Winter Meltdown Kubb Tournament 2018 Recap

EAU CLAIRE, Wisc. — The 2018 Winter Kubb Tournament season kicked off on Dec. 8 in the sand at Wagner’s Lanes in Eau Claire. Twenty-four three-person teams faced each other in the morning’s eigh-match round robin play. The top eight teams then moved on to the championship bracket, with the remaining 16 teams battling for the consolation trophy.

Championship quarterfinal action got off to an exciting start with both the one seed, previously undefeated Wrecking Crew (Scott Forster, Gregg Jochimsen, Cory Shay) and three seed Kubbitz (Dan Drumm, Jeff Gibson, Riley Radcliffe) being defeated by their lower seeded opponents—eighth seeded TC Choppers (Andy Lancette, Ben Lancette, Brian Ramsey) and sixth seed CJTBD (Christopher Jones, Justin Kleinschmit, Demian Moore), respectively.

The normally-strong TC Choppers had overcome a very slow 3-3 morning start to finish 5-3, edging out the GrASS Kickers for the final championship bracket slot.

The Kubbitz versus CJTBD match ended amid a bit of competitive controversy. Nearing the end of the third and deciding game of the match, Kubbitz was well ahead and seemed just one turn away from eliminating CJTBD. The tables turned when Kubbitz was unable to clear the field, leaving a line for CJTBD of about six meters. After Jones inkasted and cleared the field with his two batons, Kleinschmit took out two of the remaining three baseline kubbs with his turn. Moore then knocked down the final baseline kuub, but Radcliffe called him over the line on his throw, which would have meant a forfeit of that throw and returning the final baseline kubb to its position. Kleinschmit stepped in to illustrate by measuring with a baton from the throwline to Moore’s footprint in the sand that he didn’t agree with Radcliffe’s challenge. In the spirit of kubb, Radcliffe reluctantly did not argue further, and the throw stood. Moore then finished the match by knocking down the king with his final baton.

In the remaining quarterfinal matches, the two higher seeded teams prevailed. Kubbana Boyz topped Flux Capacitors in two straight games, and BBC (Casey Anderson, Brian Evans, Brian Winistorfer) overcame a first game loss to move past Kubbthumping (I get knocked down…) to face TC Choppers in the semi-finals.

TC Choppers and CJTBD continued to prevail over their higher seeded opponents, resulting in an all-St. Pau Kubb Society match to determine the 2018 Winter Meltdown champion. In the end, TC Choppers took the title in relatively easy fashion—topping CJTBD in two straight. That match can be viewed in its entirety on Facebook.

BBC defeated Kubbana Boyz for third place in the championship bracket

Blaster Mates defeated Trial n Error for the consolation bracket championship, with Kubbadivers beating GrASS Kickers to take third place.

Final Results

1. TC Choppers (Andy Lancette, Ben Lancette, Brian Ramsey)
2. CJTBD (Christopher Jones, Justin Kleinschmit, Demian Moore)
3. BBC (Casey Anderson, Brian Evans, Brian Winistorfer)

Consolation Winner: Blaster Mates