Will MoPac retain their newfound dominance in Las Vegas?

Beginning on Tuesday, some of the best arena curlers in the country will descend on CurlVegas to compete for the title of national champion. For a week, they won’t have to freeze in hacks or set up the ice after the hockey players and speedskaters are done with it. They’ll be able to put their expert ice reading skills to good use at one of the newest dedicated curling facilities in the country.

There will be no S-curves. If there is a fall, it will be measured in inches, not feet. What was draw weight at home will easily remove rocks from play.

For the first time since COVID, the arena national championships will be held outside of the Midwest, and they’ll be hosted by a club who know the struggles of arena curling. CurlVegas opened the doors on their four-sheet club in 2024, and since then have been a frequent bonspiel host.

If you haven’t been yet, book a trip to one of their many bonspiels. They are in a convenient location and have excellent ice conditions, but the competitors will need to get used to a couple quirks at the championship host site. Quirks include a warm room off to the side of the home end of sheet 1, an elevated ice surface with a bit of a drop off next to sheet 1 (and Sheet 4 to a lesser degree), sheets named after playing cards (Ace of Spades, Two of Hearts, Three of Clubs, Four of Diamonds), and electronic scoreboards.

I’m thrilled to see a unique host site being utilized for this event, and it will be interesting to see how the organization proceeds with future events of this size.

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.

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.

Women’s Pool A

Asis – Silicon Valley Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)

2025 is the second year of the rule allowing the 2024 champions automatic berths into the event, so Asis has the opportunity to defend her title without needing to have gone through playdowns.

In Wausau last year, Team Asis dropped their first game but then went undefeated the rest of the way. This is a team that is generally quite good at limiting steals which is one of the biggest keys to success at the club level. The Silicon Valley squad was one of the best teams in the field at the 2024 event in Steal Defense (not giving up steals when you have hammer), and if they can follow suit again this year, they’ll be set up well to repeat as champions.

Connelly – Wine Country Curling Club (Mountain Pacific)

Last year, the Mountain Pacific region took home both gold and bronze medals at the national championship, and this year at the three-team MoPac playdowns, Jordan Connelly’s rink was the lone team not at arena nationals last year. They emerged out of that playdown with a 3-1 record, with their lone loss to 2024 bronze medalist, Katie Feldman. The MoPac playdown winner has regularly been in the running for a medal, and this year will be no different.

Schuder – Curling Club of Rochester (Minnesota)

Team Schuder returns once again to represent Rochester, Minnesota at the arena national championships. Last year, playing as Team Ackerman (Ackerman is listed as their second this year), the team put together a 3-2 showing and was eliminated in the quarterfinals. They were tied with Team Mercer for the best Force Efficiency rate of any team in the field last year.

A high number for force efficiency means a team prevents their opponents from scoring 2+ points in ends where their opponent had hammer. If Schuder can continue that trend in Las Vegas, they’ll have a chance in every game they play.

Linke – Aksarben Curling Club (Mid-America)

Aksarben Curling Club is the largest arena club in the country, and they exhibited that when they sent an impressive three teams to the MACA playdowns in August. Team Linke was one of multiple Omaha teams making waves at playdowns but fell just short of earning a berth to nationals with a 4-3 record. They took advantage of the opportunity presented through the Last Chance Qualifier in La Crosse and went undefeated there to earn the Last Chance spot in the field to make their arena nationals debut.

Allison – St. Louis Curling Club (Midwest)

Team Allison is back for their third consecutive trip to arena nationals. The team qualified uncontested through the Midwest region, but opponents should not be overlooking the St. Louis-based rink. All four team members are returning once again, and they’ll be able to lean on that consistency and nationals experience to help them in Nevada.

Andenas-Weber – Sioux Falls Curling Club (Dakota Territory)

Team Andenas-Weber will also be making their third straight appearance at this event when they take the ice for their first game on Wednesday morning. All four members are returning from last year’s team, and they’ll be looking to take the next step forward after posting one win in each of their previous appearances.

