s Round Robin Draw 2

Friday, March 27
8:00am - Men’s Round Robin Draw 3
4:00pm - Men’s Round Robin Draw 4

Saturday, March 28
8:00am - Men’s Round Robin Draw 5
4:00pm - Women’s and Men’s Quarterfinals

Sunday, March 29
9:00am - Women’s and Men’s Semifinals
2:00pm - Women’s and Men’s Medal Games

Meet the Teams

Teams are listed in approximate order of peer seeding.

Note: I did the best I could to research the teams’ past experience at club nationals. I apologize if there are any errors regarding whether or not a team has previously played at club nationals.

Pool A

Bond - Granite Curling Club of Seattle (Pacific Northwest)

Only four teams are returning from last season’s club championship, and all four are in Pool A in Chaska. The highest finishing team of those teams is Chris Bond’s rink from Seattle, who achieved a 4th place finish last year. All four members of the Bond rink are returning and booked their return trip to nationals with a tightly contested Pacific Northwest playdown, finishing 5-1.

They had three games decided by one point, including their lone loss. They came up just shy on being the first team from the Pacific Northwest to win a club championship medal since 2018 when vice Sam Galey won gold. If they can improve on last year’s fourth place finish, they’ll be able to end the hardware drought for the region.

Workin - Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club (Dakota)

For a couple years running, Evan Workin’s team has qualified for nationals either as the wildcard team or as a host team, but not as the Dakota champion. This year, Workin is attending nationals as the sole Dakota Territory Curling Association representative, coming off an undefeated run at playdowns.

While they finished a game the playoffs last season, Workin did win the bronze on home ice in 2024. The Dakota rink returns three of its four members from the past few seasons, with Kalvin Hoff stepping in to throw lead rocks this season. They’re capable of making a big run to the podium, and on the pristine ice of Chaska, I would not be shocked to see them in contention come Sunday.

Rose - Denver Curling Club (Mid-America)

Christian Rose burst onto my radar two years ago when he was one of the final teams to qualify for the 2024 5U National Championships (held in Chaska) and made a run to the bronze medal game just a month later. He followed up that performance by winning the inaugural World 5U Championship in January 2025. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the skip entering MACA’s club playdowns this year, but I was intrigued based on the accomplishments of his roster-mates. I’m even more intrigued now.

Vice Aaron Johnston won club championship gold twice with Sean Franey, most recently in 2023. Second Ryan Swift just won the Denver 5U qualifier this past weekend as a skip, and lead Tim Murphy played with Rose for his successes in 5-and-Under and also won silver as a lead for Darrick Kizlyk at the 2024 Club National Championship. This team has a high ceiling and should figure to be in the playoff conversation.

Guzman - Broomstones Curling Club (Grand National)

After a few years of attempting to return to club nationals, Benj Guzman was finally able to accomplish the feat in Las Vegas earlier this year. He brings with him the full team who won bronze at the 2022 club championships after a 4-1 playdown finish. They’ll be looking to keep the club championship trophy at Broomstones Curling Club after the dominant performance by Alex Leichter’s rink at nationals one year ago. Guzman has shown multiple times over the past decade the ability to put together a strong week at nationals. Can they do it again in Chaska?

Wright - Exmoor Curling Club (Midwest)

Jeff Wright’s rink is back for yet another club championship as the Midwest regional representative. His 4-0 playdown performance kept alive his streak, curling in all but one club championship since 2016. Last year in Milwaukee, the 2016 club silver medalist finished one game shy of the playoffs with a 2-3 record.

Johnson - Fairbanks Curling Club (Alaska)

For the second year in a row, Fairbanks Curling Club and the Alaska region are being represented by Jon Johnson’s rink. They return the same players as last year after some nailbiters in their best-of-5 playoff in Anchorage earlier this season. Junior curlers Dylan Skaggs (also the skip of the Philippines junior men’s team) and Coleman Martin will man the front-end, while two-time 5U nationals skip Dave Hejna joins Johnson on the front end. The Johnson rink did not pick up a win last year, but they played some incredibly tight games, and I would not be surprised to see them get in the win column this year.

Pool B

Dolan - St. Paul Curling Club (Minnesota)

Team Dolan is without a big figure this year at club nationals in their home state. Chris Dolan was the longtime vice for skip Mark Willmert who suddenly passed away last year not too long after the conclusion of club playdowns. The team stuck together, with Dolan moving to skip, second Dan Metcalf moving into the vice role, and Brian Unbehaun remaining at lead.

Together, they went on a roll in their playdown, posting a perfect 7-0 record with three one-point victories. Dolan last curled at club nationals in 2020 with Willmert at the skip, and the two won silver together in 2017. I cannot wait to see if they can keep the magical season going in Chaska, just down the road from their home club.

Murray - Coyotes Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)

For the sixth consecutive club championship, Coyotes Curling Club has a representative in the field. The club has sent a number of different teams over the years, and this year it was Sean Murray who won that right. Murray is joined by the same teammates from 2024 nationals, Mike Siggins, Adam Endicott, and Eric Kowal.

The team finished out of the playoffs in 2024 with a 2-3 record, but they’re looking to recapture the magic of 2019 and 2022 when Siggins, Endicott, and Kowal won gold in this event together.

Carlson - Wauwatosa Curling Club (Wisconsin)

Four of the six teams in Pool B from border rivals Minnesota and Wisconsin, and Ryan Carlson, fresh off a Badger State title will be a key contributor if the state will continue its upward trend from club nationals. The 2024 Wisconsin champions put together a 5-1 playdown record en route to capturing their second state title in three years over fellow club members of Team Freund. The Carlson rink will aim to improve on their 2-3 showing from 2024 and make a run to the playoffs.

Freund - Wauwatosa Curling Club (Wisconsin)

If Carlson doesn’t advance to the playoffs, then it’s likely due in part to Neil Freund. Also representing Wauwatosa Curling Club, Freund posted a 5-1 record in Stevens Point this past January as well and ended as the runner-up. Because of Wisconsin’s 16 entries into their regional, Freund’s second place finish secured the wildcard berth into the field in Chaska where the team will be making their club nationals debut.

Gleaton - Fort Wayne Curling Club (Great Lakes)

Just over a year ago, I don’t know that the four members of Team Gleaton could have foreseen themselves representing Fort Wayne Curling Club at the Club National Championships. For one, three of the four players live in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the fourth hailed from Columbus, Ohio. When Marcus Gleaton and his Kalamazoo friends lost their facility in Kalamazoo, they teamed up with Stephen Imes, all making the multi-hour trek to Fort Wayne, Indiana for league.

Their improbable team formation culminated with a 5-2 performance at the Great Lakes playdown to earn themselves a different type of road trip, this time to Minnesota. Once they arrive in Minnesota, the Gleaton rink can enjoy a much shorter daily commute than they had to deal with for their league nights.

Caldwell - Chaska Curling Club (Minnesota)

As the host, Chaska will be represented by Team Caldwell in the men’s field after Caldwell won an abbreviated eight-team playdown to curl on home ice for the championship. Since the club championships moved to this format with a team from the host club, the home team has generally not fared well with the lone exception being Evan Workin’s bronze medal in 2024. Caldwell will have an uphill battle in a tough group.

My Picks

Gold: Workin
Silver: Bond
Bronze: Murray

In the course of writing this preview, I’ve switched my picks around no less than four times. I feel as though these are even more of a guess than usual with there being so much turnover in the field from last year. With that said, I decided to go with the two top teams returning from last season to finish in the top two spots on the podium.

The Dakota playdown was a slog, and I was really impressed with the Workin team’s play throughout. Their closest game was a win by three points, and the five other games were decided by a margin of 5 or more points. The ice in Chaska is expected to be top notch, removing one of the biggest variables the teams will face. If Workin can put together the same quality of play we saw at playdowns, I like their chances.

Fellow pool-mates, Team Bond, came so close to winning a medal last year, and I expect to see their play go up a notch once they get on the ice in Minnesota. Bond and Galey, in particular, form a strong back-end that is going to be tough to deal with when they are at their best.

And while I struggled once again trying to figure out which of the many other contenders I’d leave off the podium, I decided to go with the Coyotes rink for my final pick to click in Chaska. The teams from Coyotes always seem to be in the mix at nationals, and with three members having two past championships to their name, it’s hard to leave them out.

Recap Loading…

I’ll be back sometime next week with a recap of club nationals, ideally on Sunday night or Monday in a perfect world, but it’s not just going to be a busy week for the curlers at the club championship!

I will be at the World Men’s Curling Championships just up the road from me in Ogden, Utah beginning on Friday, providing coverage for Rock Channel. Be sure to turn into thegrandslamofcurling.com and my social media for my observations from the week in Ogden.

Please let there be no rock booping.

Good curling!

I won’t speak for you all, but for me, these last two months have been a marathon. Since the middle of January, I have had two days without a major curling event going on to pay attention to: February 2nd and February 3rd (in order: Scotties, Olympics, USA Nationals, World Juniors, Paralympics, World Women’s). This means Monday through Wednesday of this week will be the first break in over six weeks before another sprint begins with club nationals and the World Men’s Championship here in Utah.

While a part of me is ready to get back to reading, hiking, and reminding myself that there is a world that exists outside of curling, I cannot wait to see what unfolds in Chaska, Minnesota for the 2026 USA Club National Championships.

A new women’s team will be crowned champions for the first time in a couple years after the reigning champions were usurped in regional playdowns. The women’s field this year is incredible. Among the twelve teams competing in Chaska, Minnesota, we’ve got returning medalists, up-and-coming youth talent, and an Olympian!

Let’s dig in.

How To Watch

The Chaska Curling Center will play host to this event, and over the course of the last two years, they have added streaming capabilities. All games will be available on the Chaska Curling Center YouTube channel.

Draw Schedule

As with all USA Curling national championships, the full draw schedule, team lists, live scores, and standings are available on the USA Curling Event Hub. The top three teams from each pool advance to the playoffs, with the top seed in each pool earning a bye to the semifinal.

Here is the draw schedule for the women’s event (all times Central).

Thursday, March 26
12:00pm - Women’s Round Robin Draw 1
8:00pm - Women’s Round Robin Draw 2

Friday, March 27
12:00pm - Women’s Round Robin Draw 3
8:00pm - Women’s Round Robin Draw 4

Saturday, March 28
12:00pm - Women’s Round Robin Draw 5
4:00pm - Women’s and Men’s Quarterfinals

Sunday, March 29
9:00am - Women’s and Men’s Semifinals
2:00pm - Women’s and Men’s Medal Games

Meet the Teams

Teams are listed in approximate order of peer seeding.

Note: I did the best I could to research the teams’ past experience at club nationals. I apologize if there are any errors regarding whether or not a team has previously played at club nationals.

Pool A

Roth - Madison Curling Club (Wisconsin)

Madison Curling Club has been the home of the women’s club national championship trophy for the past two seasons, thanks to back-to-back victories of Team Schroeder. Their title defense came to a stop after Nina Roth emerged from the strong Wisconsin playdown.

Roth, a two-time Olympian, stepped away from competitive women’s curling following the 2022 Winter Olympics and has made appearances at the Mixed National Championship and the US Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials in the past year. She adds another USA Curling event to her belt with a strong Madison team looking to make a deep run in Chaska.

Team Roth faced some steep competition in Stevens Point for their regional playdown, posting a 5-1 record. They’ll need to put together another strong week with some stiff competition ahead.

Turbow - Rock Creek Curling (Mid-America)

One year after a tough loss in the finals of the Mid-America regional playdown, Melissa Turbow bounced back as strong as could be. They prevented lighting from striking twice and put on an undefeated showing in Colorado to earn their spot at nationals. In their six qualifier games, Turbow outscored opponents 48-21.

Playing at club nationals is nothing new for the skipper. She most recently appeared in this event in 2023, earning the silver medal playing with 2002 and 2014 Olympian Ann Swisshelm. Representing Detroit Curling Club at the time, Turbow and Swisshelm earned a club nationals gold medal together in 2020.

Walsh - San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain Pacific)

For another year, Team Walsh out of California will return to the club championships, representing the MoPac region as a “wild card” entry. MoPac had the largest playdown field in the country again this year, earning them a second berth at the event.

