Des Moines, IA
Saturday September 24, 2011
Des Moines Fall Kubb Klassic
What an amazing day of kubb in Des Moines, Iowa. Teams started arriving at a little after 8am for the 10am start. The morning was cool with clouds blocking the rising sun, and dew was on the ground. The games started off at 10am with a random draw. The sun came out and warmed up the day. Right out of the gate, two of the top Des Moines team squared off with Kubb'd playing against the 2011 National Champions Knockerheads. Soon after the 2011 National Champions were playing the 2010 National Champions from Eau Claire, WI, The Ringers. After round three, it seemed like the top teams were set and that they started playing against each other every single match. However, one match loss could easily drop you out of the top eight, and make a team scratch and claw back to the top eight, as only the top eight would make the playoffs. After over six hours of kubb and six match rounds (50 minute time-limits), the top eight were set (see below).
The top eight teams moved to four new pitches, which were in front of bleachers and set up with stadium lighting. #3 seeded Knockerheads survived against The Ringers who were one toss away from winning the match 2-0. Sweden's Sons and Georgia Dental Association played against each other in the last round of the Swiss System and then faced each other in the quarterfinals. GDA won 2-1 in the Swiss System and Sweden's Sons won 2-1 in the quarterfinals after being down 0-1. King Pin had to be the surprise of the tournament beating the #2 Des Moines team Kubb'd then taking down the top seeded team Wolfpack 2-1. Knockerheads were able to outlast Sweden's Sons in a long semi-final match 2-0. From there, the 2011 National Champion Knockerheads beat King Pin 2-0 to be crowned the 2011 Des Moines Fall Kubb Klassic champion. They won when they had to win and proved that they are the best team of 2011.
From a WI Kubb roadtrip look at things:
Our two teams (The Ringers - EC and Sweden's Sons - EC and RF) had a great roadtrip. A ton of fun in the car and hanging out at the tournament talking and cheering each other on. We did not know what to 100% expect with the DMK Swiss System and knew there was some great competition at the tournament (2010 and 2011 National Champs, all the DM teams, 2011 U.S. #2, teams made up of players that always make the U.S. quarters, and some upstart teams), so were hoping to both place in the top eight to make the quarterfinals and see what would happen after that. During the round robin Swiss System, both teams combined to only lose two games in a match three times and one of those times was when they played against each other. The other two times The Ringers lost to Knockerheads (0-2) and Sweden's Sons lost to Georgia Dental Association (1-2). The game after Sweden's Sons beat The Ringers (they had already lost to Knockerheads), that push The Ringers down to #12, as they were 2-2. They won their last two matches 2-0 and 2-0 to finish 4-2 (four match points) and make the 6th seed.
As a result of not as many match wins (as time was called in two matches - Knockerheads 1-1 and Wolfpack 1-1), Sweden's Sons finished #7 (3.5 match points). If we remember correctly Sweden's Sons ended with the strongest strength of schedule in the Swiss System, and it felt like it as we played a non-qualifier, 2011 U.S. #2 and more, a non-qualifier, 2010 U.S. #1 and more, 2011 U.S. #1 and defending champion, and the #2 seeded team which has a player who makes a living in the U.S. semifinals. In the playoffs we both lost to Knockerheads.
The playoffs saw The Ringers and Knockerheads battle it out (wish I could have sat down and watched this match) with one baton left to down the 2011 National Champions. It was not meant to be this time, but The Ringers battled hard to the end and finished the day only losing to two different teams all day (Knockerheads and their teammates Sweden's Sons).
Sweden's Sons ended up playing Georgia Dental Association a second straight time, and ended up playing them for around three hours straight between the Swiss System and the quarterfinals. We really have the same personality on the pitch and get along great, so it was extremely enjoyable, but both teams wanted to get to the semifinals bad. Again, we fought hard (down 0-1) and beat who we thought was one of the top teams there that day and possibly the best all-around player at the tournament that day Eric Goplin, as his throwing of the kubbs is now in the top level of all kubb throwers that Sweden's Sons have played against and great at eight meters, and both him and Anders have ice in their blood (as was demonstrated when they quickly took down Knockerheads 2-0 in the Swiss System). When that quarterfinal match ended, Sweden's Sons knew they had been in an all-out battle and we had to dig extremely deep to fight for the win, perhaps as deep as we have ever had to go. Next was Knockerheads and the lights were on. Perhaps they remember this match better than us, as the day seems like a complete blur and felt like a kubb meatgrinder. The second game, they eliminated our backrow and we still had two or three on theirs. Finally, after just grinding out rounds, we got to the last one. We finally had one shot at it two or three times. Two times we swear it moved, but we were not good enough in that match to take down the National Champs and left it up standing. The last turn, they placed nine kubbs in the front corner, gave us no real option of raising them, Josh Feathers went 9 for three pins and then they moved to the finals with Dwayne Ballmer's first throw at the king. We would like to think it was a hard fought match, and it was great to have our teammates cheering for us behind the baseline. The third place match is a third place match. Again, went down 0-1, fought back to 1-1 and then were able to proudly raise the third place trophies (corn designed batons, which was killer cool).
As we stated earlier, we did not know what to expect with the DMK Swiss System. All four of us that traveled really enjoyed it, and we think it puts DMK on the map for not only a fun, well-organized tournament, but one with a unique system that requires you to have your best game from the opening bell.
A HUGE KUBB THANKS TO DES MOINES KUBB CLUB. IT WAS AWESOME.
FINAL RESULTS: 1. Knockerheads (Des Moines, IA and Leavenworth, KS)
2. King Pin (Chaska, MN/Des Moines, IA)
3. Sweden's Sons (Eau Claire and River Falls, WI)
4. Wolfpack (MN)
Quarterfinals
Wolfpack
The Beers (Des Moines, IA)
King Pin
Kubb'd (Des Moines, IA)
Knockerheads
The Ringers (Eau Claire, WI)
Sweden's Sons
Georgia Dental Association (Minneapolis, MN)
Final Standings (top 8) of DMK Swiss System (6 rounds)
1. Wolfpack
2. Georgia Dental Association
3. Knockerheads
4. King Pin
5. Kubb'd
6. The Ringers
7. Sweden's Sons
8. The Beers
