Meet Pools A and B, and how 5U curling got me hooked

The end of the USA Curling National Championship season is upon us! The National Championship schedule is bookended by (arguably) the two most passionate groups of curlers. It starts with the arena curlers in the fall, and in the spring, it ends with people who didn’t discover curling until they were adults.

The calendar getting ready to flip into May means the final national championship is about to start: the 5-and-Under National Championship. And even though the play might not be at the same caliber as some of the other championships, it’s one of my favorites.

Full disclosure: I am biased. A big part of the reason I am so passionate about curling is owed to the 5-and-Under program. Allow me a brief moment to tell you more about my experience with this event (I promise, info about the 2025 championship and curlers is below, this issue is not an autobiography).

I got my start into this silly sport in fall of 2018, following Team Shuster’s magical run to gold. The first ever spiel I traveled to was a 5-and-Under event in Wausau, Wisconsin in January 2020 where my team went a solid 0-3 and had one moderately close game.

Fast forward to January 2022, I had moved to Texas and put together a team to go to Madison’s Frozen 5U. My goal? Win one game. Just one. That’s all. It was mission accomplished as we lost in the 1st event semifinals. I was stunned with our success on the ice, but the off-ice experience hanging out with other 5U curlers was the most indelible part of the weekend.

In 2022-2023, because of the fun we had in Madison, my team played in a number of 5U spiels and was fortunate enough to win a qualifier event, earning a spot at the National Championship in Hibbing. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when I truly got snatched up by the sport of curling, but the community I discovered in 5U curling from 2022-2024 is a big reason why I’m so passionate about it today. If it wasn’t for 5-and-Under, I don’t know if I would be quite as invested in the sport as I am.

So yes, this championship does have a lot of personal meaning to me. It’s an event I look forward to watching, and I am genuinely thrilled for those whose first championship experience is coming up at the historic St. Paul Curling Club. I can only hope it is as much fun for all of the competitors as it was for me.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll quickly walk through the format, and then I’ll introduce the teams in Pools A and B. The teams of Pools C and D will be introduced in the next issue which will be coming tomorrow. In that next newsletter, I’ll also cover notable numbers from this season and the championship field, and I’ll include my picks to win it all!

How To Watch

All sheets are going to be streamed on the St. Paul Curling Club YouTube channel, with Sheet E expected to have commentary all week. It’s important to note that historically, many St. Paul livestreams are not archived on their YouTube. Hopefully all streams from the 5U National Championship are archived so people can watch games they were unable to watch live, but it seems to be dependent on the event.

At minimum, after a few years of either no streams or uncertain streaming for this event, it’s fantastic to have all six sheets livestreamed!

Draw Schedule

Because there are 4 pools of 6 teams, the schedule is consistent Pools A and B will always play at the same time while Pools C and D will always have their draws together.

Pool A and Pool B draws are Thursday and Friday at 8am and 4pm and Saturday at 10am. Pool C and D draws are Thursday and Friday at 12pm and 8pm and Saturday at 2pm.

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.

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.

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.) I’ll likely have a newsletter devoted to this topic in the future.

Pool A

Bouthillette (Bucks County/North End Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Denver

When Bobby Bouthillette and team won the Denver qualifier, it struck me just how often I’d seen their names pop up at qualifying events all season. Sure enough, after I took a look at their record this season, they put together a 16-4 record across 4 qualifier bonspiels, including a convincing win in Denver. Team Bouthillette did a love of traveling outside of the northeast to fight their way to St. Paul. A strong all-around team, I expect them to be one of the top contenders to advance out of Pool A.

Mellin (Duluth Curling Club)

Qualified via Stevens Point

At the 2023 5-and-Under National Championship in Hibbing, I admit I knew next to nothing about Team Mellin from Duluth. They went on to have a strong showing and end up with the silver medal, losing out to Team Bliven in the final. In 2024, Mellin would lose one game during the entire 5U season, putting up an incredible 25-1 record between qualifiers and national championships. This year, Team Mellin only played one qualifying event as a team. They went 4-0 in Stevens Point and booked their opportunity to defend their title.

All 4 players from last year’s team are returning, and since that last championship, skip Matt competed at the Club National Championships in Milwaukee with Team Polo. They should be considered the favorites to win gold again this year.

Nie (San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club)

Qualified via Evergreen

Team Nie has been a fixture at any qualifier bonspiel on the west coast for the past few years. After a runner-up finish in Seattle in a fantastic game vs Team Kunkel, they finally were able to break through in Portland at the Evergreen 5U. Jason Nie calls a great game, and with the precision shots they have made in tight spots this season, expect to see them put a ton of pressure on their opponents. After putting together a 13-5 record at qualifying events this season, I expect them to be in contention for a playoff spot.

Purves (St. Paul Curling Club)

Qualified via Duluth (Runner-Up)

The Duluth 5U has seen their runner-up offered a spot each of the past 3 years due to repeat winners at other qualifying bonspiels, and Team Purves will get the chance to play on their home ice thanks to a runner-up finish in Duluth in January. The St. Paul rink went 5-4 at qualifying events this season. Playing in the comfort of home and their familiarity with the limited space behind the hacks in St. Paul could help them as they begin their championship with Bouthillette and Mellin in the first two draws.