This is Sarah Walsh’s fourth straight trip to club nationals, with three of the five members of last year’s team returning. Last season, Team Walsh was in a wild four-way tie for first place and had the misfortune of being the odd-team out of the playoffs.

DiBaggio - Mayfield Curling Club (Great Lakes)

Typically, the representative of the Great Lakes region has come from the state of Michigan, but this year, the representative comes from their great rival Ohio. DiBaggio’s rink posted a 3-1 record in their qualifying event, with the lone loss coming in an 11-10 barnburner. As far as I could find in my research, this will be the debut club national championship for Team DiBaggio!

Mariano - Granite Curling Club of Seattle (Pacific Northwest)

The Pacific Northwest was the final region to name their representatives, with their qualifier held less than a month ago. When the dust settled, it was Sheila Mariano’s rink who had to make a quick turnaround for travel plans to Minnesota with weeks to spare. Mariano took the final in an extra end thriller to earn their first trip to club nationals after Shannon Brown represented the region each of the last two years.

Jeannot - Chaska Curling Club (Host)

For hosting the championship event, Chaska Curling Center received a berth into the club championship field. Lori Jeannot won that opportunity to compete on home ice in a three-team playdown last fall, defeating the Senior Women’s National Champion, Margie Smith, in a final. Jeannot will have some stiff competition, but they have the benefit of playing the championship in the most familiar environment.

Pool B

Podoll - Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club (Dakota)

For the last two seasons, Ann Podoll has been on the verge of returning to the top of the podium for the first time since she won the club championship in Fairbanks, Alaska in 2017. Each time, she was bested Madison’s Sidney Schroeder in wild games. But, it’s a new year, and a new championship.

The roster looks a little different this year, with Christina Wilwand and Emily Parry replacing Rachel Kawleski and Rachel Workin. Podoll, along with lead Kenzie Ritchie, are fresh off a strong 4th place finish at the USA Curling Women’s National Championships in Charlotte (where, by the way, Podoll and Schroeder teamed up to form a formidable back end). Podoll’s club team still has looked strong, posting a 5-1 record at the 4-team Dakota playdowns. It’s going to be hard to count them out, even moreso if they have the same uniforms as last year.

Berg - Bemidji Curling Club (Minnesota)

Bemidji’s Nia Berg looked to bell well on their way to last year’s club national championship in Milwaukee but fell victim to the experience of Maureen Stolt and Shelley Dropkin on their home ice. A year older, a year wiser, and a year more experienced, Team Berg looked really good in the Minnesota playdowns this year, just dropping the one game of round robin play to Stolt on their way to a regional victory.

Team Berg is the youngest team in the field, fresh off a silver medal at the U18 national championships where they lost to Allory Johnson (4th at World Juniors) in the gold medal game. While I’m excited to watch them in another national event, I’m really looking forward to seeing what this group of young curlers accomplishes on the women’s stage in years to come. I could see them as a potential team at USA Nationals in coming years.

Thangadurai - San Francisco Bay Area (Mountain Pacific)

When watching some of my first MoPac club playdowns a couple years ago, I started seeing comments in livestream channels saying things like “Subs doing Subs things” whenever Team Thangadurai was on the ice. As I’ve had the chance to watch more of this team, including their 7-1 performance at regional playdowns and their appearance at the Jr GSOC U25 Slam event held last fall, I started to get it.

Team Thangadurai plays a strong game, has good sweepers, and a skip who is unafraid to throw the big shot. I think this is a team that could give fits to the field if everything comes together in Chaska for their club championship debut.

Conrad - Charlotte Curling Association (Grand National)

At first, I found it hard to believe that this year was the first time Charlotte Curling would be represented at club nationals. The GNCC, though, is the largest region in the country with a ton of clubs who have long histories of good curlers. Charlotte, a relatively new dedicated facility (compared with other GNCC clubs, anyways), has seen a number of strong curlers make their way around the country in recent years, and Kristen Conrad’s rink have their names on that list.

They qualified with a 4-1 record, including an impressive win over 2023 national champion Seré Politano. Team Conrad has a tough group, but I would not be surprised to see them take teams the distance.

Yaple - Chicago Curling Club (Midwest)

While Haley Yaple’s team did not have to play down last year and was able to qualify for nationals uncontested, that did not hold true for the 2025-2026 season. They swept their best-of-three qualifier in the two-team playdown to return back to nationals following a quarterfinal finish in the 2025 campaign. Yaple came in on the positive side of the aforementioned 4-way tie for first in their pool last year to qualify for playoffs.

All members of this team will be returning from last year and have been regulars at the club championships for a few years as they look to make it to a medal game for the first time since vice Sara Gaum finished in 4th place as a skip at the 2019 championship.

Mazur - Anchorage Curling Club (Alaska)

While multiple representatives qualified for nationals uncontested in last year’s event, this year, Alaska was the lone region to have a single team register for playdowns. Becca Mazur will return to skip the Alaskan team for the second straight year. The rest of the lineup, though, will be made up of fresh faces. Mazur’s team has gone 1-4 in each of the past two years and will be looking to improve on that performance in Minnesota.

My Picks

Gold: Thangadurai (San Francisco Bay Area)
Silver: Roth (Madison)
Bronze: Berg (Bemidji)

I decided to be a bit bold this year with my guesses on winners for this season (new year, same caveat: these are guesses and nothing more). I absolutely see a world where Team Podoll makes me look like an idiot (not hard to do) and runs to the top of the podium. The thing is, there are so many strong teams in the field that I could see any number of iterations for the top three spots.

Across all of the playdowns I watched this year, I was impressed by the level of play in the MoPac region and took particular note of Thangadurai’s willingness to take and ability to make big shots. If they can prevent the big end against them, this is going to be an incredibly tough team to beat in the playoffs.

I would just as likely be unsurprised to see a Madison team win this event for the third straight year. Nina Roth’s lineup can create havoc and overwhelm opponents. If it ends up being Roth and Thangadurai in the final, I think we may see some really entertaining ends.

While I see at least 4 other teams who would reasonably be on the podium, I decided to go with the U18 curlers from Minnesota, Team Berg. This is another great growth experience for the young team, and I think they’ll do well on the great ice in Chaska!

No matter who is being handed awards at the end of the week, we’re set up for a fun week of curling in Chaska!

Up Next: Men’s Preview

Stay tuned for the men’s preview coming in the next few days! As with the women’s event, we’ve got a lot of old and new faces taking the ice. And when it comes to predicting who will come out on top, I am going to prove myself to be even more clueless with that field.

• Early in the Olympics, the USA won a medal, generating more interest and buzz around the sport for the television audience.

• The young men’s team with a bright future finished just one game out of the playoffs.

• Our women’s team matched the best performance by an American women’s team at the Olympics (and beat Canada in an Olympics matchup for the first time ever).

• A major controversy happened, and the United States wasn’t involved, making the sport go even more viral than usual during the Olympics.

Media attention, success, and conversation all sparked by the Olympics. And we’re not done! The Paralympics start today (March 4th) so keep your Peacock subscriptions and tune into the Paralympics for more Team USA curling. World Curling has full schedules and results for wheelchair curling at the Paralympic Winter Games.

But now is when the responsibility shifts to you, the club members, the volunteers, and the veterans of the sport. I’ve heard of clubs setting records with online traffic partnered with hundreds (and in some cases, thousands) of signups for learn to curl events. San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club, for example, is essentially at capacity for all of their upcoming Try Curling events, and is seeing registrations already for June.

People are coming through your doors ready and eager to learn. For clubs with beginner leagues or instructor leagues that are starting now, you have brand new curlers who were interested enough to invest their time, their energy, and their money with you.

We saw the passion from Cory Thiesse, Korey Dropkin, Tara Peterson, and Aidan Oldenburg in Cortina. Now it’s time for you to share your passion with the new wave of prospective curlers coming into your building. Make them feel welcome. Make them feel at home. Help them know that the sport of curling extends beyond the houses and hacks and show everyone that the sport continues into the warm room and, ultimately, into the community.

Club Playdowns Results

Pacific Northwest

Women’s Champion: Mariano (Granite Curling Club of Seattle)
Women’s Runner-Up: Schneider (Evergreen Curling Club)

The final playdown of the Club National Championship was the Pacific Northwest region, hosted once again by Granite Curling Club in Seattle. Five women’s teams competed in the event, and after the round robin, Sheila Mariano and Kelsey Schneider were tied with a 3-1 record.

The Pacific Northwest ran the event with the two-loss provision in place, meaning the two 3-1 teams would have a rematch as a de facto final. Mariano won the first matchup 10-7, and the winner-take-all game came down to an intense finish. Tied after six ends, Evergreen’s Kelsey Schneider stole two in the 7th end, but Mariano responded back with a score of two in the 8th end to force an extra.

In the extra end, the Granite rink was able to get a rock on the button and a center guard covering it up on lead stones. Schneider’s team came close to getting shot rock multiple times, including on a come-around tap attempt with the hammer, but Mariano’s stone stuck around to earn the steal in the extra end. With that win, they punched their ticket to Chaska later this month.

Men’s Champion: Bond (Granite Curling Club of Seattle)

Seven teams battled for the final spot at the men’s national championships in the Pacific Northwest regional playdowns. One team from Evergreen Curling Club made the drive up to Seattle to join the six Seattle teams for a round robin event.

Reigning champions, Team Bond, had to fight for every inch in their title defense. They got off to a bumpy start, losing their first game of the event, and the tough slog was just beginning. Last year’s national 4th place finishers bounced back by grinding out 1-point victories in their next two games before settling in and winning the remainder of their games with a little more breathing room.

The event didn’t run without controversy, however. Possibly the biggest curling scandal in the month of February transpired during the 5th draw. I’ll leave it to @broomstack on Instagram to tell the story.

Give me more if this kind of content in my social media algorithm, please and thank you.

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

Heather 5-and-Under (Mapleton, MN)

Winner: Vig (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Cradick (Curling Club of Rochester)

Twenty teams made the trek to the Curling Capital of Minnesota (please Minnesotans, don’t come after me, I’m just quoting the signs they have around town) for the Heather Curling Club’s 5-and-Under qualifier early in February.

Vig has taken advantages of the many 5U qualifiers around the country over the past few years and was finally able to capitalize on the opportunity in Mapleton. Both Zach Vig and Ryan Cradick went undefeated in pool play to advance to the final, but the final was all Team Vig.

The North Dakota rink stole three points in the first end, yielded two in the second, and never looked back as they cruised to an 11-2 victory to earn their spot at the 5U national championship in April.

Portage Five-and-Under (Portage, WI)

Winner: Elliott (Nashville, St. Paul Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Gumz (Madison, Portage Curling Clubs)

A number of 5U qualifiers held thus far in 2026 have seen a rising number of teams withdraw from the events, creating some challenges for bonspiel hosts. Without having any specific knowledge for the teams at these events, I wouldn’t be shocked if some of these registration challenges are coming from teams backing out who had already qualified — an issue USA Curling is aware of. With teams backing out of the Portage event, they ended up moving to a 20-team pool play event, similar to Mapleton’s qualifier.

Chris Elliott has played with multiple lineup configurations this year, but he teamed up with other members of Nashville and St. Paul Curling Clubs once again and made the final against Jacalynn Gumz, who had already qualified earlier this season in Stevens Point. The two teams made it into the playoffs as the 6th and 7th seeds out of group play and navigated the quarterfinals and semis to meet for the championship game.

The Gumz rink just missed a double for a big score in the first end to give up a steal of one, and Elliott raced out to a five-point lead after stealing two in the second. Elliott’s rink would never look back as they snagged their ticket to 5U nationals, a return trip for both Chris Elliott and David Betzold, who each skipped a team last year in St. Paul.

Elisabeth Childs Challenge (Durham, NC)

Winner: Sharp (Potomac & Broomstones Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Krebs (Philadelphia Curling Club)

The Elisabeth Childs Challenge is a women’s only 5U qualifier, limited to clubs in the Grand National Curling Club region. The qualifier always has a full field, and this year 24 teams competed in a bracket-style event at Triangle Curling Club to claim one of the women’s team slots at nationals.

Jackie Sharp’s rink is made up of three curlers who had already qualified for nationals on separate teams, and their fourth had curled at 5U nationals last year on yet another team. They put together an awfully talented rink for this women’s event and found themselves facing Katie Krebs from Philadelphia Curling Club who had come through the opposite side of the bracket.

