Team League & Doubles Rules

(effective January 1, 2023)

1. Each season will be comprised of a "Regular Season" which can either result in a champion being named or can be followed by a "Playoffs".  Playoffs can be any number of weeks, depending on ice availability, but should be announced at the beginning of the season. The winner of the playoffs is the league champion, regardless of place/record going into playoffs.
2. To break ties in the standings for playoff seeding, or for the championship in a non-playoff season, the head-to-head record of the teams involved will be the first tiebreaker. If the teams didn't play each other or if the head-to-head record is inconclusive, the ties will be broken in the following order:  1) point differential (maximum 7 per game), 2) points for, 3) total ends played, 4) coin flip. If a team shakes hands (concedes) while they could play one more end, the other team may post a blank end.
3. Regular season games may end in a tie. Playoff games will go to a draw-to-the-button tiebreaker and can be taken by any person on the team. During a DTB tiebreaker, you may sweep your own team's stone to get it closer to the button, but you may not defensively sweep the other team's rock when it is past the T-line.
4. We use the five-guard rule at the beginning of each end. If any of the first five stones come to rest in the free guard area in front of the house, they may not be removed by the opponent until the sixth stone (the team with hammer's third shot). Guards may be moved or raised, so long as they remain in play. A team may remove its own guard. If a free guard is removed from play, it will be placed back in its original spot and the shooter will be removed from play.
5. The "No Tick Rule" will be in effect for all leagues with the exception of Mixed Doubles and Wheelchair Curling.
   "No Tick Rules": If, prior to the delivery of the sixth stone of an end, a delivered stone causes either directly or indirectly, an opposition stone in the Free Guard Zone (FGZ) which is touching the centre line to be moved to an off-centre line position or to a position outside the FGZ, the non-offending team has the option to: (i) Remove the delivered stone from play, and replace all stones that were displaced to their positions prior to the violation taking place; or (ii) Leave all stones where they came to rest. If the stone is moved from the centre line to an out-of-play position, then the FGZ rule applies.
6. A team must forfeit a game if less than two people show up, or if less than three show up without alerting their skip or the league coordinator/Facebook page. Teams may curl with a minimum of three people. If a team of two cannot find a sub, it is a forfeit. For competitive league, subs can only play in the lead or second position (or the lead position on a team of three), even if the person they are subbing for is the vice or skip. If a sub takes the vice or skip position, it will be considered a forfeit and the game being played is an exhibition/practice game. For Brunch or Tuesday leagues, subs can play in any position. If a team only has three members, the first sub will fill the open spot and be considered a team member for the purposes of determining forfeits. In other words, a three-person team may play with one original member and two subs without forfeiting, provided that the original member skips. In Doubles, players may play with only one player. Forfeits will only occur if neither player is present or if the one player chooses not to play. Substitutes may play either position in Doubles. Forfeits will be scored as follows: in regular (team) play, the forfeiting team will lose 7-0. The team that wins by forfeit gets credit for 6 ends played, the forfeiting team gets credit for 4 ends played. In Doubles, the forfeiting team loses 6-0 with the winning team getting credit for 5 ends and the forfeiting team getting credit for 3 ends.
7. Each game should start with a coin-flip between the vice skips. The winner can choose to have the hammer or not, or can choose the color of their stones. The loser of the coin-flip gets the second choice. Players may make one practice slide, without a stone, if they desire.
8. When the bell rings, you may finish that end and begin one more. DO NOT ABUSE THIS SYSTEM. The bell will ring 35 min (or 25 min for doubles) before the Zamboni drives. Ends are intended to take 15-20 minutes. When the bell rings, you have 35 minutes to get off the ice. So if the lead is sliding out as the bell rings and that end takes 20 minutes to play, DO NOT start another end. Under no circumstances should an end begin within 10 minutes of the end of the game (after 9:30 or 11:30, based on current game times). If you begin an end within 15 minutes of the game end, both teams must hurry. If the game goes beyond the time limit, league/club officials reserve the right to end the game before the final shots are taken.
9. Silly, there is no rule #9...