Many have pointed to the Mixed Doubles becoming a breakout hit at the Olympics and its swift play as a contributing factor in its appeal. Granted, this would not be a dramatic change, given curling is predominantly played as eight-ends today. The question remains: Should the sport move to eight-end games for the Olympics and World Championships? For any sport, two of the most influential considerations for any change must be fairness of competition and entertainment value.
Sport is often attempting to find a balance between determining the most deserving champion while also aligning with the considerations of fans and sponsors who want to watch and appreciate the spectacle.
These two factors are often in competition. The very nature of one final game to determine a champion produces great drama, but it can also be argued that this does not always deliver the most deserving winner. Barry Fry of Manitoba won the Brier with a record, while Rick Folk of Saskatchewan and Larry Pineau of Northern Ontario were both two games back at ; there was no playoff format and nothing for CBC to televise on the weekend.
To many players at the time, it was considered the most equitable method to crown a champion. But the result became a Sunday televised event, an historic upset and one of the most memorable moments of curling lore—recently trumpeted in a Netflix sport series —rather than a trophy ceremony on a Friday evening.
A two, three or four-end game would also be heavily skewed to the team starting with hammer. If curling was played over an infinite number of ends, the better team, barring injury, would always win and the longer a team is given an opportunity to establish its authority over its opponent, the higher likelihood a victory is the result.
A heavy underdog will have a better chance in a game of one single end, especially if they are starting with hammer … and this leads into our first question: Is an eight-end game a fair contest when compared to a end game? We will only look at results for the season, using the five-rock free guard zone rules exclusively. This is perhaps counter to thinking that a team with hammer has an advantage in the shorter game. These numbers may be affected by better teams starting with hammer more often.
A shorter eight-end game appears to increase the chance of victory for the team starting without hammer, even if it is only a slight difference. There are other factors at play, but it appears sufficient to conclude there is no significant advantage to the team starting with hammer in an eight-end game versus a end game. One theory in support of end games is it gives teams a better chance to overcome an early deficit, should they get down early.
The current numbers do not support this, and teams that fall two or three points behind after one end have a near-equal winning percentage in both eight-end and end games.
How can we possibly add mathematical precision to either prove or disprove the typical fan claim that eight-end matches lead to fewer close games … which would, of course, supposedly wreck the entertainment value of matches at the Olympic Winter Games and world championships? In the late ends of a curling game, an engaging contest occurs when the score is tied, a team is down two points with hammer or one team is ahead by a single point.
Only one team can score in an end. This is called a blank end. The teams take it in turns to deliver their stones from the Hack at one end of the sheet to the house at the opposite end.
Players must release the stone before the Hog Line for the stone to be considered in play. Stones which do not pass the hog line at the scoring end of the sheet are removed from play. When an end is complete, the next end is played in the opposite direction. After all stones have been delivered to the scoring end of the sheet, the players themselves calculate the score.
Curling is played over ten ends, however in some formats and competitions this may be reduced to eight ends. Teams can concede their game earlier than the defined number of ends according to the rules of the competition.
The teams with the most points at this stage wins the game. Before a game of curling begins, teams decide who will have what is called the Hammer or Last Stone Advantage. In championship curling this is decided by a draw to the button with two players from each team delivering a stone as close as possible to the centre of the house — one stone is delivered clockwise and the other counter-clockwise — and the distance from the stone to the centre being measured.
If a team has the last stone advantage, it means they can deliver the final stone of an end and have an advantage to score at least one point and potentially win that end.
When a team scores, they lose the last stone advantage and the hammer passes to the opposing team for the next end. Teams generally try to score more than a single point in an end and will, therefore, sometimes blank an end, ensuring that no stones are lying in the house after the last stone is played. This means they get to keep the hammer for the next end. However, in mixed doubles, a blank end also causes the hammer to be passed to the opposing team.
In mixed doubles, teams have the right to use a power play once in every game. That was the strategy employed back in the day and made for some uninteresting and predictable curling games. Things changed in the s with the free-guard zone and the four-rock rule. The free-guard zone is the arena outside the house from the tee line the horizontal line cutting through the middle of the house up to the nearest hog line the horizontal line where rocks must cross in order to stay in play.
Stones sitting in this area are called guards and cannot be removed from play until four stones have been thrown aka the four-rock rule. The hog lines determine if a rock is considered in play. While sliding, the shooter must release the rock before it crosses the first hog line and the rock must cross the second hog line to remain in play.
If this occurs prior to the second hog line, it is up to the offending team to remove the rock from play. However, should this occur after crossing the second hog line, the non-offending team can decide if the rock should be removed or not. Ice makers sprinkle the surface prior to the start of games to created pebbles, which create more friction between the stone and the ice and help the stones curl.
Tick shot: When the four-rock rule is in play, this shot is used to nudge a guard out of the way but keep it in play. Sometimes this is done by accident when a team is looking to peel but hits the opposing stone at the wrong spot.
Freeze: Drawing on top of a stone and making the shooter difficult to eliminate from play. Split: A precise shot where the shooter looks to hit a guard promoting both it and their thrown stone into the house so they both count as points. Wreck: When a stone accidentally makes contact with another stationary stone the thrower was hoping to avoid.
Jam: Attempting to take out a rock but it makes contact with another stone and it stops to stay in play. Flash: A rock that is thrown through the house; either a draw that is heavy or a hit attempt that goes untouched. The curling brush consists of a fibreglass or carbon fibre shaft with a fabric head used in a sweeping motion perpendicular to the path of the rock to clear debris from the ice and help maintain the trajectory of the stone.
Rocks are sensitive to the ice conditions and can pick up debris from the ice — known as a pick — which can veer the rock off course. Sweepers will ease up with the hope the rock will lose speed. Sweepers will brush harder to attempt to drag the rock to the desired point. The clock ticks down while the team is deciding which shot to make. Yes, they do. Thus, a ten end game of curling with these additional time factors will probably last closer to two hours and 45 minutes.
There is a new format of curling called Mixed Doubles. This format involves one male and one female player. Instead of throwing eight stones , only five are thrown per team per end.
Out of all of the competitive curling formats, mixed doubles is the only one that lasts eight ends.
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