Team Sharp flexed their collective muscles in the final, putting unrelenting pressure on the Krebs rink. Sharp earned the win, and what they do next will be interesting to see. If the team decides to go to nationals with three of the four members (assuming Parira goes with the Potomac team she skipped to a qualifier victory earlier this year), then the team that won the GNCC mixed event (the Kayser) with Josh Dei would not head to 5U nationals.

On the bright side, if they decide to do this, due to existing registration numbers, it looks like that would put the runner-up from the Kayser into nationals. As for the teammates they had already qualified with earlier this season, well, they had a good weekend too.

Francis W. Dykes Five-and-Under
(Ardsley, NY / Bridgeport, CT)

Winner: Dei (Potomac Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Tygert (Albany Curling Club)

The GNCC’s men’s 5U championship, the Francis W. Dykes, is a long-running bonspiel that is routinely highest attended 5U event in the country. While the size can make it difficult to run as one event, especially when it is selected as a qualifier for the USA Curling-sanctioned 5U championship, this year two clubs managed to co-host the event and come out with a distinct winner.

Ardsley and Nutmeg Curling Clubs each hosted seeding pools at their respective clubs for the 48-team bonspiel to rank teams into different brackets. After seeding games were completed, the top two brackets curled out of Ardsley with the other two brackets finalized play at Nutmeg.

The final saw Josh Dei, whose teammates won the Childs Challenge in North Carolina, take on Keith Tygart from Albany. Both teams played their seeding pool games at Ardsley, and they were fortunate enough to stick at Ardsley for the rest of the weekend.

It was a tightly contested final, with Tygert taking a 6-5 lead through five ends, but Dei got a measure to go his way for a score of two in the sixth end and stole a point in the seventh before running the Albany rink out of rocks in the 8th.

With these results, Dei has now qualified with two different teams, as did his teammates Sharp and Hornlein. I will keep myself tuned in to hear what path they decide for their trips to Seattle in April!

Update: I missed the fact that Josh Dei’s team at the Dykes consisted of Elvis and Ezra of Team Parira, who had already qualified in Fort Wayne. Essentially, the two mixed teams created a men’s and a women’s team, and won those respective qualifiers! Congratulations to these teams on the impressive accomplishment. I’ll post more about the teams who end up qualifying for nationals as a result of these curlers’ success in my 5U nationals previews!

Coming Up Next

Championship season is in full swing. In addition to the Paralympics, the World Women’s Curling Championship are coming up soon in Calgary, and the World Men’s Curling Championship is going to be right here in the United States at the end of this month. If you’re going to be coming to Ogden, Utah to see the final event for Chris Plys and Colin Hufman of Team Shuster, please don’t be afraid to say hello!

Next on deck for this newsletter will be the previews of the club national championships, held in Chaska, Minnesota, and starting on March 25th.

We’re just over a month away from the season wrapping up, but there is still so much curling to watch, and for many of you: a lot of curling to teach to all of the newcomers to the Roaring Game.

Want more curling content? You might be interested in my December Rock Channel feature on the origin story of Team Hebert. Fun fact: Chris Plys told me in September he thought they could be the first USA team to win a gold at World Juniors since he won it in 2008. As of this week, Chris was absolutely correct.

Until next time, good curling!

Feature article about Team Casper and overcoming hurdles on their way to their Olympics debut.

Read this article on the Grand Slam of Curling Website: https://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/news/team-casper-facing-challenges-head-on

In the past two seasons, however, we’ve started to see a slight decrease in some bonspiel registrations. Where a few years ago, there were over 120 teams registered for 5U qualifier and non-qualifier bonspiels in one weekend, this season has given us a few different bonspiels that did not entirely fill. What’s the cause?

The most likely reason is that we’re seeing a normalization of what to expect more normally from the 5U demographic. The big surge of 5U curling in 2022-2024 in the US was uniquely timed.

• Originally a championship run by the United States Women’s Curling Association, it became a officially sanctioned championship by USA Curling in 2022 which generated even more buzz.

• It followed the emergence from COVID and people wanting to get back out to socialize.

• The 2018 gold medal from Team Shuster is likely one of the biggest popularity boosts in curling’s history in the United States. Anybody who started curling in 2018 would have had their final year of eligibility in … 2024.

We’re probably seeing those factors contribute to a slight downturn in overall registrations, but that doesn’t mean 5U curling in the United States is less popular. To date, there have been 445 team registrations in qualifier events (this number is slightly inflated due to teams registering for multiple events). We’ll end the season in the ballpark of 600 team registrations across 24 qualifiers.

I will be curious to see what happens in the next two seasons as we see curlers who learned to curl after the 2022 Olympics begin to age out, and as we see the influx of anybody who started curling in 2026 following the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

Who knows, maybe we’ll see another magical medal run to help give another big boost to the sport. I wouldn’t say no to adding in a crazy variable like a gold medal to make understanding 5U fluctuations even more difficult!

Club Playdowns Results

Great Lakes

Women’s Champion: DiBaggio (Mayfield Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Duby (Midland Curling Club)

The men’s playdown for the Great Lakes region was held earlier in January in Traverse City, and the impressive turnout for the region’s club playdowns continued with 8 teams participating in the women’s event. Held at the 3-sheet Circle City Curling Club, the teams were split into two pools with the respective pool winners, Julia DiBaggio of Mayfield and Jackie Duby of Midland, competing in the final.

The first half of the final was tightly contested, with DiBaggio stealing one in each of the first two ends and ultimately taking a 3-2 lead without the hammer into the 5th end. This, though, is when they hit the gas. The Mayfield skip made a good draw in the 5th end, forcing Jackie Duby into throwing a hit against 4 Mayfield stones. The hit made contact but rolled too far, yielding a steal of two which turned out to be the beginning of the end. Mayfield went on to steal again in 6, 7, and 8 to take a 9-2 victory, earning their spot at the club national championships.

Minnesota

Women’s Champion: Berg (Bemidji Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Smith (St. Paul Curling Club)

It was only a few weeks ago that Team Berg was on the ice in Lafayette, Colorado pushing Allory Johnson’s rink in the U18 national championship final. After bringing home silver, the curlers from Bemidji added some more 2026 hardware to their trophy case with the Minnesota state championship.

The Berg rink was oh-so-close to taking the state championship last year, and they didn’t let history repeat itself by going 4-1 during the double round-robin. The final draw of play for the 4-team championship was not needed as they had already secured the best record and any possible tiebreakers, just dropping the one game to last year’s Minnesota representatives, Maureen Stolt. Berg also defeated the reigning back-to-back senior women’s champion, Margie Smith, in both round robin games.

Berg will no doubt be a podium contender in Chaska.

Men’s Champion: Dolan (St. Paul Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Stolt (Four Seasons Curling Club)

Last year, a team skipped by Mark Willmert, a prominent member of the Twin Cities curling community, barely missed out on the Minnesota men’s playoffs. A little more than after those playdowns in Bemidji, Willmert passed unexpectedly, leaving behind a big footprint in Minnesota.

Team Willmert was back on the ice for playdowns this year, this time with Chris Dolan moving into the skip position. With the 12-team field split into two pools, they did not need to worry about tiebreakers after going undefeated in pool play. The Dolank rink’s hot streak continued into the playoffs as the team outscored their opponents in the semifinals and finals by a combined score of 12-3, completing a perfect 7-0 run at the Minnesota state championship and earn a berth at club nationals.

There is no question, they did their teammate proud.

Host (Chaska Curling Club)

Every year, the host site for club nationals receives a berth in the field. In trying to figure out results for the host, Chaska Curling Club, I learned that I was out of the loop! Playdowns were held back in September, so here are the not-so-recent results!

Women’s Champion: Jeannot (Chaska Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Smith (Chaska Curling Club)

Three teams signed up for the women’s host spot to represent Chaska at club nationals. After a brief three-game round robin, Margie Smith and Lori Jeannot competed in a winner-take-all match. Jeannot wasted no time to make a statement.

Going into her second’s second stone, Jeannot was facing a congested 4-foot-circle with one Smith stone sitting above the tee line and a bundle of rocks around the 4-foot-circle acting as catchers behind the tee line. Lori Jeannot played a game of draws and taps for the second half of the end, further congesting the scoring area but putting more pressure on Smith to make some type of a play on the red scoring stones, and it came out in Jeannot’s favor. Lori was able to make a draw into the 4-foot to score a 4-ender in the first. Smith tried to claw back, but that first end proved to be too much, and Jeannot booked their spot at nationals with an 8-4 victory in 7 ends.

Men’s Champion: Caldwell (Chaska Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Argil (Chaska Curling Club)

Eight teams competed in the men’s side of Chaska’s host site playdown. It wasn’t clear to me how the draw schedule was determined as I could only find 2-4 games played per team, but in the end it turned out to be the Caldwell rink who came out victorious.

Their key victory was dealing the only loss to the Arlig rink. The game went all 8 ends with Caldwell and Arlig tied at 5 entering the final end, but Caldwell was able to control the front of the house to take the win. They’ll see if they can find any home ice advantage when the rest of the country comes to their ice!

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

MoPac 5-and-Under (Las Vegas, NV)

Winner: Rice (Coyotes Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Hernandez (Orange County Curling Club, CurlVegas)

The busiest 2-week stretch of 5U play kicked off in Nevada with the Mountain Pacific region’s 5-and-Under qualifier. MoPac’s 5U includes one of my favorite traditions, recognizing curlers who are playing in their final season of eligibility. To stick with any hobby or passion for a few years is admirable, and to see people finding themselves no longer eligible for 5-and-Under curling is a great blessing to our community.

On the ice, 15 teams were split into three pools for pool play, with 8 making the playoffs. The field was a strong one with 6 teams that either are already qualified for 2026 nationals or curled at 2025 nationals.

Last year’s 4th-place finisher at nationals, Team Hernandez, took on the already-qualified Team Rice in the finals. Rice was the only team to make it through pool play undefeated, and that undefeated run continued through the playoffs.

In the final, Hernandez jumped out to a 2-1 lead after three ends, but Joe Rice was able to capitalize on an opportunity for a big score in the 4th end. Sitting two with no guards, Rice made his draw to score three and never looked back. He forced Hernandez to 1 in the 5th and then scored two points in each of the final two ends to take an 8-3 victory.

This was Rice’s second 5U victory of the season and improves their team to an impressive 17-1 record across three events.

Frozen Five-and-Under (Madison, WI)

Winner: Papineau (Appleton, Milwaukee Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Record (Madison, Milwaukee Curling Clubs)

With two teams now having won two qualifiers apiece (Rice, Wysocki), this all but guaranteed that the runner-up from Madison’s Frozen Five-and-Under would also get a spot at the 5U national championship. The 40-team spiel has been a cornerstone event of the 5-and-Under circuit.

Hannah Record and her team advanced through bracket play to face off against Johnnie Papineau whose team had finished as a runner-up once already this season. Throughout the game, Record had Team Papineau chasing thanks to a very well-called game from Record. If not for a great game from Papineau’s Tyler Goetsch throwing the brick, this game could have gotten out of hand. Goetsch routinely made a number of shots against multiple counters from Record to save the day.

Team Record was in a great spot, up by 1 point with the hammer, going into the 7th end but Team Papineau got guards set up front and crowded the center of the house. The pressure finally got home for Papineau, earning a huge steal of three to go up by 2 points going into the final end. Johnnie Papineau’s rink was able to escape the 8th and take home the victory.

With the victory, Papineau needs to get tickets to Seattle booked, and based on the results elsewhere, it looks like Hannah Record’s rink will be joining their fellow Frozen 5U finalists in Washington!

Evergreen Five-and-Under (Portland, OR)

Winner: Nie (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Lopykinski (Nashville Curling Club)

After a few years of bracket play for the 3-sheet Evergreen Curling Club’s annual 5-and-Under, the organizers switched to pool play for this year’s 15-team field. Jason Nie’s team from the Bay Area traveled up the coast to Portland and had themselves a strong weekend.

Nie went undefeated in group play, including a shootout win early on where the skip needed to draw the button for the victory. Thanks to their performance in the tiebreakers, they got a bye straight to the final. Lopykinski also went undefeated in pool play but had to get a win in the semifinal to move on.

