Curler of the Year

When the skips of What a Curl Want and Curl Dat Stone went into the final end of a tie game on May 19, it turns out they were playing for much more than the A League title. Chris Skidmore and Jon Swartz were also vying to become the top Wine Country League Curler for the 2018-2019 season.

In the past, we’ve wanted to create a cumulative year-long competition similar to the Order of Merit, but we never had enough leagues to truly differentiate one curler from another. But in this past year, we’ve grown from our standard five-league year to eight leagues: Summer, Fall A, Fall B, Fall C, Winter A, Winter B, Winter C, and Thursday. And we’re planning on having even more leagues in the coming year. We’re already at four leagues in summer where we only had one last year.

We’re trying to reward people for playing in, and winning, multiple leagues. For this year, we awarded one point to the lead, two to the second, three to the vice, and four to the skip. We then set the base for each team at the place they finished in the league and how big the league was. So Curl Dat Stone, which won a 12-team A League, received the following points: Yin-Ping Li (lead) 12 points, James Meinert (second) 13 points, Ramon Cusi (vice) 14 points, Jon Swartz (skip) 15 points. What a Curl Wants, who came in second place, received 11, 12, 13, and 14 points respectively. Meanwhile, Team Kelly, who won the 8-team C League, scored 8 points for Ryan Fox, 9 points for Mike Frey, 10 points for Dan Stefani, and 11 points for Tony Kelly.

How we do the rankings is still a work-in-progress. And it’s important to note that the Skidmore v. Swartz tete-a-tete is unofficial. But we’re hoping to hammer out some of the details so that people know what they’re playing for. We might make a front-end/back-end split of points instead of scoring each player individually. We also need to figure out what happens when teams switch order often (as Curl Dat Stone did). And if anyone has any clue of what to do about Doubles League, we’re all ears. 

But enough of the background. Who was the most prolific Wine Country curler of 2018-2019?

When Jon Swartz did a double raise into the four-foot circle, he was delivering himself more than one Championship. He ended up eking out a victory over both Chris Skidmore and Melissa McGuire. Had Chris, instead, made that final shot, we would have seen a tie atop the rankings. 

Here are the Top Ten Curlers from last year:

Jon Swartz: 54 Points. 5 Leagues: Summer League (5th Place), Fall A League (7th Place), Winter A League (1st Place), Winter B League (3rd Place), Winter C League (3rd Place)

2nd Place. Tie: 48 Points
Chris Skidmore. 5 Leagues. Summer League (4th Place), Fall B League (1st Place), Fall C League (3rd Place), Winter A League (2nd Place), Winter C (6th Place)
Melissa McGuire. 7 Leagues. Summer League (8th Place), Fall A League (6th Place), Fall B League (8th Place), Fall C League (1st Place), Winter B League (1st Place), Winter C League (2nd Place), Thursday League (8th Place)

4th Place. Tie: 42 Points:
Ashley Spalding: 5 Leagues. Summer League (6th Place), Fall B League (1st Place), Fall C League (3rd Place). Winter A League (2nd Place). Winter C League (5th Place)
Tyler McEwen: 6 Leagues. Summer League (8th Place). Fall A League (7th Place). Fall B League (8th Place). Fall C League (1st Place). Winter A League (4th Place). Winter C League (6th Place).
Bob Kuhl: 4 Leagues. Summer League (2nd Place). Fall A League (5th Place). Winter A League (9th Place). Thursday League (2nd Place).

7th Place. Tie: 40 Points
Katie Feldman: 6 Leagues. Summer League (13th Place). Fall A League (9th Place). Fall B League (5th Place). Winter A League (10th Place). Winter B League (1st Place).
Evan Tudor Elliott: 4 Leagues. Summer League (7th Place). Fall B League (1st Place). Fall C League (3rd Place). Winter A League (2nd Place).

9th Place. Tie: 38 Points
Bob Seyfried: 5 Leagues. Summer League (9th Place). Fall A League (1st Place). Winter A League (3rd Place). Winter C League (6th Place). Thursday League (4th Place).
Shannon King: 4 Leagues. Summer League (2nd Place). Fall A League (5th Place). Winter A League (9th Place). Thursday League (2nd Place).

If you’re curious how many points you got, Tony has a full list. E-mail or text him and he’ll let you know.

And as the 2019-2020 year progresses, we hope to have standings on a more regular basis.

And seriously, if anyone can figure out how to award points to Doubles League, please,