Kubb Krawl 2018 Recap

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Trains, bikes, and party busses enabled the third annual Kubb Krawl to take place on Saturday, May 5 across Minneapolis and St. Paul. The unique event—some would say all day kubb party—kicked off at The Commons in downtown Minneapolis. From there, teams were assigned groups and a schedule for their next five matches. Venues included Gold Medal Park, Marquette Plaza, Surly Brewing, Sociable Ciderwerks, and Draft Horse. This year included a new Bike Krawl that enabled some of the Northeast spots to be included, while everyone in the traditional Krawl was able to get from place to place via the light rail trains.

Photo from Kubb Krawl — The Commons, in downtown Minneapolis.

Once everyone had played their first four or five matches, they reunited at Summit Brewing. Summit’s not on the light rail line, so players used the train to get to the Dubliner, a St. Paul bar, where they could grab a drink and maybe a bite to eat before hopping on board a party bus that was shuttling players back and forth to Summit.

At Summit, teams needing to finish their last group play match did so, and then the final results were used to create the championship and consolation brackets. The top 16 went into the championship side while the remainder were put in the “Feel Good” bracket. Teams losing in the first round, got a second chance match to battle for their respective bracket’s ninth place.

Shortly after starting bracket play, there were a few strikes of lighting off in the distance. The tournament directors, Tim Motzko and Eric Goplin, made some announcements about pausing all games in progress and heading inside until the storm blew through. After about 30 minutes of windy rain and some more lightning, the storm cleared and the Krawl picked up right where it left off.

The bracket play continued—now with slightly cooler, wetter conditions. The semi-finals matched up Chaska Red (Casey Anderson, Phil Goetstouwers, Matt Braa) with Kubbing Projekt (Ryan Braaten, Brian Evans, Andy Long, Bridget Long) and Infamous El Guapo Amigos (Ethan Forney, Ryan Kolden, Grant Scott) with Kubbcettes (Barb Lancette, Ben Lancette, Debbie Lancette). Chaska Red took down Kubbing Projekt 2-1 to punch their ticket to the finals. It took El Guapo Amigos only two games to defeat Kubbcettes.

In the finals match, Chaska Red started off very strong and cleared the baseline very quickly. Despite some quality drilling by Ethan Forney, El Guapo Amigos could not overcome the hot start, and Chaska Red came away with game one. Game two proved to be a different story. El Guapo came back with a vengeance, downing a back row right away. Chaska slowed down just a little, leaving just enough of an opening for El Guapo to have a couple of big turns that turned into a win. It was time for the winner-takes-all game three. El Guapo Amigos were a little cold on 8 meters at the beginning of the game, but Chaska Red—largely driven by Phil Goetstouwers—was picking them off a couple at a time. It only took a few turns before Chaska Red turned that momentum into a win. Your 2018 Kubb Krawl champion was Chaska Red.

The Kubbing Projekt defeated Kubbcettes for third place in the championship bracket. In the Feel Good bracket, Eat Sleep Kubb Repeat (Udit Bhateja, Brianna Oseland, Vinay Prakash Singh, Dave Sivanich) battled their way to a first place finish.

The Kubb Krawl is a one-of-a-kind tournament with so much excitement and visibility—it truly embodies the kubb mantra of uniting people. So many passersby stopped to inquire what was going on, and ask how they could get involved. The Twin Cities have kubb fever, and it’s highly contagious! A big shoutout to the tournament directors, volunteers, and sponsors that make such a unique event possible. There’s nothing quite like this giant kubb party across two cities and there wouldn’t be without all of the people behind the scenes.