In the final, the difference in the game came down to execution with the last rock. Nie converted with hammer each time they had it, scoring multiple points with the last rock advantage in the 1st, 3rd, and 6th ends while also stealing the 4th. Lopykinski conceded after getting forced to one point in the 7th end. With the 8-4 victory, Team Nie returns back to the 2026 national championships after just missing playoffs in 2025 due to a head-to-head tiebreaker.

Raymond Kayser Five-and-Under Mixed (Laurel, MD)

Winner: Dei (Potomac Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Egan (Triangle Curling Club)

The first of three Grand National regional 5U events took with the Kayser 5-and-Under held at Potomac Curling Club. The 35-team mixed event had a national parks theme which I as a former NPS seasonal ranger loved to see. Who knew that national parks and curling could have some outstanding crossover names, but it makes sense when you think that the world’s first national park is invokes a very curling-themed name, Yellowstone!

Coady Egan from Triangle put together a great weekend, but it was the home club’s Josh Dei (team name: Joshua Tee - which is a little too perfect?) who came out on top after coming close in a number of other spiels so far this year. The final was fitting for the weekend’s theme because it was wild.

There were four scores of 3 points and a score of 4 which led to the Dei rink being up by 1 without hammer in the final end. They were able to shrink the scoring arena under a guard just enough to prevent Egan from having a clean shot for the win, and when the Triangle team’s tap back overcurled, the steal of two capped off a 12-9 victory for Team Dei as they earn a return trip to nationals.

As of right now, if we see another repeat winner in one of the final 8 spiels of the year, Egan would likely be the next team in.

Queen City Five-and-Under (Cincinnati, OH)

Winner: Hodges (Great Smoky Mountains, Nashville, Rocket City Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Mills (Bowling Green Curling Club)

Last but not least, the newly refurbished Cincinnati Curling Club hosted their Queen City Five-and-Under event. In recent years, the event had hosted 16-20 teams, but as the club recently added a fourth sheet, they were able to move to a 24-team format this year.

8 teams advanced out of pool play and into a playoff, with the Mills rink from Bowling Green meeting Nate Hodges of Knoxville’s Great Smoky Mountains Curling Club. Hodges’ team was made up of curlers throughout the GNCC region, including Mike Lopykinski who was just in a final against Jason Nie in Portland the weekend before!

While the Mills rink had an excellent run, earning the number one seed in the playoffs, their magical run came short against the Hodges rink. Playing 3-handed, Hodges was on the right side of the half inch on just about every shot, constantly forcing Mills to chase with very few good options. Even when it looked like the fortunes might turn in the 5th end, Hodges made a good hit-and-roll against three counters for the Mills team to eventually steal one. With that steal, the Hodges team sealed the game and earned their berth at 5U nationals in Seattle!

Eight 5U qualifier bonspiels still remain, and one region still needs to determine their representatives for club nationals. While this month will remain busy on the club side with another five events between club and 5-and-Under qualifiers, the attention for everyone now turns to the Olympics!

In addition to following all of the action on TV, please be sure to follow me on social media where you’ll find all of my latest coverage. I’ve already published pieces on Rich Ruohonen, Taylor Anderson-Heide, and Cory & Korey, with additional features coming out each of the next two Thursdays! For quick links to all of these features as well as my social media feeds, check out my Linktree!

Linktree

I’ll also have more in-depth coverage on the mixed doubles event. You can also find all of my Olympics coverage on Rock Channel’s social media channels and thegrandslamofcurling.com.

Until next time, good curling!

My feature article written for Rock Channel about Taylor Anderson-Heide’s path to one of the top lead curlers in the world.

Read this article on the Grand Slam of Curling Website: https://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/news/taylor-anderson-heide-carving-her-own-path

Lone Star Curling Club in Austin, Texas is a vibrant arena club entering its 20th Anniversary who looked at a unique way to market themselves to folks in central Texas: social media influencers.

A member of Lone Star’s events committee had the idea to see if locally based influencers would be interested in doing a Learn to Curl. Carrie Caroselli, a member of the committee, created a list and began doing outreach through the club’s Instagram account. Lone Star member Brian Barker, a content creator himself who posts curling content under the name curlhandluke, also reached out to creators on TikTok, where he has amassed nearly 50,000 followers.

Carrie shared with me that they waived the normal fee for a Learn to Curl and allowed the influencers to bring a friend as well. They did run into some creators who would only do this if they were paid but were still able to find a number of creators to sign up. The other big challenge? Timing.

The club wanted to host this event before the Olympics and give the creators sufficient time to create and post their content to social media. However, arena clubs have limited ice times available, and it just so happened their weekend with the most availability was the same weekend of Big Spiel. The club had approximately 20 curlers head from Texas up to the Twin Cities for the bonspiel, not just a significant chunk of the club membership, but a big piece of their volunteer core.

Even so, they had five volunteers step up to lead the Learn to Curl, with another 20+ curlers come to play pickup games in the background to make it look busier for any posted content.

“This was a bit of a shot in the dark for us, and I’m thrilled it all came together,” said Caroselli. She noted it was a definite success with the club already seeing increased followers on social media thanks to posts like this and a handful of people signed up for upcoming Learn to Curls who learned about the club through social media.

Austin, Texas has a large population of young adults looking for hobbies, and Lone Star Curling Club came up with a great way to get the word out that the Roaring Game exists right in the heart of Texas.

Onto the results from the start of the New Year in a supersized edition of the newsletter!

Club Playdowns Results

Grand National

Women’s Champion: Conrad (Charlotte Curling Association)

While the GNCC is predominantly made up of curling clubs in the eastern US, a number of clubs around the country are a part of GNCC to take advantage of some of their member benefits. As a result, this year’s club playdowns went to their dedicated ice member club in the West, CurlVegas!

Four women’s teams participated in the double round robin event, including 2023 national champion, Seré Politano. It was the team from Charlotte, North Carolina, led by skip Kristen Conrad, however, that took the event with a strong showing.

Team Conrad got a hot start, winning their first four games of the double round robin by a minimum of a four-point margin. While they dropped their fifth game to Team Strong of CurlVegas, Peachtree’s Thomson defeated Politano, eliminating any chance of a tie for the top spot. As far as I could tell, this will be the first time Charlotte is represented at the Women’s Club National Championship!

Men’s Champion: Guzman (Broomstones Curling Club)

Four teams also competed on the men’s side of the event at Charlotte, with representatives from Broomstones, Pittsburgh, Nashville, and Las Vegas. As with the women’s event, it was a double round robin.

Benj Guzman and his rink from Broomstones got out to a quick start, posting 9-2 and 9-4 victories on day 1 of the event. Day two, however, was much more of a grind for the team from Massachusetts. Up two without hammer in the final end, Guzman had to wait and watch as Eric Kortebein lined up a double for the win. The shot was made perfectly, and Guzman was handed an early loss.

Team Guzman found themselves battling the rest of the day. They mustered an extra end victory against Pittsburgh’s Team Devine, and they decided to get their money’s worth on a 3-game day by playing yet another extra end game against Team Altman of CurlVegas. Throwing against two Altman counters, Guzman’s front end had to pound the rock to get them to sit shot, and they did just that.

With the win, Guzman secured their spot atop the GNCC standings and their first return trip to club nationals since 2022 where they won bronze.

Note: Both the men’s and women’s playdowns for the GNCC ended one draw early as a champion had emerged without needing the final draw of round robin play. Because not all games were played, no runner-up is listed as multiple teams could have achieved a second-place finish in the region.

Great Lakes

Men’s Champion: Gleaton (Fort Wayne Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Dolan (Columbus Curling Club)

After a year of battling an excellent problem of trying to fit two large playdowns at a 4-sheet club, the Great Lakes region split their men’s and women’s playdowns into separately run events. The women’s playdown will be held in a few weeks at Circle City Curling Club, but the men took the ice to kick off the new year in Traverse City Michigan.

The ten-team, two-pool event was filled with surprises, including the GLCA’s arena nationals representatives, Team Galsworthy of Grand Rapids Curling Club, putting on a show during the round robin, going undefeated and earning a bye to the semifinals. Their impressive run was put to an end by the eventual champions, Gleaton, in the semifinal, while their opponents, Team Dolan, overcame last year’s Great Lakes finalists, Levy and Strouse in the playoffs with some jean-ius play. (I am sorry, I couldn’t help it.)

Marcus Gleaton and company got off to a quick start with three in the first end of the final after Kevin Dolan’s freeze attempt missed the mark. They didn’t look back from there. Gleaton would go on to steal the next three ends, and the Columbus rink would concede the victory to the representatives who will represent Fort Wayne Curling Club at the club national championship.

Team Gleaton may take the crown for the most dedicated team of curlers headed to nationals this spring. Three of the curlers are from Kalamazoo, which does not have a home after being asked to leave their previous facility, and they teamed up with Stephen Imes of Columbus. With all four players dealing with delays or cancellations at their home clubs, they curl in a league together at Fort Wayne Curling Club, roughly halfway between the two cities who are 4.5 hours apart. Thank you to Matt Sussman for this incredible anecdote.

They’ll have a slightly longer drive to get to Chaska, Minnesota for nationals, but I think it’s safe to say they’ll view it as well worth the time.

Dakota Territory

Women’s Champion: Podoll (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Wagner (Capital Curling Club)

Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club hosted their playdowns this year, and the Dakota Territory had double the number of teams on the women’s side this year, going from two to four team, but it is again going to be Team Podoll heading to nationals.

The back-to-back reigning national silver medalists earned their ticket again this year after a rigorous double round-robin event. At her home club, Ann Podoll dropped a game to Michelle Wagner in the first trip through the round robin, but she didn’t let it happen the second time around.

With Wagner sitting with a number of biters going into skip’s stones in the 2nd end, Podoll was able to sink two rocks under staggered corner guards to steal two and take a 3-0 lead. They would not trail for the entire final and secured their return to nationals once again in 2026.

Men’s Champion: Workin (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Hodek (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)

In yet another excellent showing for the Dakota Territories, 15 teams from 6 clubs competed for the men’s berth to Chaska in March. While Dakota was just shy of getting a second berth at nationals, they continue to have huge turnouts.

Tim Hodek had played at the previous nationals with skip Ryan Berg but took his own team into club playdowns for 2026. He would go on to meet his Prairie Dawgs teammate, Evan Workin, in the final. Workin returns 3 of his 4 teammates from last season and has been at each of the last two national events, earning bronze in 2024.

After yielding a steal of 1 in the first, Workin converted with the hammer to make a draw for 2 in the second and stole another in the third. The key shot, though, came in the 5th end with a one-point lead when Workin made a double on his first shot to sit with four. Hodek was able to make a double back but the shooter rolled too far, giving Evan Workin a draw for three. Team Hodek conceded after a steal of one in the 6th, giving Team Workin the Dakota championship and a trip to Chaska, Minnesota.

Wisconsin

Women’s Champion: Roth (Madison Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Hampton (Madison Curling Club)

The Wisconsin women’s playdown had one of the more unique formats I’ve encountered in the two years of doing this newsletter. Wisconsin went from four teams last year to seven this year and utilized a modified triple knockout. After a team qualified for playoffs, they would drop down to a lower bracket and continue playing in the other qualifying brackets, potentially serving the knockout blow. There were opportunities for as many as four teams and as few as two teams to make the playoffs.

In the end, three teams moved on to playoffs with A-event qualifier Team Roth, skipped by two-time Olympian Nina Roth, leading the way. She would face off against fellow club members from Team Hampton in the final. Mandy Hampton was in good shape, leading 5-4 with the hammer advantage in the 8th end, but her draw for the win was just heavy to send the game to extras.

The key shot in the extra end came on Nina Roth’s first rock. With Hampton sitting on the back button, Roth played an excellent shot to not only sit frozen on the button, but leaving a staggered rock above it. Hampton had no good way to deal with it over her next two shots, and Roth stole the victory in extras. Madison Curling Club will once again have a medal contender at nationals.

Men’s Champion: Carlson (Kettle Moraine Curling Club/Wauwatosa Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Freund (Wauwatosa Curling Club)

In 2024, Neil Freund and Ryan Carlson met in the Wisconsin state championship. Carlson won that matchup to earn his spot at the club championships in Fargo. Once again, the teams found themselves facing off with the state championship on the line. The stakes were somewhat lower, as Wisconsin’s 16-team field ensured both teams a spot in the field at nationals.

