Team League & Doubles Rules

(effective January 1, 2022)

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. 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. 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. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.

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The Crush Bonspiel Rules

Rules for the pool format:

1. Each team will play in a pool of 4. There will be a round robin among those 4 teams. During pool play, games may end in a tie.
2. After round robin, each team will be ranked 1-4 in their pool. If there are ties in standings, the tiebreakers will be:
   • head-to-head
   • point differential (maximum 7 per game)
   • points for
   • draw-to-button (DTB) measurement
   • coin flip
3. After each pool standings are completed, all 24 teams will be ranked for the playoffs. The first determinant for ranking will be your place in your pool, so the top 6 places will be the 6 1st place teams, spots 7-12 will be all of the 2nd-place teams, and so on. After place in pool, tiebreakers to determine ranking will be:
   • win-loss-tie record
   • draw-to-button (DTB) measurement
   • point differential (max 7 per game)
   • points for
   • coin flip
4. The DTB measurements are to be done after each team’s first 2 games. One person will throw a DTB after game 1 and a different person will throw after game 2. We will record both measurements and add the 2 distances to determine the final DTB measurement. Offensive sweeping is allowed. If the rock covers the pin, the DTB is zero. If the rock misses the house, the DTB is 199.6 centimeters.
5. After ranking, the top 8 ranked teams (all 6 1st-place teams and the 2 highest ranked 2nd-place teams) will play in the A bracket, 9-16 ranked teams (4 2nd-place teams and the 4 highest ranked 3rd-place teams) will play in B bracket, and 17-24 ranked teams (2 3rd-place teams and all 4th place teams) will play in C bracket.

Rules for the individual games:

1. All games, except for the Finals, are either 8 ends or 2 hours, whichever comes first. The Finals should go the full 8 ends, unless a team concedes (shakes) before the 8th end.
2. Please cool your sliders behind the scoreboard so as to not mess up the precious pebble. It’s Labor Day. That means it’s hot hot hot. Take care that your equipment doesn’t mess up the ice.
3. The hammer in the 1st end will be determined by a coin toss.
4. If both teams agree, games may begin before the designated draw time provided that all the sheets have been completely prepared for play.
5. The bell will ring 1 hour 30 minutes into the game, at which point you may complete your current end and play one more. An end is not considered started until the 1st rock is in play. Please be mindful of our time constraints. We only have 30 minutes to prepare the ice in between games, so if you cannot finish another end in the allotted time, please do not begin it.
6. Tied games are allowed during pool play. In the playoffs, games that are tied after time expires will be determined by a tie-breaking draw to the button. Any member may throw their team’s single rock in the tie-breaker. Offensive sweeping is allowed. The rock closest to the pin, by measure if necessary, will be the winner. The team that normally would not have had the hammer if another end was to be played is to go first. If neither stone makes it into the house, the process is to be repeated until a winner is declared.
7. All other USCA and/or WCF rules will apply except that all commercially available brooms shall be permitted in play and modern sweeping techniques shall be legal.
8. Rocks are to be measured by the Vice Skips of the playing teams. Please measure your own rocks if necessary. Contact an official if you are unable to agree on a measure.
9. Please note that the outer 12’ ring on each sheet may vary. You may measure a free guard stone with the measure stick. No other stones can be measured until the completion of an end.
10. The on-ice officials will be Tony Kelly, Katie Feldman, and David Betts. One person from this list or their designee will be available for on-ice rulings as necessary.
11. Please post your score on the scoreboard after each end of play.
12. After the game, please enter the final score on the Draw Scorecard and turn in at the scorers table. The Draw Scorecard will be attached to the scoreboard.

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The Barrel Bonspiel Rules

Rules for the pool format:

1. Each team will play in a pool of 4. There will be a round robin among those 4 teams. During pool play, games may end in a tie.
2. After round robin, each team will be ranked 1-4 in their pool. If there are ties in standings, the tiebreakers will be:
   • head-to-head
   • point differential (maximum 7 per game)
   • points for
   • ends won
   • coin flip
3. After each pool standings are completed, all 28 teams will be ranked for the playoffs. The first determinant for ranking will be your place in your pool, so the top 7 places will be the seven 1st place teams, spots 8-14 will be all of the 2nd-place teams, and so on. After place in pool, tiebreakers to determine ranking will be:
   • win-loss-tie record
   • draw-to-button (DTB) measurement
   • point differential (max 7 per game)
   • points for
   • ends won
   • coin flip
4. The DTB measurements are to be done after each team’s first 2 games, and must be delivered by 2 different members of the team. We will record both measurements and add the 2 distances to determine the final DTB measurement. Offensive sweeping is allowed. If the rock covers the pin, the DTB is zero. If the rock misses the house, the DTB is 73 inches.
5. After ranking, the top 8 teams (all seven 1st-place teams and the best 2nd-place teams) will play in the A bracket, teams #8-16 (six 2nd-place teams, two 3rd-place teams) will play in B bracket, teams #17-24 (five 3rd-place teams, three 4th-place teams) will play in C bracket. The final four teams will play in the D Bracket.

Rules for the individual games:

1. All games, except for the Finals, are either 8 ends or 2 hours, whichever comes first. The Finals (10:30am Sunday) should go the full 8 ends, unless a team concedes (shakes) before the 8th end.
2. The hammer in the 1st end will be determined by a coin toss.
3. If both teams agree, games may begin before the designated draw time provided that all the sheets have been completely prepared for play.
4. The bell will ring 1 hour 40 minutes into the game, at which point you may complete your current end and play one more. An end is not considered started until the 1st rock is in play. Please be mindful of our time constraints. We only have 15 minutes to prepare the ice in between games, so if you cannot finish another end in the allotted time, please do not begin it.
5. Tie games are allowed during pool play. In the playoffs, games that are tied after time expires will be determined by a tie-breaking draw to the button. Any member may throw their team’s single rock in the tie-breaker. Offensive sweeping is allowed. The rock closest to the pin by measure, if necessary, will be the winner. The team that normally would not have had the hammer if another end was to be played is to go first. If neither stone makes it into the house, the process is to be repeated until a winner is declared.
6. All other USCA and/or WCF rules will apply except that all commercially available brooms shall be permitted in play and modern sweeping techniques shall be legal.
7. Rocks are to be measured by the Vice Skips of the playing teams. Please measure your own rocks if necessary. Contact an official if you are unable to agree on a measure.
8. Please note that the outer 12’ ring on each sheet may vary. You may measure a free guard stone with the measure stick. No other stones can be measured until the completion of an end.
9. The on-ice officials will be Katie Feldman or Tony Kelly. One person from this list or their designee will be available for on-ice rulings as necessary.
10. Please post your score on the scoreboard after each end of play. For the benefit of live online scoring, please post the result after each end as soon as possible and also post the final end score. After the game, please update the result on the draw sheet hanging up in the rink. For pool play results, circle the name of the winning team, and for playoff results, write the name of the winning team to advance in the bracket.
11. There is a limit on the amount of times that Billy can yell “pull” and then raise his broom like a shotgun. It’s 4 times for the whole weekend. Please notify security if he abuses this rule.
12. No substitutes can curl on Sunday. If you’re teammate imbibed too much on Saturday night, sorry, you can’t tag someone else in. You’ll have to deal with the whiny teammate or play with 3 people. Them’s the rules. Can’t change ’em.