General

• Reciprocal Drinks (buying a drink for opposing team) are not enforced or required in this league.
• League prize fee is $25 per official player (this includes rostered 5th players). All prizes fees and sponsorship go back to the players for series wins, playoff positions, and overall rankings.
• 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

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.

Season Seeding

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 flight regardless of skill level.

A new team is 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.

Rules of Curling

All rules not mentioned on this page are based on the Standard Curling Canada rules of play.

• This league uses the 5-rock Free Guard Zone.
• Delivery Aids (sticks) are permitted.
• All synthetic broomheads (and associated "directional sweeping" techniques) are 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.

Scheduling and Re-Scheduling

Regularly scheduled game times are 6:30PM & 8:45PM Wednesdays and 6:30PM Thursdays (and 8:45PM Thursdays if the league exceeds 31 teams). Team schedules are balanced across all timeslots and ices as evenly as possible, meaning you will (likely) play in all timeslots during a single series.

• Games can be rescheduled if both teams agree. All games must be played PRIOR to the end of the current series.
• Any rescheduled games must be reported to the convener.
• The team being asked to reschedule is not required to agree to the rescheduling. However, in the spirit of sportsmanship, some effort should be made to try and accommodate the request.
• Whenever possible, games that are cancelled due to weather will be made up during regular game times. There may be rare occurances where games are required to play on a day other than Wednesday/Thursday.

Time Clocks and Game Times

Timeclocks are used and strictly enforced for both 6:30PM and 8:45PM draws. The clock is set for 1h55min and will start as closely to the scheduled draw times as possible. If the ice is ready prior to draw times, you may start your game early to bank additional time. 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.

• When time runs out, teams may finish the current end in play but may not start another end.
• An end is considered complete if the final skip rock of an end is in motion (the skip in the act of delivering the rock) before time runs out. Some discretion is expected.
• It is recommended that 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.

Spares

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; The first spare may play any position while the second spare must play front end.
• Spares may only play up to the position they have been asked to fill in for (eg. A spare asked to play vice can play lead, second or vice, but cannot skip the team).
• Spares may be from any flight in the Open League or from any other member leagues, including junior players, run at Dundas Valley.

Winning and Losing

All games are 8 ends, unless shortened by timeclocks, 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).

General

With the exception of the adjustments in this secion, playoffs will follow the standard regular season rules.

Scheduling and Re-Scheduling

Due to the time-sensitive nature of the playoffs, rescheduling games is not permitted unless approved by the convenor. Finals games are NOT permitted to be rescheduled. Teams will typically have to play multiple games in one week during the playoffs (typically Semi-Finals and Finals).

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.

Time Clocks and Game Times

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.

Spares

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).

Winning and Losing

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.

Points and Overall Standings

The regular season will consist of four five-week series of round robin games between teams in each flight. (20 Games Total)

• Points are awarded for each win and loss with higher, more difficult, ranks receiving more points per win:
• A flight Win = 10 pts
• B flight Win = 8 pts
• C flight Win = 6 pts
• All Losses = 1pt
• 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.
• The team with the most points after the regular season is crowned the Regular Season Champion.

Understanding Flights

For each five-week series, teams are grouped into similar skill levels called flights. Some flights will contain multiple divisions (refered to as X1 and X2); these divisions should be considered identical in terms of skill level (eg. X Flight East and X Flight West) and are used to allow more teams to participate in that flight. At the end of the each series, teams will be re-seeded into flights as determined by series Win/Loss records.

• See graphic on how teams are re-distributed after each series. This can change season to season depending on the number of teams entered but typically involve the top 1-2 teams in each flight moving up a flight and the bottom 1-2 moving down.
• Flights with multiple divisions will then be re-shuffled for skill-balance and exposure to a maximum number of different teams.
• Ties for positions within the flights that will result in a team moving up or down a flight will be broken in the following order:
1. Current Series Head-to-Head Results
2. Current Season Head-to-Head Results
3. Accumulated overall league points
4. Convener Discretion

All teams at the end of the regular season qualify for playoffs and are seeded based on accumulated points from the regular season. Due to the nature of the league, the playoff structure can vary depending on the number of participating teams.

• Ties for seeds will be broken by Head to Head results, then by Season Wins, then by W/L from Series 3 and 4, then by Convener Discretion.
• The winner of the A flight Playoff Series will be considered to be the Club Champion.