Both teams hail from the recently flooded Wauwatosa Curling Club, though Team Carlson also plays out of Kettle Moraine Curling Club as well. There were a number of big shots in this game, but the biggest shot might have been an aggressive decision from Ryan Carlson. Looking at two open opponent scoring rocks in the back of the house without the hammer, Carlson decided to play hard for the force or steal and draw under guards. The draw was made to sit shot and a hit for Freund went wide to generate a steal.

Carlson used that momentum and generated a huge steal of three in the 6th end, utilizing center line guards and crowding the 4-foot-circle to make a difficult draw for Freund. The steal effectively sealed it for Carlson, securing their second state championship in three years. Both teams will be a tough challenge in Chaska.

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

Furthest North 5U (Fairbanks, Alaska)

Winner: Casey (Granite Curling Club of Seattle)
Runner-Up: Leone (Anchorage Curling Club)

I have a biased opinion, but the 5U bonspiel hosted by Fairbanks Curling Club has to be one of the best in the nation. The club generally rolls out the red carpet for the teams who make the trek up to Fairbanks. Games are timed and officiated as a competitive event, giving 5U curlers excellent prep for the future (and for nationals, if they make it). And you get your money’s worth (for curling games, food, and hopefully an aurora). This year was no different for the 18 teams competing in the Furthest North 5U.

Teams got a 5-game guarantee, and the two teams who eventually made the final put on an entertaining final for everyone in attendance. Team Casey went undefeated in pool play but had the worst DSC of undefeated teams, so they had to play a 3-game championship Sunday. Team Leone also had a 3-game Sunday but qualified for playoffs with a 3-2 record, making a Cinderella run to the playoffs.

It looked like John Casey was well set up, winning 6-2 after 6 ends but no lead is safe in Alaska! Leone came storming back, scoring three in the 7th and stealing another in the 8th to force an extra end when Casey’s draw went just deep. The clock struck midnight for the Anchorage team in the extra end, and Team Casey held on to earn a spot at the national championship being held at their home club! This guarantees the host club will have at least two teams on home ice!

Frigid 5U (Appleton, Wisconsin)

Winner: Mack (Kettle Moraine Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Horgan (Stevens Point Curling Club)

Kettle Moraine’s Team Mack has played in four qualifiers so far this season and has impressively found themselves in the final for the third time. As Bekka Mack took her place in the house for the 8th end of Sunday’s final in Appleton down by 2 points, it looked like the skip might be the bridesmaid yet again. But she did what she had to when it mattered to make sure that would not be the case.

Sitting shot rock going into skip stones, Mack made a nose tap to move a rock back on her first shot to sit two. David Horgan’s last rock crashed on Mack’s previous stone, leaving Mack already sitting with two counters for the tie and needing to hit the 4-foot-circle to win.

And hit the 4-foot she did. Mack’s win improved her team to an impressive 16-4 record across their four events this season, and now they get to book some flights to Seattle for nationals!

Lakeside Curling 5-and-Under Open (Duluth, MN)

Winner: Sather (Duluth Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Vig (Fargo-Moorhead Curling Club)

For the past few seasons, it has been the Team Mellin show at the Duluth 5U. Without the multi-time reigning champions in the field, it was time to crown a new victor among the field of 32.

Team Sather has been a regular participant in the Duluth 5U, including a semifinal loss to Mellin last year, and they found themselves in the finals for the very first time. They faced off against Zach Vig, a regular in the Upper Midwest 5U circuit, making his first 5U qualifier final.

A close game through five ends, Bryan Sather broke it open with a score of three in the 6th end to take a two-point lead before stealing in both the 7th and 8th ends to secure the victory. Their win continues the streak of a hometown team winning the Lakeside 5U for yet another year.

Regions Cupdate

With the completion of the U18 National Championship at Rock Creek Curling in Colorado, the second event of the Regions Cup was scored. Club nationals and mixed nationals are the final Regions Cup events which will determine the winner.

After scoring a gold and a silver at arena nationals, the Mid-America region continued their strong showing in the inaugural Cup race thanks to bronze medal finishes from Team Biesecker and Team Rose of Colorado. Team Berg (Minnesota) and Team Kadlec (Wisconsin) got their regions a big boost up the standings with their championship victories, while Dakota kept themselves in striking distance of MACA thanks 2nd (Grabow) and 5th place (Rokke) finishes from their respective teams.

Please remember, these numbers are my unofficial tabulation based on my understanding of USA Curling’s releases regarding points for the Regions Cup.

Up Next…

The Olympics are here!

But first, we’ve got a boatload of other qualifier events as we get into the busiest time of year for 5-and-Under qualifiers. I am aiming to get a one more newsletter of national qualifier updates from the upcoming playdowns and 5U sometime before Cory and Korey hit the ice against Norway on February 5th.

As a quick plug, you can catch all of my Olympics coverage for The Curling Group, like this Rich Ruohonen feature, on the Grand Slam of Curling website. You can keep up with all of my new work over there by either following me on social media (hoppecurls on Instagram, BlueSky, and Twitter) and by following the Rock Channel on all the social media platforms!

Good curling!

Feature article written for Rock Channel about Team Hebert after they won the World B Junior Championships and published before they went on to win the World Junior Curling Championship.

Read this article on the Grand Slam of Curling Website: https://www.thegrandslamofcurling.com/news/how-team-heberts-bright-future-began-with-one-coachs-vision

Over the past year, the number of subscribers to Stones & Stripes has tripled. This is newsletter issue number twenty-five on the year, and outside of this newsletter, I published 28 other articles between The Curling News in the first half of the year and Rock Channel in the second half of the year. It’s safe to say I’ve been a tad busy, and that’s not adding in that I have dipped my toe into the world of mixed doubles pool this year as well.

None of that happens without each and every one of you reading, reacting, and sharing my work among your circles and for those who have sent in donations. Because of your engagement and support, I am able to highlight the accomplishments of those representing the United States at the highest levels of the sport as well as those who are doing their best to make a name for themselves at the club level.

In addition to you readers, I wanted to extend a thank you to George Karrys of The Curling News and Devin Heroux and Jess Szabo of The Curling Group for providing me a platform to shine a light on the best curlers in the country. Thank you to the US curlers who respond to my messages with questions, interview requests, and notes for their patience and openness. And to those who have privately given me advice, feedback, or allowed me to bounce ideas off of them, you have no idea how much you’ve helped me.

This newsletter is largely a one-man-show, but it doesn’t mean I’m doing it alone. I am so appreciative for the bonspiel hosts, regional association representatives, and competitors who have helped to keep me in the loop with results. In addition to the results I share in this newsletter, I have been able to provide some national championship fields access to the data I use to track results to assist them in peer seeding, which ideally creates a more equitable draw for all competitors. Thank you, everyone who has a part in this!

Before I jump into results, I spent some time considering the favorite pieces I’ve put together as well as some of my favorite things I have read from other writers in the last year. If you hadn’t read any of these, I’d encourage you to check them out.

Favorite Things I Wrote in 2025

• USA Curling’s Greatest Investment - Stones & Stripes, September 2025

• No Sand on the Ice - Stones & Stripes, November 2025

• Dear TSN Curling - The Curling News, February 2025

• Grand Slam’s U25 Event a Glimpse into the Future - Rock Channel, October 2025

• GSOC Military Invitational - Rock Channel, November 2025

• Shuster Refocuses on Remainder of Season - Rock Channel, December 2025

Favorite Things I Read in 2025

Some of my favorite pieces I’ve read this year, listed in no particular order:

• A Tribute to Colleen Jones - Devin Heroux, CBC, November 2025

• The Team Casper Celebration That’s Sweeping the Nation - Macklin Stern, NBC Olympics, December 2025

• The Philippines, a nation without winters, might make the Olympics in curling - Rafe Bartholomew, The Athletic, December 2025

• Why men's and women's curling evolving together is unique among sports - Jolene Latimer, Rock Channel, October 2025

• Breast cancer survivors at arena nationals find community in curling - USA Curling, October 2025

Onto the results!

Club Playdowns Results

Mountain Pacific

Women’s Champion: Thangadurai (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Walsh (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)

In what may turn out to be the largest playdown of any region for women’s club nationals, nine teams showed up at Coyotes Curling Club for an incredibly competitive event. 17 teams played down across the men and the women altogether at the 4-sheet club, which made for a jampacked weekend of curling in Tempe.

I’m not 100% certain on the format utilized for the event, as every women’s team played a minimum of 6 games - not enough for a round robin, and the teams were not split into groups. However, the best four records from the pool(ish) play advanced to the playoffs: two teams from the Bay Area and two teams from Coyotes. Both of the San Francisco Bay Area teams advanced to the finals for an intra-club showdown.

Subasthika Thangadurai, also known as Subs, led her team to the finals, going undefeated after dropping their first game of the event. Early on in the playdowns, Subs might have made the best shot of the entire event with this angle run for 3. Meanwhile, Sarah Walsh returned back to the championship game yet again, despite losing two games in the initial phase of the event which included a loss to Thangadurai.

Both teams played a very clean game in the final, with nobody allowing the front of the house to get super messy. The key shot came in the 4th end. Thangadurai was down 1 with hammer, and Walsh had just made a come-around tap to sit one, but Subs did one better. She was able to make the hit on the Walsh stone and score two with hammer.

Team Thangadurai did not look back, stealing two in the fifth and controlling the game from then on. This team also competed in the U25 Junior Grand Slam of Curling in October, notching a win in a strong field. They’ll be a team to watch in Chaska.

Meanwhile, for Team Walsh, they wind up as the runner-up for MoPac once again, but once again, they stand a good chance to qualify for nationals through USA Curling’s fill procedures. Currently, the MoPac region has the largest women’s qualifying event in the country, and if that holds true, Walsh will be joining their fellow clubmates in Chaska. Last year, they went 3-2 at nationals and just missed out on playoffs due to tiebreakers, so they will likely be in contention yet again this year if they qualify.

Men’s Champion: Siggins (Coyotes Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Tait (Coyotes Curling Club)

On the men’s side, it was an all-Coyotes playoff. 6 of the 8 teams were from Coyotes, with the other two from San Francisco, and all four playoff teams hailed from the host club. In past years, it has been a revolving door between a number of skips from Coyotes competing at nationals, and the two teams in the finals had both been in that group.

Similar to Thangadurai on the women’s side, Mike Siggins lost his opening game of the event and bounced back without surrendering another loss. Meanwhile, Shawn Tait had to battle through two losses on his way to the playoffs. The final, though, belonged to Team Siggins.

They got off to a strong start when skip Mike Siggins, throwing third stones, made a clutch double to roll to a guard in the second end after a blank in the first. This set them up for three, but even being up 5-2 with hammer in the 6th end, the game was not over just yet. Tait stole two in the 6th to make Team Siggins sweat it out a little bit more, but Siggins was able to score 1 in the 7th. Down two with hammer in the 8th, Shawn Tait nearly made an angle run to score two, but the rock just overcurled, resulting in a steal of 1 for Siggins and the victory.

This will be Siggins first time back to club nationals since the 2024 event in Fargo, where his team went 2-3.

Midwest

Women’s Champion: Yaple (Chicago Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Pettinger (Windy City Curling Club)

Last year, Haley Yaple was able to qualify for club nationals uncontested as the only women’s team signed up for playdowns in the Midwest region. This year, the number of Midwest teams doubled on the women’s side with the entry of Team Pettinger.

The teams faced off in a best-of-3 series, and Yaple swept the series in two games. Yaple should be a contender for the playoffs in Chaska. The quarterfinalists from last year’s nationals will return back to see if they can improve and advance to the medal rounds in 2026.

Men’s Champion: Wright (Exmoor Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Tobkin (Chicago Curling Club)

Four teams competed on the men’s side at Waltham Curling Club to determine the men’s Midwest representative. Chicagoland clubs were well represented with teams from Exmoor, Windy City, and Chicago Curling Clubs all competing.

When all was said and done, Jeff Wright’s squad defended their regional title. They went undefeated through the round robin and overcame Team Tobkin in the final to secure yet another berth to club nationals. Team Wright will look to see if they can best their 2-3 record from last year’s championship in Milwaukee.

