DV Curling Open League

General League Information

Reciprocal Drinks (buying a drink for opposing team) are not enforced or required in this league.
Team rosters posted on the website will be considered the official team and all spare rules will apply based on the listed (registered) players.

An optional 5th player may be registered for each team. Except in rare, pre-approved circumstances, teams may not have more than 5 registered players.
Any team changes requested after November will require approval from the convenor.
A player can only be a registered member of a single team; this includes 5th players.
A player who often spares for a particular team but is not on the team roster is NOT considered a registered player and will be subject to normal sparing rules.

League entry fee is $25 per official player (this includes rostered 5th players). All entry fees and sponsorship go back to the players in the form of fabulous prizes.
Please submit all game scores electronically, via text message or email, to the league convener. Convener contact information can be found on the Home Page or posted on the board in the curling lounge.
Teams will be seeded into the league based roughly on previous year results (regular season and playoffs).

In order to be as fair as possible, all new teams will be seeded into C Flyte regardless of skill level.
New teams are defined as:

A team made of players completely new to the league.
A team made of players who have previously played in the Open League but from different teams.
Returning teams with 2 or fewer players returning from the previous season (ie. A team splits into two teams of two players each - both sets of teams are considered to be "new" teams, regardless of where the additional teammates come from). This is done to prevent "flooding" of a Flyte by teams splitting up (ie. Three A Flyte teams split up into pairs and form new teams, we now have nine A Flyte elligble teams).

Regular Season Rules

Regularly scheduled game times are 6:45PM & 9:00PM Wednesdays and 6:45PM Thursdays. (Note: With more than 31 teams, games can also be played at 9:00PM Thursdays).

Team schedules are balanced across all timeslots and ices as evenly as possible.
All re-scheduled games must be played PRIOR to the end of the current series. The convenor will decide the game outcome should the games not be played on time.
In the spirit of sportsmanship, the team being asked to reschedule is not required to agree to the rescheduling, however some effort should be made to try and accomodate the request.
Games that are cancelled due to weather may be forced to play on a day other than Wednesday/Thursday, however this is very rare and will be avoided if possible.

Timeclocks are used and strictly enforced

The clock is set for 1hr and 55min and will start exactly at 6:45pm and as close to 9pm as possible. All teams should be on the ice 5 minutes ahead of gametime for practice slides and handshakes so that the game can start exactly at the scheduled time.
Timeclocks should be used for both 6:45PM and 9:00PM draws.
When time runs out, teams may finish the current end in play but may not start another end. If the final skip rock of an end is in motion (the skip in the act of delivering the rock) before time runs out, the end will be considered completed and you are allowed to start and play the final end.
It is the responsibility of both teams to monitor the timeclock (using the guidelines to the right) and keep the game at a reasonable pace.

Teams must have at least TWO registered members present for each regular season game. Failure to do so will result in a forfeit of that game.

A maximum of two spares may play in a regular season game.
First spare may play any position. Second spare must play front end.
Spares may be from any Flyte in the Open League or from any other member leagues run at Dundas Valley. Junior players are welcome assuming that they have paid an appropriate membership due.

All games are 8 ends with points distributed based on Wins and Losses. (See Regular Season Structure below for more information)/

Ties after regulation will be broken by skips rocks. You may only sweep your own teams rocks during skips rocks.
Should skips rocks not determine the winner, the game will be determined by Vice rocks (and so on).

All other rules are based on the Standard Curling Canada rules of play are in effect.

This league currently uses the 5-rock Free Guard Zone.
All synthetic broomheads (and associated "directional sweeping" techniques) are currently allowed in this league. As of the 2018-19 season, hair brooms are banned from Dundas Valley as both a sweeping tool and delivery aid.

Playoff Rules

At least TWO registered team members must be present for playoff games.
Only ONE spare may play in a playoff game and must play front end (if 3 registered team members present) or lead (2 registered team members present)
In the event of a tie, a full extra end will be played towards the glass. Should a winner still not be determined, the game will be decided by skips rocks.
The timeclock is not enforced for playoff games, although it will be running as a guideline for teams. While this may cause minimal delays, I think we can all agree that no one wants to be eliminated based on a time technicality.
Due to the compressed nature of the playoffs, rescheduling games is not permitted unless approved by the convenor.

If your team is aware that you will be unable to legally field a team during any game of the playoffs, you are required to inform the convener and will be unable to advance past the previous game.
EXAMPLE: You are unable to make the finals. You will be able to participate in the Quarter-Finals and advance to the Semi-Finals. You will be able to participate in the Semi-Finals in an exhibition format but will not be allowed to advance to the Finals regardless of the game outcome.

Regular Season Structure

The regular season will consist of four five-week series of round robin games between teams in each Flyte. (20 Games Total)
Points are awarded for each win and loss. The team with the most points after the regular season is crowned the Club Champion.

A Flyte Win = 10 pts
B Flyte Win = 8 pts
C Flyte Win = 6 pts
All Losses = 1pt
Convenor Assigned Forfeit = -2 pts.

The winner of each series will receive a bonus of 2 points. Teams in a three-way tie for the series that cannot be broken by head-to-head results win will receive 1 point each.
At the end of the each series, teams will be re-seeded into Flytes as determined by series points.

See graphic on how teams are re-distributed after each series. This can change season to season depending on the number of teams entered.
Flytes with multiple divisions will then be re-shuffled for skill-balance and exposure to a maximum number of different teams. NOTE: Moving from Division 1 to Division 2 within a flyte is not a demotion! (Consider them as East and West divisions)
Ties for positions within the Flytes that will result in a team moving up or down a Flyte will be broken in the following order:

Current Series Head-to-Head Results.
Accumulated overall league points.
Current Season Head-to-Head Results.
Convener Discretion.

Playoffs Structure

All teams at the end of the regular season qualify for playoffs.
Teams will be seeded in Flytes A, B, C, D and E Flyte Playoff Series. The number of Playoff Flytes is determined by the number of team entries that season.

Seeding for each Flyte will be based on total accumulated points over the Regular Season.
Ties for seeds will be broken by Head to Head results, then by Wins, then by W/L from Series 3 and 4.
The top 2 teams seeded into each Playoff Flyte will receive byes to the semi final games when space permits. When teams exceed 30, BYE's will be replaced with extra teams in reverse order (E Flyte, D Flyte, etc.).

Playoff Trophy Winners are determined by a three game, single knockout series format.
Playoffs are played in an compressed format, meaning that you may play multiple games in a single week (ie. Quarterfinal game on Wednesday, Semifinal game on Thursday).

Rules / League Structure