Stones & Stripes

Previewing the Olympic Pre-Trials and Reviewing the Arena Last Chance Qualifiers

With the curling season just barely underway, it’s hard to believe that we already need to be in Olympics mode. For five men’s teams traveling to Charlotte and two women’s teams headed to Chaska this coming weekend, that’s exactly the mode they have to be in.

Three men’s and three women’s teams have been named to November’s Olympic Trials in Sioux Falls with just one spot remaining in each of the four-team fields. The winners from the United States Olympic Pre-Trials will be able to keep their Olympic Games dreams alive.

Normally, my Substack is reserved for club curling (there is more of that later in this newsletter, so read on!), but I’m going to make a quick deviation from that to highlight the competition for that all-important final spot. In reality, those final teams at the Olympic Trials are going to have a long road ahead of them to win in Sioux Falls, but you can’t win if you don’t play.

In addition to pursuing their Olympic dreams for the 2026 Games, we’re getting a little more of a preview of that next tier of teams who are going to be pushing to take the next big leap in the next quadrennial. It should be a fun weekend to think about the future of USA Curling’s top young players.

Here are 7 tidbits on the 7 teams participating in this week’s Pre-Trials:

Women’s Pre-Trials

Team McMakin

Christina McMakin, along with Elizabeth Cousins, took the biggest steps forward in the women’s program last season. At nationals in Duluth, the Fargo-based rink took a top seed into the 1v2 page playoff and just ran out of gas to finish with a bronze. They had a strong start to their season at the Icebreaker Challenge in Manitoba and were an extra-end loss against Kate Cameron from making finals. Based on experience and their solid start, I’d give them the edge in this best-of-5 series.

Team Johnson

If I were asked to pick a women’s team to watch over the next two Olympic cycles, Allory Johnson is probably at the top of the list. The reigning U21 National Champions went 3-4 at last year’s nationals and were a tiebreaker away from the playoffs. This is their first crack at getting to an Olympic Trials, and if they stick together, this will be far from their last.

Men’s Pre-Trials

Team Sinnett

The summer got off to a roaring start when Team Sinnett announced the acquisition of Coleman Thurston to their squad, fresh off a playoff finish at last year’s national championships. Making roster changes often can result in some growing pains, but Thurston seems to have slotted in nicely so far. “He’s a team-first guy who has really embraced playing a tough position in our non-traditional lineup,” front-ender Connor Kauffman shared. Chase Sinnett, skipping and throwing 2nd, has led the team to a 8-2 record on the season which includes an undefeated run through the Icebreaker Challenge in Morris, MB. On resume alone, they’re probably one of the favorites to come out of the Pre-Trials if they can continue to mesh after the roster changes.

Team Dunnam

I had high hopes for the Philadelphia-based team at last year’s nationals, but they could never quite get going and ended up missing out on the playoffs. This year is off to a great start for Scott Dunnam after a great showing in Edmonton. The Saville Shootout had a solid field, and Team Dunnam lost by 1 in the semifinals to the eventual event winners. They’ve got Trials experience, and that should help keep some of the nerves at bay in Charlotte.

Team Wendling

Just after Coleman Thurston was announced to move from Team Sampson to Team Sinnett, Team Sampson announced they were bringing in multi-time Juniors National Champion skip Wes Wendling onto the team. With Ethan Sampson making way for Wendling at skip, the lineup changes up a fair amount going into the final year of the quadrennial. This is a younger team with a lot of potential, and it’ll be interesting to track how they perform with a new skip with such an important event so early in the season.

Team Hodek

The 2024-2025 season was a good one for Tim Hodek. He, along with second Josh Moore and Wendling’s Ethan Sampson, started the season competing on national TV in the Everest North American Curling Club Championships. Team Hodek would go on to have strong performances at the St. Paul and Duluth Cashspiels to earn their spot to nationals in Duluth. They finished 2-5, but their best games of the week all came against members of the Pre-Trials field.

Team Hebert

Last week, Team Shuster’s Chris Plys came to Salt Lake City for a clinic with members of Oval Curling Club. When asked about the youth movement coming up on the men’s side of, Chris named a bunch of the curlers participating at the Pre-Trials, but he made a point to call out Eau Claire’s Team Hebert. “That team is for real,” said Plys. “They have the right mentality, they carry themselves in a really great way, and they all make shots.” I’m looking forward to seeing more of Caden Hebert and team on the senior circuit this year, and the Pre-Trials are going to be a great indicator of where the youngsters stand.

The Pre-Trials kick off on Thursday evening. Streams of the men’s event will be available on the Charlotte Curling YouTube channel and the women’s event will be available on the Chaska Curling Center channel.

Arena Nationals Last Chance Qualifiers

The second iteration of the Arena Last Chance Qualifier was again hosted by La Crosse Curling Club, and it was great to see three women’s and five men’s teams make the trip to Wisconsin’s Driftless Area to claim the final spot at October’s Arena National Championships.

Any team in the qualifying portion of the event in La Crosse had to be comprised of members all from the same region, so they ultimately follow the same rules as any regional playdown. The only difference here is that teams will find opponents from other regions.

Women’s Event

Winner: Team Linke (Aksarben Curling Club)

The three-team women’s event saw two teams from Aksarben Curling Club and one from Sioux Falls Curling Club face off in a double round-robin. Aksarben continued their strong turnouts for qualifying events with two of their three teams from regional playdowns making the trek to Wisconsin.

Team Linke emerged as the clear winner going 4-0 and earning the spot at nationals. The Omaha-based rink eked out an 8-7 victory in their first game against fellow club members, Team Truesdell, and never looked back. They won their final 3 games by an average margin of 6 points.

Men’s Event

Winner: Team Hill (Aksarben Curling Club)

Five teams from four regions took the ice in a single round robin on the men’s side. I was pleased to see so many regions send a team, and I can only hope we continue to see that number grow in future years.

Aksarben Curling Club continued their strong showing with an undefeated run from their lone men’s team, led by skip David Hill. In contrast with their women’s team, Team Hill had three of their four games decided by either 1 or 2 points, but it all counts the same in the win column. It’s not like the field was an easy one with three of their four opponents finishing as the runner-up in their respective playdowns and at least three of the four also having national championship experience. Last year’s men’s silver medalists will head to Las Vegas for their second consecutive arena nationals experience.

Coming Up…

In the next couple weeks, I’ll have some other updates on my curling coverage for the 2025-2026 season. Be sure to follow me on social media (@hoppecurls) to stay in the loop.

Last year, the season began with a bigger ban thanks to the Everest club championship event, so this year will be a bit of a slower start. With the Olympics coming in February, though, it’s going to heat up quickly. The first 5U qualifier is coming at the end of this month at Lake Tahoe Epic Curling, and those qualifiers really will start in earnest at the end of October.

Readers can also expect an arena nationals preview coming in the first week or so of next month. Be sure to subscribe to get all newsletter straight to your inbox!

And finally, I shared this in a couple places, but September marks the one-year birthday of the Stones & Stripes newsletter. What started out as a small project just to see what would happen a year ago has become something so wildly fun for me to put together. I am so grateful for everyone who has read, shared and subscribed to this newsletter in the last year.

Here’s to another year of highlighting curlers across the USA!