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The Grand Slam of Curling continues to experiment with tie-to-button penalties to replace extra ends, but the latter returns in Saskatoon this week.
The season-opening AMJ Masters in September implemented a penalty shootout for the preliminary round and tiebreakers before expanding to include playoffs for October's Co-op Tour Challenge and November's Kioti GSOC Tahoe.
This change led to dramatic moments in big games. Swedish skip Anna Hasselborg played the button in the Tour Challenge women's semifinal, but Canadian Rachel Homan plugged the hole to advance in Nisku, Alta.
Scot Bruce Mouat beat Canadian Matt Dunstone by three millimeters to reach the men's final in Tahoe.
Marketing – limiting game length for television, as well as the excitement associated with combat sports elements similar to NHL shootouts – were among the reasons for its implementation.
Curlers gave mixed reviews. A dozen teams representing nine countries at the HearingLife Canadian Open in Saskatoon will head to the Olympics, prompting the revival of extra points for tiebreakers and playoffs there.
Round-robin games in Saskatoon retained penalty shootouts to break ties. The playoffs begin on Saturday.
“A lot of these athletes are going to the Olympics in February,” said world and Olympic champion Jennifer Jones, who is a member of The Curling Group, which bought the 2024 Grand Slam circuit.
“This changes the strategy a little bit. Some players liked it. Some players didn't like it at all. And some players said, “I'm fine with it during the round robin, but in the playoffs I want to have an extra end.”
“So I listen to feedback and try to balance all the priorities.”
Tiebreakers and playoffs
Additional ends for tiebreakers and playoffs will remain the same format as the January Players' Championship tournament in Steinbach, Man., Jones said.
“At the end of the season, as always, a survey is sent out to the players and you sit down and decide, 'OK, what worked, what didn't and what are we going to do in the future?' – Jones said.
“I don’t know what will happen in the future, but I think it’s really worth a try.”
Grand Slam tournaments have long been an incubator for curling's adaptations, starting with eight-point games instead of ten.
The rule that a defender on or part of the center line cannot be touched until five stones have been delivered was adopted by Curling Canada in 2023 after Grand Slam tournaments began testing it in 2019.
Grand Slam tournaments have also reduced the time it takes a team to complete a game of eight ends to 30 minutes (plus two 90-second timeouts) from 31 minutes in the season opener.
“The Grand Slam throughout my career has always been a place where we try new things and try to progress in the game, move forward and not be afraid of change,” Jones said.
Introduced in October by the Tour Challenge and continuing at the HearingLife Canadian Open in Saskatoon, each team can only end once per game. The second time means losing the hammer.
“No empty ends or one empty end showed us the play was more aggressive,” Jones said. “The data supports the end goal of trying to make the game more entertaining and ensuring that when fans come to watch, they come to watch an exciting game.”
Rock League
The Curling Group announced the launch dates and locations for its Rock League on Thursday.
The league, which was announced earlier this year, will feature six international teams representing regions of the world. Each squad consists of five men and five women, and a maximum of four import players are allowed per team.
Rachel Homan and Brad Jacobs, who will miss Team Canada's Olympic curling team appearance in February, are captains of Team Canada 1 and Team Canada 2, respectively.
The $250,000 Rock League will debut in April in Toronto with a seven-day “pre-season” before expanding to a five-week season in 2027 in Moose Jaw, Sask., Halifax, Utica, New York, Ottawa and a final stop yet to be named.
Earlier this week, TCG named its Rock League team rosters and team general managers. The 2026 rosters include athletes from a dozen different countries, including 18 Canadians. Glenn Howard and Carter Rycroft are the general managers of the Canadian teams.