Shoemaker (Jersey Pinelands Curling Club)

Qualified via Belfast

I don’t know if there was a more entertaining reaction to a final shot than that of Hanna Shoemaker at the Elisabeth Childs Challenge in Belfast.

With her draw needing every bit of help to come to a stop, she could hardly watch. Her rock did indeed come to rest to score 3 to win with the hammer in the final end to get their spot at the National Championship. Their win was the first ever A event win as a club for Jersey Pinelands Curling (h/t Jane Sharp for that tidbit). While they’ll likely have an uphill battle in their pool, there is no denying they embody every positive of 5U curling.

Visser (Windy City Curling Club)

Qualified via Appleton

After a significant water damage wiped out Windy City Curling Club just over one year ago, it was anybody’s guess when members would get to be back on the ice. Just 8 months after the flood, thanks to a lot of fundraising and labor by Windy City Curling Club, leagues were back up and running once again in November. And only 2 months after leagues re-started, Team Visser emerged victorious at a 5U qualifier in Appleton, Wisconsin. The team only competed in two qualifier events this season, but they made the most of their run in Appleton and excelled capitalizing on opportunities for big ends in their final. They’ll look to represent the resilience their club demonstrated at nationals.

Pool B

Bliven (Appleton/Green Bay Curling Clubs)

Qualified via Frogtown & Madison

Team Bliven is one of two teams in this year’s field to have won two qualifier events (Frogtown and Madison), and they’re likely going to have some of the highest expectations in the field. Skip Dan Bliven and vice Ben Jurenec have medaled in each of the last three 5U national championships (gold in 2023 vs Mellin, bronze in 2022 and 2024). They’ll look to make it four straight trips to medal games, this time with a new front end of Casey Kelpinski and Johnnie Papineau. Dan tends to call a very conservative game, but he doesn’t shy away from calling the hero shot, like this incredible shot he made at the 5U World Championships in January.

Carlson (Rocket City Curling Club)

Qualified via Racine

While only two teams won two qualifier events, there were two other skips who won qualifying events with different teams. The first to accomplish the feat was Matt Mellin, and the second to accomplish the feat was Abbey Carlson. Carlson first qualified a mixed team through the Mad Anthony 5U in November, and then she proceeded to win the Racine Women’s 5U in March with an entirely different team! Team Carlson won that event 3-handed with Lea Stall and Sara Hammond doing the dirty work, and they’ve added Brad Hammond for the front end for the national championship. Carlson and lead Lea Stall competed together at the Arena National Championships in the fall, while Brad Hammond threw 2nd stones for the bronze medal winning men’s team. While they’re all making their 5U National Championship debut, this is an experienced team that will make life difficult for all opponents.

Dei (Potomac Curling Club)

Qualified via Pittsburgh

Team Dei was a force to be reckoned with early in the 5U season. Across three qualifying events, they posted a 12-2 record, with their only two losses coming to national qualifying teams Carlson in the Fort Wayne finals and Visser in the Appleton semifinals. In the final in Pittsburgh, skip Josh Dei made a fantastic draw to steal the win in the final end and book their ticket to nationals. While this pool is going to be extremely hard to predict, I would not be surprised to see some really fun games from Team Dei.

Hernandez (Orange County Curling Club/CurlVegas)

Qualified via Rocket City

It seems only fitting that a (primarily) arena ice team would win the only 5U qualifier held at an arena club. Team Hernandez didn’t get a whole lot of reps playing as a team at 5U qualifiers this season, only playing in two events as a team. While skip David and 2nd Kyra Manayan originally qualified for nationals as part of Team Mewers in Fairbanks, the duo teamed up to win their second qualifying event together at the last event of the season in Huntsville. Manayan will stay on to play with Team Mewers, but the rest of Team Hernandez will reunite in St. Paul to represent the MoPac region!

McGurk (Broomstones Curling Club)

Qualified via Charlotte (Runner-Up) & Rocket City (Runner-Up)

Along with Team Purves, Team McGurk is the other team to benefit from repeat winners. McGurk is another well-traveled team from this season, going 15-6 across their qualifiers, and they managed not just one, but two runner-up finishes this season. Don’t let their lack of a qualifier win fool you: making multiple finals is an indicator of a good team. They could be a team to watch to make a run to come out of Pool B, and they’ll get a chance to avenge their loss in Rocket City with their matchup against Team Hernandez!

Pytlarz (Silicon Valley Curling Club)

Qualified via Albany

Team Pytlarz traveled all the way across the country to Albany, New York and won the USWCA qualifier in thrilling fashion to earn their place at 5U nationals. It’s a great thing to see yet another arena team at the national championship, and interestingly enough, all three women’s qualifiers were won by teams from arena clubs!

I was really impressed with Team Pytlarz all season, and I think they’re going to be tougher than the seed they were given. They put together an 11-4 record in 5U qualifying events, thanks in part because the skip Jaclyn calls a really strong game. The key for this team will be less on strategy and moreso on execution of their strategy. If they can execute their shots, they could upset some teams.

That will do it for the first half of the field at the 5-and-Under National Championship in St. Paul. Be sure to subscribe to get the preview for the second half of the field directly to your email inbox!