MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — A break in the arctic chill temperatures made for a reasonably manageable 20 degree day at this year’s Captain Ken’s Loppet Kubb Tournament. This year’s pitches were in a new spot, at Basset Creek Park, right next to Utepils Brewing. No sketchy steps to traverse for refreshments this year! The pitches were well groomed and made for nice drilling conditions, and very slide-friendly baton throws.
Like the past few years, the tournament was actually two separate divisions held side-by-side. The recreational side was 48 teams with shorter time limits and designed for those more casual and/or new-to-the-game players. The championship division was a more competitive group of 16 teams, many of which you’d recognize from other kubb tournaments.
The morning started with group play, where each team played all of the other teams in their group. This created seeding for the brackets. The top eight competitive teams moved into the Championship Bracket, the next eight went to the Silver Bracket, and the recreation teams all seeded into a Recreation Bracket.
On the championship side, there were a couple intra-club matchups early on. The battle of Chaska saw Chaska Blue (Trevor Bailey, Matt Erdman, Jason Larson, Luke Peikert) match up against Super Funky Badasses (John Oman, Zach Oman, Ford Rolfsrud, Jake Skerletts). This one needed three games before Super Funky came out on top. The other club matchup was The Shinbusters (Dave Bell, Steve Cole, Justin Kleinschmidt, Rob House) versus Science for the Win(ter) (Steve Dolan, Christopher Jones, Demian Moore) from the Kubb Society. In this match, Science came out on top in two games.
The semi-finals matched Science for the Win(ter) against Dazed and Kubbfuzed (Bill, Eric, Dean) and Super Funky Badasses against TC Choppers (Josh Carpenter, Ben Lancette, Brian Ramsey). Science for the Win(ter) continued their hot start in bracket play with another two game win. The attention then turned to the other semi-final, where a long first game was still underway. TC Choppers had great position to take the game, but could not get past one pesky baseline kubb, allowing time for Super Funky Badasses to catch up and eventually take game one. That seemed to be a momentum shifter, as Super Funky took the next game as well.
The finals started off with a whimper, after a zero open, and a zero answer. Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was a long day of kubb in the cold catching up with everyone, but eventually an 8 meter kubb was downed by Skerletts. Now the floodgates were opened, and Science wasted no time answering. They picked up three baseline kubbs on their turn. The Badasses were still struggling on 8s, just adding one on their next turn. Science rode the momentum to a baseline clear the next turn, but did not have a stick left for the king. They’d need one more turn to walk away with the game one victory.
Each team knocked over an 8 meter with their first turns in game two. On their second turn, Science for the Win(ter) added a couple more, positioning themselves with a nice lead. Super Funky Badasses picked up another 8 meter to stay in the game. Science seemed like they could clinch victory, but a pesky field kubb slid a bit long took four batons, and didn’t leave anything to throw at the baseline. Super Funky ran into field kubb troubles of their own on the next turn, and ended up leaving a kubb standing. With the big step up, Jones confidently blasted the four field kubbs with a single stick. Moore took care of the last two baselines (now more like 4 meters than 8), and Dolan toppled the king for the game and tournament win! Dolan and Moore became back-to-back champions, while Jones improved upon his third place finish from 2022.
Finals Match Video
Watch the archived live-stream of the finals match on Facebook
Final Results
Championship
- Science for the Win(ter) (Steve Dolan, Christopher Jones, Demian Moore)
- Super Funky Badasses (John Oman, Zach Oman, Ford Rolfsrud, Jake Skerletts)
- TC Choppers (Josh Carpenter, Ben Lancette, Brian Ramsey)