Alaska

Women’s Champion: Mazur (Anchorage Curling Club)

The Alaska Region had one women’s team sign up again this year for club nationals, and as a result, no playdown was necessary. This year’s Team Alaska once again hails from Anchorage Curling Club. Becca Mazur competed at club nationals in Fargo, but with an entirely different team and throwing second. This year, she’ll be headed to the lower 48 as a skip for the second straight year and is bringing some different teammates as they create their own history.

Men’s Champion: Johnson (Fairbanks Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Donna (Anchorage Curling Club)

Two teams signed up for the Alaska playdowns on the men’s side of the competition again this year, with one team from each of Alaska’s two dedicated curling clubs. While often we see a best-of-3 series, the men’s playdown was a best-of-5 tournament between the two teams.

Diego Donna of Anchorage took the first game, an 8-6 victory. Down by one with hammer in the 8th in game two, it looked like they may be tie it to go to extra ends, but Donna’s rock likely picked, securing the win for Jon Johnson’s rink. Team Johnson did not look back, winning games 3 and 4 to win the series 3 games to 1.

Johnson’s lead, Dylan Skaggs, was playing at the Junior B World Championships in Finland as the skip for Team Philippines, but he will rejoin the team at lead for club nationals in Chaska with Atticus Wallace as the alternate. Johnson went winless at nationals last year, but don’t let the standings deceive you: they had a bunch of close games. I would expect to see them give teams some trouble this year.

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

Jingle Rocks 5U (Stevens Point, Wisconsin)

Winner: Gumz (Portage, Madison, & Stevens Point Curling Clubs)
Runner-Up: Mack (Kettle Moraine Curling Club)

For the past few years, the Jingle Rocks 5U has been the final 5-and-Under qualifying event in the calendar year. While that was true again, the event changed this year to a pool play event, deviating from their traditional bonspiel bracket play.

6 pools of 4 teams apiece battled it out, and both Teams Gumz and Mack made it to the finals undefeated. The all-Wisconsin final kept observers glued into the final stone with a fun game. Mack got a good start early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after two ends, but Jacalynn Gumz roared back. She scored two with hammer, stole another two in the 4th end, and then stole one more in the 5th to take a 5-3 lead.

Team Mack was forced to one in the 6th end and yielded 2 more points in the 8th, but in 5-and-Under, you never know what might happen. Team Gumz opted to play to their strengths in the final end, continuing to lob draws into the house, while Mack jostled the rocks around on their throws. There were no guards in play, but there were still 8 rocks hanging around for the hammer from Team Mack.

But it was not to be for Team Mack, with the possibility of a score of 4 if the angle was hit correctly, the hammer just floated wide which secured the victory for Team Gumz.

Team Gumz is made up of members from three curling clubs, and they’ll be making their 5-and-Under National Championship debut this spring in Seattle. For Bekka Mack and team, they have now notched their second runner-up finish of the season, posting a strong 11-4 record in qualifying events so far.

Final Notes

A quick congratulations to Team Purves of St. Paul Curling Club for winning the second iteration of the 5-and-Under World Championship, which was hosted at Kettle Moraine Curling Club earlier this month. Purves defeated Alexis Boucher out of Quebec, claiming the title for the United States for the second consecutive year. This year saw a great increase in Canadian teams to the event, and I hope to see it back again next year!

The newsletter is going to have a few weeks off, but we’ll be back in full force in January. In a 5-week period, beginning in the middle of January, there will be eight 5-and-Under qualifiers as well as six club playdowns. These events include some of the largest playdowns and qualifiers on the schedule. And oh, by the way, the Olympics will be starting right after, followed by the US National Championships.

I’ll be doing my best to keep up with everything going on to highlight who will be playing for national championships in 2026! If you are running one of those events, please reach out to me either via email or social media so I can ensure I get the results and proper attention on all of the deserving curlers.

I wish safe travels, good health, and all the best for you during this holiday season. May we all find draw weight in our gifts this year.

And as always, good curling!

In addition to being locked into the Olympic Qualifying Event happening in Kelowna, I’m doing my best to keep following along with 5-and-Under qualifying events, as well as the first club nationals playdown of the season! Between the OQE, four playdowns for club nationals, three 5U qualifiers, and the next Grand Slam of Curling Event, I am getting good preparation for what’s to come in January and February!

Watching streams of this last weekend’s Madtown Doubledown served as a good reminder for me of the fantastic combination of club and competitive curling we have access to, and while the competitive events are often my focus here, don’t forget to check out any of your local funspiels.

Before I traveled to my first about year after I got my start at Green Bay Curling Club, I received some helpful advice: Never let curling get in the way of a good bonspiel.

So if you needed it, let this serve as a gentle reminder: Go forth and party! And maybe curl a little, too.

Club Playdowns Results

Mid-America

Women’s Champion: Turbow (Denver Curling Club)
Women’s Runner-Up: Henning (Rock Creek Curling)

Twelve months ago, it looked like Melissa Turbow was well on her way to club nationals, having gone through round robin play with an undefeated record and needing to just beat Houston’s Julie Segovia in one of two elimination games. But things did not shake out in her favor. While I wasn’t in the building for that event, it was clear on stream how incredibly graciously Turbow and her team handled that loss.

It looked like she might need an elimination rematch against the Houston rink, with Segovia at one loss and Turbow undefeated heading into the final game of round robin play in the seven-team field. The Denver skip was down two with the hammer entering the final end. A win, and they were MACA champions. A loss, and a second game with Segovia would be queued up.

But good thing comes to those who wait. Sitting two with a lot of traffic out front, Turbow was able to just sneak her shooter by a Houston guard, thanks to a great sweep from her front end from the hog line in to secure a win. This year, there would be no elimination games.

Turbow’s Denver rink went undefeated in round robin play, and with the next two best teams having two losses, they secured a place in Chaska for nationals was secured.

Men’s Champion: Rose (Denver Curling Club)
Men’s Runner-Up: Suhr (Denver Curling Club)

The men’s field of MACA featured seven teams vying for the berth to nationals. Last year’s playdown winner was not in the field, and it was a very tightly contested field all the way around.

As with the women’s side, the teams played a full round robin, and nobody could be eliminated if they had less than two losses. After the round robin, it was an all-Denver matchup with Team Rose and Team Suhr. In their first matchup, Christian Rose hung a 5-ender in the 7th end to secure a win.

With both teams at one loss coming out of round robin play, Rose picked up right where he left off with a score of 4 in the first end. The team never looked back on their way to an 8-2 victory.

Rose is a shining example of how the sport can grow here in the US. His son, Caiden, skips a U18 team who recently qualified again for U18 Nationals. Christian made his way into the competitive circuit when he won the Denver 5U qualifier event in 2024 and made an impressive run to the third-place match in his first championship appearance. He and lead Tim Murphy stayed together and won the inaugural 5-and-Under Worlds event last year.

Now, Rose heads back to Chaska where he had his 5-and-Under National Championship appearance. This time, it’s at the club championship level.

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

Fighting Hornet (Charlotte, North Carolina)

Winner: Rice (Coyotes Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Elliott (Nashville Curling Club)

After a few years of a really unique double elimination type of event for Charlotte’s Fighting Hornet 5U, the club switched to a traditional bonspiel bracket. While it was a bummer for me to see one of my favorite formats go by the wayside, this change allowed Charlotte to increase their bonspiel field from 24 to 32 teams.

Team Rice made a trip all the way from Tempe, Arizona before making their run all the way to the final in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their opponents, Team Elliott from Nashville Curling Club, were aiming make a return back to nationals for a second consecutive year.

The final between these teams was a tightly contested, low-scoring affair. Rice stole one in the first, Elliott stole one in the fifth, and every other end was a force of one point. Team Rice had the hammer and was down by one point going into the final end.

With a relatively clean sheet and one center guard, Elliott’s first rock in the final end checked up a little early under the center guard and opened the door for Rice. Rice made his first draw to the button, and when Elliott’s final rock was heavy, Rice just had to do it once again to win, and the whole team got in to sweep his final rock into the 8-foot to get the win.

Team Rice has been hard at work over the last couple years to improve, and they were so close to making the final at their hometown 5U to start the season. Now, they can rest easy as they prepare themselves to head to Seattle next spring.

Midwest Cup (Hartland, Wisconsin)

Winner: Wysocki (Stevens Point Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Papineau (Appleton Curling Club)

The Midwest Cup was a smaller field than usual this year, with just 20 teams taking the ice at Kettle Moraine Curling Club. Two competitors from last year’s nationals field met up in the final, Team Wysocki from Stevens Point and Team Papineau from Appleton Curling Club.

Wysocki’s rink won the Frogtown 5U just a few weeks ago, while Papineau is playing in their second 5U of the season. The two Wisconsin-based teams wasted no time getting going in the first end with all but three rocks in play for the hammer. Papineau took his one in that end, and the two teams punched and countered with excellent shots throughout the championship bout.

The two teams were tied going into the final end and Papineau had the hammer. Once Wysocki got a rock into sit as shot stone, he threw guard after guard, and none of Team Papineau’s hits were able to connect with that scoring rock, including Papineau’s last which appeared to be made but just feathered the guard.

This is now Wyoscki’s second 5U qualifier win of the season, and if Team Papineau can keep up this level of play, they could very well find their way back to nationals again this season as well.

5U Curlers - take note!

It isn’t a qualifying event, but an event at Schenectady Curling Club still has some spaces available, and on top of the good fun you can have, you can even win reimbursement for 2026 5U qualifier events! Kudos to Schenectady for coming up with a neat idea, and rewarding women’s, men’s, and mixed teams! Click here for more info.

Did anyone call for more curling?

There are still a few qualifying events to send teams to 5U nationals and club nationals before the holidays, so I should have one more newsletter before the year comes to a close.

And if you still need more curling to watch, in addition to qualifying events and Slams, the second 5U World Championship starts up later this week from Kettle Moraine Curling Club. This 16-team invitational tournament has added teams from a number of other countries this year, including Australia! Games will be streamed on YouTube with some commentary, and the draw schedule can be found on their website.

Good curling!

Over four years, the duo worked on getting themselves set up on black ice on local lakes. They built curling sheets on driveways. For all of that, they managed to curl just twice and dealt with the challenges of winter weather in Alaska every stop along the way.

In 2020, they decided to try something different. They went to the local youth hockey club in Talkeetna and requested to paint some rings on the ice rink at the local elementary. When the hockey club expressed concern about the curlers adding sand to the ice surface for “pebbling", they were able to promise to not use any sand. With that, they found themselves after years of toil with the opportunity to host a bonspiel, and the inaugural Talkeetna Bonspiel was born.

It wasn’t without help. They received support from the statewide curling organization, CurlAK. The support included loaned curling stones and leading a Learn to Curl which created space for Talkeetna to grow in a town of just over 1,000 people. Thanks to CurlAK’s support as well as support from Fairbanks and Anchorage Curling Clubs, the dedication of the curlers in Talkeetna is bearing fruit. Talkeetna Curling Club now boasts over 20 league curlers with leagues that run from December through March and routinely draw more than 20 teams for their annual 3-day bonspiel.

The conditions are about what you could expect from winter in Alaska and an open-sided ice rink. Temperatures dropping well below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, snow blowing in, and still, they make it work. They have a hot mop pulled by an old Dodge truck. They flood with a firehouse from the neighboring firehouse. Chris Bouch is the head ice technician and skip of the team that competed at the Arena National Championship, and he spends hours on a daily basis to ensure there is playable ice for curling and hockey programs.

In addition to the growth of the sport in their small community, Talkeetna Curling Club made their national championship debut when Team Bouch took the ice in balmy Las Vegas last month. They got to come home with a win in their first appearance at the Arena National Championships and earned points for Alaska in USA Curling’s new Regions Cup standings. I think it’s fair to say the frozen sweat and tears have been worth it.

5-and-Under Qualifier Results

Super Hero 5 & Under Bonspiel (Tempe, AZ)

Winner: Team Gilbert (Oval Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Kunkel (Coyotes Curling Club)

Last season, Ramin Gilbert and his team out of the Oval in Salt Lake City were probably the best team to not qualify for 5U nationals. They made two A finals, including the finals at Coyotes, and an A-event semifinal in 5-and-Under qualifier events. Fresh off a run to the playoffs at the Arena National Championships, it’s only fitting they found themselves in the final in Coyotes.

