McLovin
Category Archives: Winter Tournament
Registration is finalized
Here is the Final List of Registered Teams for the 2013 City of Lakes Loppet Winter Kubb Tourney.
Although we have 50 teams registered, we anticipate a 48 team tournament. Please contact us ASAP if you need to drop out. We’ve had last minute drop outs every year, but there are also some teams we could combine or potentially split to make the number work out.
Thanks to all the teams.
We’re looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday.
Meet Your Volunteers
The 2013 Loppet Kubb Tournament is set to be a great one, thanks to these fantastic volunteers! We had a great meeting last night and I couldn’t be more excited to work with such skilled people. To my left they are: (L to R) Sarah Wray, Jake Freeberg, Josh Dibley, Rachel Goplin, Megan Gamble, Cole Vyrens, Shaun Laden. Not pictured but just as awesome are: Raulie Ruiz, Becca Stohlmann, Mike Jackelen, Jill Johnson, Danielle Claseman, and David Davies-Deis.
See you on the ice,
Eric Goplin
We got a dusting of snow last night
Every Kubb tournament probably hosts players that are concerned about what the condition of the pitches will be, but our tournament probably has more variable conditions than any other.
In an effort to help you all track what the surface of Lake Calhoun will look like, I found this Webcam:
This is camera moves and is sometimes pointed towards Calhoun’s neighbor, Lake of the Isles. They are connected and probably have a similar amount of snow on them.
I’m not sure how often this picture is updated, but it should change here on our site, unless your web browser caches the image.
Less than two weeks
The 2013 Loppet Kubb Tournament is less than two weeks away and we’re getting geared up here at Minnesota Kubb HQ! Medals, Bibs, and Trophies are all prepared and ready to go. This year will be our biggest tournament yet with 40 plus teams (and counting) registered coming from 3 states. For me personally it’s a pleasure to welcome so many teams from out of state to this urban tournament here in my home city of Minneapolis. While on Lake Calhoun recently I saw countless walkers, joggers, runners, skiers, and bikers were using the lake as if it was June. There is a great sense of pride felt by many Minnesotan’s who don’t allow our harsh winters to stop us from getting outside and doing the things we love. It’s certainly in that spirit that we host this tournament and hope it’s part of what drives so many teams to travel here to enjoy a day of celebrating kubb outside.
I’m also impressed and humbled by the number of participants from right here in the Twin Cities. Last year I was pleasantly surprised by the number of local teams whom I’d never met. It’s great to know so many people are playing kubb right here in the Twin Cities. I truly look forward to meeting new players and teams again this year.
As we approach our 4th Winter Tournament it’s fun to think back on how far we’ve come since 2010, but we’ll save that for February 3rd. For now we have our eyes squared firmly on the 2013 Loppet Kubb Tournament and hope you do too!
The First Attempt to Create an Ice King
Back in August I posed this question to Ask Planet Kubb:
DOES ANYONE KNOW THE BEST WAY TO MAKE A KING OUT OF ICE?
A few weeks ago, realizing the tournament was fast approaching and there was plenty of cold to help me freeze ice in my backyard, I gave this idea an admittedly half-assed shot:
(Side Note: The wooden king you see in the following pictures is the king from my set, which is the longest running set amongst any of my friends in Minneapolis and played a major role in making the Tad Kubbler guys and most of the rest of us the players we are today. I need to purchase some wood glue so I can throw out the duct tape and patch it properly.)
So I went in my basement and found a box that fairly close to King sized: 13 x 11 x 4 inches. I cut in it half.
I took the other half of the box and used a box cutter to make it sort of a liner so the size was closer to correct and the sides of the king wouldn’t have creases. I also tried to shorten the interior a bit.
Then I found a plastic bag. The bag pictured here leaked and had to be replaced the next day, but you can see that it got filled with water and I could stick my hand in the water and kind of try to flatten out the folds, but I didn’t do that great of a job of that.
Here we are two or three days later and as you can see, the bag froze in to the ice. This pink bag also wasn’t big enough, which is why the top isn’t square.
On the plus side, I proved that I could freeze a block of ice that was about the right proportions and although it doesn’t look like much here, I think it would have looked pretty cool if I had carefully tried to get the rest of the bag off using warm water. Also, It may be easier to create a hollow ice king which is closer to regulation weight than you’d anticipate because as the block freezes you can see how much unfrozen water is inside and potentially drill a few holes to drain that excess water/weight.
This was just my first try and with a temperature drop in the forecast, I think I might give it another go.
That said, the main reason I wrote this post is to encourage anyone with the motivation to build a wood frame or something more elaborate. If a really nice looking Ice King shows up at the tournament, and the final teams are willing to use it, I’m certain Eric G will allow it. If you make on and no one else wants to play with it, you can definitely put it in play against my team.
Open Invitation – Kubb Practice on Lake Calhoun
Minnesota Kubb will host an open practice at the site of the 2013 Loppet Kubb Tournament on Lake Calhoun Saturday, January 19th at 1pm. No need to be registered for the tournament, just come enjoy a fun afternoon of kubb!
Lake Calhoun near Tin Fish Restaurant (NE part of the lake)
Saturday, January 19th – 1pm
Registered Teams (Update)
An Updated List of Registered Teams can now be found on the 2013 Tournament Page at minnesotakubb.com
Don’t forget to check out our fantastic sponsors:
Frostbead Studios
Kubbnation Magazine