Mark Willmert (St. Paul, MN) lost 5-4 to Geoff Goodland (Eau Claire, MN) in the Final of the The Big Spiel, held January 11 - 14, 2018 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. To advance to the championship game, Willmert won 7-3 over Aaron Johnston (Denver, CO) in the semifinals
 
Willmert finished 5-0 in the 0-team qualifying round. . In their opening game, Willmert defeated Ryan Kernosky (Blaine, MN) 9-2, then won 7-2 against Matthew Marsolek (Blaine, MN) and 8-5 against Ken King (St. Paul, MN). Willmert won 9-2 against Isaac Hanson (St. Paul, MN), then won 1-0 against Merlin Orvik (St. Paul, MN) in their final qualifying round match.
 
. For week of the event schedule, Willmert did not improve upon their best events, remaining at th place on the World Ranking Standings with total points. Willmert ranks th overall on the Year-to-Date rankings with points earned so far this season.