It wasn’t an easy road with their last four games coming against teams from last year’s 5U national championships. They barely survived in the quarterfinals against Nashville’s Team Elliot and then found themselves in a rematch of the Coyotes 5U finals with reigning national champions Team Campbell. Following a convincing win against Campbell, they had a rematch of their other runner-up finish from a year ago with the matchup against Kunkel.

Jeff Kunkel was in trouble in the semifinals but got some help from a wick on his final rock to sit shot and ultimately advance to the final. The finals started like a repeat of their matchup in Las Vegas last winter with nary a guard to be seen for the first couple ends, and the teams traded singles.

The third end turned out to be the key end of the matchup. With a center-line guard in play and a couple of misses, viewers were treated to a busy house. Kunkel chose to ignore a Gilbert rock sitting as the second shot rock and instead chose to play for a very aggressive steal of a minimum of one, possibly two. But when a draw came up short, it actually created a unique loaded gun situation to move the shot stone off of the button after spinning off the rock in the top 12-foot. Gilbert recognized this, and fourth Dave Hurst made the shot to move the rock off the button, also slightly cleaning up the front of the house. Kunkel’s final rock was heavy, tapping the shot rock and exposing more of his shooter. The Oval rink took advantage to pick out shot rock with the hammer and score two points.

From there, Gilbert would never relinquish the lead. Hurst made a clutch draw in the 6th end to prevent a steal, and the Utah team would steal again in the 7th to take a 6-2 lead coming home. They would run Kunkel out of rocks in the 8th, and the team who went to 2024 5U nationals secured a trip to Seattle for the national championship this spring.

The Cool Duck (Ardsley, NY)

Winner: Team Moran (Triangle Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Green (Bucks County Curling Club)

In 2024, the Cool Duck was not a 5U qualifier, and then at the last minute it was once again named a qualifier. No such drama existed this year for one of the most popular 5-and-Under events in the country. This bonspiel routinely filles in a matter of minutes and can be incredibly difficult to get into.

As in previous years, the 24-team event was split into three brackets of eight teams. The bracket winner with the best draw shot challenge score would advance directly to the finals while the other two faced off in a semifinal. Team Green, who won this event last year, won their bracket to advance to the final. Triangle’s Team Moran earned their place in the finals with 6-4 win over the home club Michalski rink in the semifinals and got a win over 2025 national championship participants, Team Wright.

Moran jumped out to a lead early in this game with a steal of two. They continued to make Green work for points over the middle ends of the game after a steal in the 5th gave the Triangle rink a 4-2 lead, but the reigning Cool Duck champion, Green, was not out of it yet. The Bucks County curlers scored two with hammer in the 6th, and when Moran’s draw against two counters crashed on a guard in the penultimate end, Team Green stole two for a 6-4 lead going into the eighth end.

The momentum started to sway back towards Triangle when second Kiera O’Donnell made a double to sit two, flipping the pressure back to Green. Team Moran was sitting with two guarded scoring rocks going into skip stones and forced Rob Green into some difficult and high-pressure shots. After Green’s last rock went deep, Pat Moran was sitting first, second, and fourth shot. He needed to essentially get close to a bite of the 8-foot-circle for the win. His rock was heavy, but he actually ended up splitting his 4th counting rock to score four, take the win, and claim a spot at 5-and-Under nationals.

Mad Anthony 5 & Under (Fort Wayne, IN)

Winner: Team Parira (Potomac Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Mack (Kettle Moraine Curling Club)

Fort Wayne Curling Club has been working on expanding their 5U qualifier each of the past few years, and it was great to see them get up to a full field of 32 teams for the Mad Anthony 5 & Under event this year. Even better, in my opinion, was seeing two women skipping the final of an open event!

Tiyash Parira of Potomac Curling Club led her team on a run to the finals, including a win over 2025 nationals participants Team Papineau. Kettle Morain’s Bekka Mack may not have faced any former national championship teams in her run but still faced many teams who have been regulars on the 5U circuit in recent years.

The final was an exhibition of teams maximizing their opportunities with hammer. Mack and Parira traded scores of multiple points in the first three ends. After exchanging scores of two and threes, Team Parira blanked the fourth and then converted with four points in the 5th end.

The most crucial end turned out to be the sixth end with the first and only steal of the game. A few misses from Team Mack and a center guard from Parira on her last to guard a rock on the button, and the pressure was on. Mack’s hammer would come up light, and result in a steal of three to take a commanding 10-5 lead entering the 7th, effectively sealing the game.

Tiyash Parira and her team will be making their 5U championship debuts in Seattle, and it also assures Potomac Curling Club will be represented in the event for the second consecutive year.

Frogtown 5U (St. Paul, MN)

Winner: Team Wysocki (Stevens Point Curling Club)
Runner-Up: Team Despins (Curling Club of Rochester)

Last season, Trevor Wysocki’s team went into the Frogtown 5U looking to qualify for the 5-and-Under National Championships in a second consecutive year. To say it didn’t go well for them is probably an understatement, but they were the embodiment of “Don’t let curling get in the way of a good bonspiel.” They would go on to later qualify for nationals through another event.

This year, they returned to the Twin Cities “fun club”, this time aiming for a third straight year, and it was quite a different result. The Wysocki rink went undefeated in pool play to earn the 2nd overall playoff seed. The Curling Club of Rochester’s Tyler Despins earned the 8th overall seed with a 3-1 record, advancing into the playoffs by virtue of a Draw Shot Challenge score to resolve the tie.

In the finals between the two, the ice at Frogtown appeared to give them a few challenges, but hammer efficiency turned out to be the key as Wysocki scored three in the third end and two in the sixth end. Despins managed two in the second end, two in the fifth end, and blanked two ends, giving him the hammer and a two-point deficit coming home.

On the first of his skip stones, the Rochester skip made a great draw to the button to sit either two or three points, and Team Wysocki needed some time to talk through their options. It appears they settled on a draw-weight chip off of their own, and Trevor Wysocki made it to perfection to sit one point and buried. Despins had no good options, and their attempt to remove the shot stone was unsuccessful. With the win, Trevor Wysocki and his team from Stevens Point will head to his third consecutive 5-and-Under National Championship.

Up Next

5U and club playdowns really are going to kick into high gear for a few weeks next month. I expect to do a recap of the first few qualifiers in early December, followed by another newsletter a couple weeks later ahead of the holiday break.

In the meantime, be sure check out my Rock Channel articles for The Curling Group and the Grand Slam of Curling at thegrandslamofcurling.com, especially with the recently completed Olympic Trials, the upcoming Olympic Qualifying Event, and December’s World Junior B Curling Championships!

The next three months, in particular, are going to be filled with drama, and I absolutely cannot wait. Thanks for joining me on the ride!

Until next time, good curling!

It’s difficult to fully explain how important this event is. In my opinion, it goes beyond providing a space for the top curlers in the country who do not have access to dedicated curling ice. It highlights a group of people who pour so much into the Roaring Game.

Arena curlers have to negotiate with arenas and regularly deal with awful draw times. They are freezing in the hacks and carrying out rocks before teaching a learn to curl or corporate event, if they’re fortunate enough to be able to offer those services. Arena clubs have to look for unique ways to grow the game, and they are often successful though it takes blood, sweat, and tears. Much of the growth we’re seeing in curling in the United States is because of arena clubs.

This championship is for them.

Congratulations to CurlVegas for achieving the dream of so many arena curlers. The opportunity to host this event is so well earned, and kudos for giving us the most unique (but fitting!) ceremonial draws I’ve ever seen to open the championship.

Hopefully all the curlers were big winners off the ice this past week. Let’s dive into who hit the jackpot on the ice!

Women’s Championship

Winners

Gold: Team Andenas-Weber - Sioux Falls Curling Club (Dakota)
Silver: Team Robertson - Dallas-Fort Worth Curling Club (Mid-America)
Bronze: Team Asis - Silicon Valley Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)

Morgan Andenas-Weber and team were a late addition to the field and came out of peer seeding with the bottom seed of Pool A. They opened the event dropping their first two games. It feels safe to say their third consecutive appearance at this event started as their most emotionally draining, but the team overcame every challenge that came their way.

After dropping those two initial games of pool play, the women’s rink from Sioux Falls, South Dakota rattled off three straight wins to close out pool play and qualify for the playoffs. They managed to win another three after that to claim the first ever arena gold for a team from the Dakota Territory.

The Mid-America (MACA) and Mountain Pacific (MoPac) regions have generally dominated this event. While those two traditional powerhouse regions duked it out in their half of the semifinal, Andenas-Weber bested perennial playoff contender, Team Mercer of Ohio, on the other side of the bracket.

The final was a very impressive showing from the Sioux Falls curlers, especially the skip Morgan Andenas-Weber. After giving up a steal in the first end, Andenas-Weber arrived at skip stones looking at an open house with one Robertson rock behind the tee-line. Instead of opting for the safer play to hit that lone rock in the house, the skipper went aggressive by calling (and making) a freeze to sit one. After the her opponent's last rock sailed a hair too far, Andenas-Weber made the draw for a skip’s deuce.

Following an excellent double by Robertson to blank the third end, the Sioux Falls rink put a lot of pressure on the Texas team and earned a steal of one, going into the halftime break with a 3-1 lead. After exchanging forces of one in the next two ends, Robertson needed to get aggressive in the 7th down two with hammer.

Going into skip stones, Morgan Andenas-Weber was facing three Texas stones in the 4-foot circle, but she continued her impressive game with a fantastic hit-and roll to move all three reds and get shot rock. This shot ultimately set up a steal of two in the 7th end, and Team Andenas-Weber ran Team Robertson out of rocks.

Both teams had an excellent week, and kudos to Team Robertson for their run to the finals with some fantastic shot-making along the way. By reaching the finals, it meant the fourth consecutive appearance in the finals at the Arena National Championship for Team Robertson’s second, Heather Cook.

In the bronze medal match, reigning champions Team Asis of Silicon Valley took the win over Cleveland Skating Club’s Team Mercer. Despite starting in a 5-0 deficit after three ends, Asis stormed back with scores of multiple points in the 4th, 6th, 7th, and 8th ends to bring home their third medal in three years. In the last four years, Silicon Valley has seen their rink finish 4th, 2nd, 1st, and now 3rd to complete the collection of Arena National Championship hardware!

Men’s Championship

Winners

Gold: Team Myers - Dallas-Fort Worth Curling Club (Mid-America)
Silver: Team Ridder - Aksarben Curling Club (Mid-America)
Bronze: Team Spangler - Wine Country Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)

Seeing the level of play at the Arena National Championship take a step-up year-over-year has been a joy to watch. This year was no exception, with the event continuing to showcase excellent shot-making. It’s an excellent example of a rising tide lifting all boats.

Team Myer (DFW Curling Club) and Team Ridder (Aksarben Curling Club) rode the highest waves of the week, going undefeated in pool play and then winning their semifinal matchups in convincing fashion. That doesn’t mean it was easy, though.

Team Ridder needed extra ends to win two of their pool play games. Meanwhile, Team Myers required an extra end against Rochester’s Team Russell, and it looked like they were headed toward another extra end or a regulation loss against Rocket City’s Team Curtis until Team Myers made what might have been the shot of the week in the 7th end. It was an incredible line call from Laith Sando and a great sweep from the front end — a perfect example of a team shot.

Canada may have the Battle of the Brads, but viewers of Arena Nationals got to see the Nexus of the Nic(k)s (sorry, this is the best I could do). The five-time Arena National Champion, Nick Myers from Texas, versus the reigning silver medalists Nic Ridder and Nic Swiercek from Nebraska. The two teams from the Mid-America region faced each other in pool play at the regional playdowns, where Myers won 6-2.

Round two had a gold medal on the line, and it was a barnburner of a final. The final began as a back-and-forth contest with Myers taking a 3-2 lead into the break. It looked like we were headed for another force and a tie game in the 5th end until Nick Myers made an excellent double run-tap to sit one and leave Aksarben shot-caller Dave Hill and fourth Nic Ridder with basically nothing on their last rock.