Women’s Pool B

Robertson – Dallas/Fort Worth Curling Club (Mid-America)

Last year, I predicted Team Robertson would finish on the podium in Wausau, and it looked like they’d be in great shape after the first day of pool play. Everything fell apart from that point on, and the 2022 silver medalists missed out on the playoffs. With the departure of vice Fran Walsh, Liana Knott moved up a spot and the team brought in multi-time arena medalist Heather Cook at second.

They had a fantastic showing in a competitive field at the MACA playdowns, going an undefeated 7-0 over just three days. They’ll be able to be a little fresher with a more spread-out draw schedule in Las Vegas, and they are one of the teams to keep a close eye on. With DFW Curling Club working hard to find a path to get into a dedicated ice facility, this may be Team Robertson’s last chance at arena championship glory.

Mercer – Cleveland Skating Club Curling (Great Lakes)

Team Mercer has been a fixture at arena nationals. After winning gold in 2018 and silver in 2019, it looked like they would be back on the podium last year in Wausau. They came up just short, however, finishing in 4th place after a strong 5-3 showing. As noted with Team Schuder, they posted excellent force efficiency and steal efficiency numbers last year, and those will be the keys to continued success again in 2025.

Carlson – Rocket City Curling Club (Grand National)

While Team Carlson’s 1-4 record each of the last two years might not have met personal goals, it’s impossible to deny what the team members have accomplished outside of arena curling in the last calendar year. Skip Abbey Carlson went on to win multiple qualifier events last year with different rosters that included members of her women’s 5U team. Normally, I’d say this team is only going to be tougher and tougher to deal with over the coming years of the arena national championship, but with Rocket City slated to get dedicated curling ice in January 2026, this is likely their penultimate year of eligibility for arenas.

Avery – Boise Curling Club (Pacific Northwest)

When I put together my 2024 preview, I had to reach out to Rhiannon Avery because I could not find any information about this team. The biggest thing that stood out to me in Avery’s response was just how long this team had been curling together, with three of the four having been teammates for a decade. They didn’t waste any time making their team known when they kicked off the championship against Team Asis, handing the eventual champions their lone loss of the event. The Boise rink finished 3-2 and on the outside of the playoffs looking in as a result of a head-to-head tiebreaker, but I would not be at all surprised to see a playoff run in 2025.

Connell – Last Chance & Billings Curling Clubs (Dakota Territory)

Before this year, a team from Montana had never competed in a curling national championship. Jamie Connell and her teammates from Last Chance and Billings Curling Clubs put an end to that streak when they won the Dakota Territory playdowns this spring. They managed to win two of their three meetings against Andenas-Weber in Billings to earn their spot and make their national championship debut in Las Vegas.

Rice – Rhinelander Curling Club (Wisconsin)

Rhinelander Curling Club was only established in 2023, necessitating playdowns with La Crosse Curling Club to represent Wisconsin at arena nationals. Impressively, both Rhinelander teams won their respective playdowns, allowing both the men and women to make the club’s debut at a national championship together. Rice qualified in a wild game at the Eau Claire Curling Club and will look to now earn their first win in a championship event.

My Picks

Gold: Robertson, DFW
Silver: Asis, Silicon Valley
Bronze: Carlson, Rocket City

Generally speaking, I think it’s hard to pick outside of the top seeds for the gold medal match this year. Team Asis had a great showing last year, and assuming they haven’t dropped off at all, the returning champions are in a good place to repeat.

With that said, repeating is hard, and the Robertson rink is going to be a worthy challenger. They bring in Heather Cook who competed in an arena final multiple times as a member of Team Segovia, including last year against Asis. Team Robertson looked very strong in their playdowns, and I would not be shocked to see an absolute banger of a final if these two teams meet there.

Rounding out the podium, I’m taking Rocket City’s Team Carlson. I was torn between a few teams, but Carlson is back for another round after a strong showing on the 5-and-Under circuit last year. A year after their men’s team brought home the first national championship medal in club history, I am going to predict them bring home medal number two.

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