Aksarben was not done yet, though. Third Nic Swiercek made a perfect hit and roll to spin up and buried under a DFW stone which set up a deuce for the Aksarben rink to tie the game after six ends. The Texas rink punched right back in the seventh when Myers made a short angle-run for two on his last. DFW kept the house clean in the 8th, and they were able to run Aksarben out of rocks to secure the victory and reclaim the top of the podium.

The champions gain an automatic berth into the following season’s championship, but it’s entirely possible this is the last time this sixth championship for Nick Myers is his last if Dallas-Fort Worth is able to secure dedicated ice. For the sake of all curlers in the DFW metroplex, I feel good about rooting for their ineligibility for arena nationals next year!

Reigning gold medalists, Team Spangler of Wine Country, continued the trend set by Team Asis, following their gold with a bronze medal finish. They can take their hardware home with heads held high with the only two losses coming to Myers and Ridder. In the bronze medal game, Spangler gave up a steal of one in the first, but then took two with hammer in the second end and never looked back, securing their victory over Team Shlimovitz of Grand Rapids, Mich. by a score of 7-3.

Notable Notes from the Week!

Wine Country Rink Share a Common Thread

In case you missed it, USA Curling shared an excellent story about Team Connelly of Wine Country Curling Club. Three of the team members are breast cancer survivors, and they had a very strong showing in Las Vegas, qualifying for the playoffs in their championship debut. I recommend checking out the article — these women and the community they found (and built!) are a shining example of what makes our sport great!

Talkeetna Gets Win in First Championship Event

Team Bouch of Talkeetna, Alaska was the first ever team from Alaska to compete in the Arena National Championships. The Talkeetna Curling Club curl out of a covered, outdoor rink at the local elementary school, and in their first time curling outside of the state of Alaska, earned their first victory at a national championship with a 7-4 victory in their penultimate game of round robin play.

Regions Cup Standings

Throughout the season, I expect we will see USA Curling announce the standings for the Regions Cup, but I will also work to keep my own unofficial standings. As a quick refresher, points are awarded (25, 18, 13, 10, 8 , 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) based on a region’s finish at four national championships: Arena, U18, Club, and Mixed Fours. If a region has multiple teams, only the highest ranked team accumulates points, but the lower ranked team from a region can move other regions down.

In the case of the men’s event, where MACA finished first and second. The MACA region earned 25 points, and no team earned 18 points. The MoPac region earned 13 points for their third-place finish. Here are the current very unofficial Regions Cup standings.

The Midwest owns the tiebreaker over Pacific Northwest with a better cumulative Win-Loss record. Full points standards can be found in their September release and tiebreakers were shared in the original release.

The next Regions Cup event will be the U18 National Championships in January.

Stones & Stripes will be back in a couple of weeks to recap the second 5U qualifier of the season! November through January will be a bit crazy with this year having a compressed schedule due to the Olympics, so I will have to see how frequently I can get out newsletters when everything gets into full swing.

As always, thank you for subscribing, and good curling!

For the 24-25 season, a slot was reserved at arena nationals for the men’s and women’s winners of the event. It saw a modest registration in year one, but those numbers improved for the second year. We also saw this last chance model used to determine the final spot at the Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials where 48 teams traveled to Eveleth, Minnesota to compete to be the 10th team into the Trials in Colorado.

This year, mixed doubles championship has a larger field of 16 teams, so 4 slots are being awarded in Eveleth with a strong showing of 32 teams registering for this event. And for this season, yet another last chance qualifier has arrived: a qualifier which will award two women’s and two men’s slots to the national championships in Charlotte.

Currently, registration looks to be low, but I expect we will see that bump up with the conclusion of this weekend’s St. Paul Cashspiel. These last chance events are fantastic opportunities to create more accessibility to various national championships, so I hope there is a good turnout of teams headed to Massachusetts for this major addition to the annual calendar.

This qualifier, in particular, is an opportunity for teams who don’t have the financial resources or time availability to tour and try to accumulate points. It can also serve as a valuable litmus test for curlers and teams wanting to take the next step in their curling development. Who knows, maybe we see an arena team or two make their way to Brookline. No doubt there are some curlers in the field in Las Vegas who would fit right in.

Let’s dive into the preview of the men’s Arena National Championship teams. Don’t forget to check out the women’s preview, if you missed it!

Watching and Tracking

CurlVegas offers streaming through their YouTube channel, and all games should be streamed through that website. Because of how their streams and scoreboards are set up, viewers should also be treated to a live ticker of scores from other sheets.

Scores, standings, and a detailed draw schedule can be accessed through the USA Curling event page.

Scores and Standings

Draw Schedule

Both the men’s and women’s events will feature 12 teams. When the event was held at larger clubs, the draw schedule began on a Thursday. With fewer sheets available, though, the draw schedule needed to be stretched out to begin on Tuesday, October 14th.

The first draw will take place at 3pm PT on October 14th with two women’s games and two men’s games. Beginning with the 8pm men’s draw on Tuesday night, draws will alternate between men’s and women’s draws. USA Curling posted the schedule on their website.

The playoffs will follow the same format as last year, beginning on Saturday evening with six teams making the playoffs and will wrap up on Sunday afternoon.

Meet the Teams

Teams are listed in order of peer seeding.

Men’s Pool A

Myers - Dallas/Fort Worth Curling Club (Mid-America)

Last year, I picked Team Myers to win their 5th consecutive arena national championship. I predicted that we were “a year or so away before Team Myers is dethroned.” It turns out, I was a year or so off as the DFW rink was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Rocket City’s Team Curtis.

Because of their elimination, they had to go back to playdowns this year to earn their spot back at nationals. They did not mess around, winning each of their six games by a minimum of three points, including an 8-ender to close out the final. The loss last year seemed to have refocused the team, and you have to imagine they’re as motivated as ever to get their name on the trophy one more time before they (hopefully) graduate to dedicated ice.

Curtis - Rocket City Curling Club (Grand National)

Team Curtis not only upset the top-ranked team in the quarterfinals of last year’s national championship, but they also won Rocket City’s first ever medal at a national championship with their bronze finish in Wausau. The club, established in 2018, saw the fruits of years of impressive growth flourish, and they’re still continuing to see that. Curtis went an undefeated 5-0 in the GNCC playdowns and will see if they can upgrade bronze to another color this year in Las Vegas.

Tesch - Cedar Rapids Curling Club (Midwest)

For Cale Tesch and his rink from Iowa, 9-1 seems to be a common theme. They won both games of their best of three playdown by that score, and 9-1 also happens to be their combined pool play record over the last two arena championships. Unfortunately, that tidy group play record has translated to a 1-3 playoff record, with their lone victory securing a bronze medal in 2023. Team Tesch will have the chance to avenge two of those losses in pool play against both Curtis and Myers this year. If they can come out on top in either one of those two games, they should be in good position to make a playoff run.

Russell - Curling Club of Rochester (Minnesota)

Minnesota was the final region to host its playdowns, and with Glacial Ridge Curling Club transitioning to dedicated ice, Rochester looks to be in strong position send representatives to nationals for some time (that is, until Minnesota’s third largest city also gets dedicated curling). Team Russell defended their Minnesota state title with some wild games in mid-August. They went 2-3 last year in a very crowded pool and will need to go at least 3-2 this year to have a chance to make the playoffs.

Shlimovitz - Grand Rapids Curling Club (Great Lakes)

Team Shlimovitz is headed back to nationals after a one-year hiatus. They last appeared at nationals in Eveleth as Team Galsworthy in 2023, where they posted a 2-3 record. The team has changed slightly since I shared their best-of-3 GLCA playdown victory with Rob Shlimovitz being listed as skip. This may be the debut for their skip at arena nationals, but he is no stranger to championship settings, having curled at multiple junior nationals 10 years prior.

Gullickson - Bend Curling Club (Pacific Northwest)

It looked for some time as though the Pacific Northwest would concede their spot at arena nationals, but Team Gullickson from Bend, Oregon stepped up to represent the region without contest. Gullickson and his second, Chet Liew, last competed at arena nationals in 2018. The Bend Curling Club representatives will likely face an uphill battle in Pool A when they take the ice in Las Vegas.

Men’s Pool B

Spangler - Wine Country Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)

Last year in Wausau, everything came together for Camren Spangler. A year after finishing in 4th in Eveleth, Spangler dropped a singular game to Nick Myers in pool play on the way to the top of the podium at arena nationals. As the reigning champions, they did not have to compete in playdowns. As an added bonus, the California rink did not need to coordinate travel to the Midwest and gets to stay in the Pacific Time Zone when they head to CurlVegas. Across their last two arena appearances, the Wine Country team has a 10-4 record and will have a target on their backs as they look to add to their impressive resume.

Ridder - Aksarben Curling Club (Mid-America)

The 2024 arena season was a heck of an arrival on the arena curling season for Team Ridder. First, they impressively took the MACA playdown title, and then they doubled down by advancing to the finals of arena nationals in Wausau after sneaking into playoffs with a 2-3 record. While the team’s namesake is their 4th, Nic Ridder, watch for the experienced David Hill to throw lead and call the game.

They took advantage of the Last Chance Qualifier by going undefeated and will be looking to take advantage of this opportunity to try and make another deep run at arena nationals while they still can. The 300+ member Aksarben Curling Club is looking into options to build dedicated ice, and they need it with so many members!

Weber - Sioux Falls Curling Club (Dakota Territory)

As with Team Myers, it was a bit surprising to see Team Weber wind up with a 1-4 record in pool play at arena nationals last year. The 2023 arena runner-up squad rebounded by going an unbeaten in the 9-team Dakota playdown. The roster is unchanged from 2024, and if they can find that magic from Eveleth, they’ll be a tough game for anyone throughout the event.

Gilbert - Oval Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)

For the second time in three years, Team Gilbert emerged from the MoPac playdowns. Had the current 6-team playoff been in use in 2023, Gilbert would have qualified for the playoffs in that event, but they finished just shy with a 3-2 record. They went on to qualify for 5-and-Under nationals later that season. While they were unable to requalify in either event last year, they had one of the most impressive resumes of any 5U teams, boasting a 13-6 record in all 5U qualifier events. Following their 5-1 record at the MoPac playdowns, don’t be surprised if this team makes a playoff run out of Pool B.

Chladil - Rhinelander Curling Club (Wisconsin)

As I mentioned in the women’s preview, Rhinelander Curling Club was only established in 2023, and yet the club finds itself with not just one, but two representatives at arena nationals this year. Pete Chladil and his Hodag rink won an absolutely wild best-of-three in the Wisconsin playdowns. They’ll need to rekindle some of that magic in Vegas in a tough draw.

Bouch - Talkeetna Curling Club (Alaska)

Alaska has never before sent a team to the Arena National Championships. Not only did it come as a shock when they claimed a spot in the field, but they also needed a playdown to determine their representative. Team Bouch of Talkeetna Curling Club earned their place with a win over a team from Palmer Curling Club. Located a little over 2 hours north of Anchorage, Talkeetna Curling Club joined USA Curling in 2021 and will be represented for the first time at a national championship.

I aim to share more about the folks at Talkeetna Curling Club in a future newsletter, but for now, know this: while all the curlers at arena nationals have to exhibit so much dedication to the sport of curling, Team Bouch and the folks at Talkeetna take that to another level. In a time when travel can be so cost-prohibitive, it’s fantastic to see a team from Alaska make the trek to the lower 48 for this championship.

My Picks

Gold: Myers, DFW
Silver: Spangler, Wine Country
Bronze: Tesch, Cedar Rapids

With a championship in Las Vegas, perhaps I shouldn’t play it safe and should instead make some risky picks to click in Sin City. But I decided to be objectively boring.

Team Myers looked incredibly focused in their regional playdowns, and with their future arena eligibility up in the air, I think they’ll do everything in their power to get themselves on top of the podium one more time. This is not an unbeatable team, but there is a reason they won four consecutive championships. For this year, I think we’ll see the arena power shift back to the MACA region.

With strong track records of success over the past two years, Spangler and Tesch should be well-positioned to bring home some hardware if they play to their abilities. I wouldn’t be shocked to see either of these teams end up with gold, either, but it will all come down to who performs the best when they get into the hack.

I’ll be back early next week with a recap of the event and reviews of both the women’s and men’s finals!

Between the Slam in Alberta and the Arena National Championships in Las Vegas, enjoy the tidal wave of curling action!