Evening Men

General Rule

All games will be played under the OCC Policy Rules for Play and OCA regulations unless otherwise specified. Each team must have a minimum of three players. Spares may be drawn from the Spares List or any other eligible Member meeting the substitution rules.

Teams

Teams enter the Evening Men’s League by making application to the Club Manager through the normal registration process detailing the names and positions of four or five curlers. In the event that all entries cannot be accommodated the order of precedence will be determined by the date of entry. Each team member must be eligible to play full time in the evening men’s league and must not be a member of another evening men’s league team

Lateness

The club clock is the official clock. If a Team does not commence play at the designated time (and has not cancelled the ice time and notified the opposing team) the following will apply:

1. If the delay of the start of play is 5 minutes, then the non-offending Team receives last rock in the first end of actual play. 
2. If the delay of the start of play is 10 minutes, then the non-offending Team receives 1 point and will have last rock in the first end of actual play. ONE end is considered completed;
3. If the delay of the start of play is 20 minutes, then the non-offending team receives 1 additional point and will have last rock in the first end of actual play. TWO ends are considered completed.
4. If play has not started after 30 minutes, then the non-offending Team is declared winner by forfeit. The final score will be recorded as a "Win" for the non-offending Team and a "Loss" for the offending Team.

Rescheduling – Regular Season

If a regular season game has to be rescheduled, the game must be played prior to the last scheduled game of the current series.

The cancelling Team is responsible for finding a make-up time that works for their opponent.  The cancelling Team should mark the game as a "Loss" if they are unable to make-up the game for any reason (including not being able to find a time agreeable to their opponent). All Teams should be as flexible as possible in scheduling make-up games. Marking a Tie for an unplayed game is strongly discouraged. The last game of the round robin MUSY have a Winner and a Loser. No ties (unless played to a tie) can be taken for the last round robin game of a series. The Men's Convenor will arbitrate any disputes.

Ends – Regular Season

All games will be a maximum of eight ends.

Ties – Regular Season

Ties will not be broken.

Free Guard Zone – Regular Season

The 5 Rock Rule will be played for ALL games. 

Eligibility

Full, Intermediate and Full Time Student male Members, in good standing.

Player Replacement

A permanent replacement of a team member may be arranged with the approval of the Men’s Convenor under the following conditions:

1. Resignation or transfer of a team member.
2. Absence of a team member for three games without notice.
3. Illness or accident which results in a team member missing three games.

If a permanent replacement for an open position is not secured within three weeks, the League reserves the right to appoint an individual from the waiting list to the team.

Teams without four permanent members may be disbanded by the League.

Club Bell Rule – Regular Season

The Club Bell Rule will be used for all games. For the first game of the evening, the countdown clock will begin at the scheduled start time. For the second game of evening, the clock will start when the last sheet on the ice starts. 

• After 1 hour and 40 minutes (15 mins left on the game clock) the bell will sound as a reminder for Teams to finish the end in play and complete one more end;
• After 1 hour and 55 minutes (0.00 mins left on the game clock) the game clock will expire at which time the bell will sound a second time indicating the game is in the last end – no new end of play can commence after 1 hour and 55 minutes.
• In the interest of safety, the 7th end will be considered underway once the last rock of the Skip with hammer is in motion in the 6th end. Similarly, the 8th end will be considered underway once the final rock of the Skip with hammer is in motion in the 7th end.
• The Club’s objective to have all games completed within 2 hours remains in place.
• Deliberately delaying a game is not an acceptable practice and is not in keeping with proper curling etiquette.

Substitutions – General

Spares must come from any league within the club. As long as the member is a league or spare member. Practice Members cannot spare in ANY leagues. It is the responsibility of both the Skip and Sparing Member to ensure Membership and/or sparing eligibility requirements are respected. Utilization of an ineligible spare will result in a "Loss" being recorded for the offending Team and a "Win" for the non-offending Team.

Sparing Rules are deemed to be "self-policed". Teams are urged to resolve sparing issues prior to the start of the game. Having a spare play lead will resolve most issues. However, any actual or perceived breach of such Rules is to be brought to the attention of the League Director who will investigate and take action as deemed appropriate.

In-game substitutions are not permitted. The team may continue with a reduced number of players provided they are not in a forfeit situation.

When playing with a three player team, the Lead and Second will throw three rocks each. If both teams have three players, the Skips may agree to play six rock ends.

Substitutions – Regular Season

You must have a minimum of three players and at least one member of the original team must be present, to avoid a game forfeit.

• You are allowed a maximum of two spares per game.
• A Junior member should only be used if no other substitute is available.
• A player must spare in the open position or lower (subject to Division rule below).
  • Example – If you are sparing for a Vice, you can play Vice, Second or Lead.
• Spares who are a part of a regular Tuesday or Thursday Evening Men Team and are two or more Divisions higher must play lead. (Or lead & second if two such spares)
  • Example - if your team is in C Division and you are asked to spare in E Division, you must play lead.
• Please respect the spirit of the game with spares

Team Ladder Standings

Points are allotted for each game played:

Team Seeding - Regular Season

Upon completion of each series teams will be awarded points in accordance with their win/loss/tie record and assigned new ladder positions. Upon completion of series two and three the current series results / points will be added to one half of the previous accumulated points total to determine the new points for each team. These points will be used to rank the teams within each division. After ranking, the two top teams will move up a division (except in division A), and the bottom two teams will move down a division (except in division E).  A team cannot move more than one division at the end of a series. These points will then be used to order the teams within each new division. This ordering is most relevant at the end of series three going into the playoffs, when within each division the first playoff round will consist of team 1 playing team 8, team 2 playing team 7, etc.

Ties in team points at the conclusion of a series will be broken as follows:

1. 2 way tie - head to head record, the winner is ranked higher
2. 3 way tie - head to head record amongst the three teams is used first. If all three team beat each other then below. 
3. 4 way tie - head to head record amongst the 4 team is used first. If one team is clear cut winner, remove them and proceed with 3 way tiebreaking. 
4. if still tied, absolute number of wins this series, where the team with more wins is ranked higher
5. if still tied, the higher ranked team at the beginning of this series is ranked higher at the end of this series.
6. a team moving up from a division below will be ranked lower, while a team moving down from a division above will be ranked higher, otherwise

If need be, the Men’s Convenor will determine any disputes in the ladder standings.

Team Seeding - Playoffs

After the third series, teams will be reseeded based on total points accumulated thoughtout the regular season (3 Series).  The two-up and two-down rule does not apply for Division Playoffs. Division playoffs will be a seeded double-elimination knockout to determine which teams advance to the crossover playoffs.

The crossover playoffs are a single-elimination knockout to determine the Club and Division Champions.

At the start of each playoff game (Double Elimination Round), the higher-ranked team will have the choice of hammer or colour of rocks. The total points of each team at the end of the third series will determine the rank of the team in the playoffs.

During Crossover games, hammer will be determined by a draw to the button(LSD). Flip a coin for 1st Practice and INTURN LSD/or 2nd Practice and OUTTURN LSD. Team with 1st Practice gets choice of colour. Each team gets two practice stones and then the third stone counts as final LSD (Sweeping can be used). If both teams put the rock on the button, another member must throw the next draw with no practice and no sweeping. Etc etc. 

If needed, a full extra end played towards the glass will be used as a tie-breaker.

Rescheduling – Playoffs

Postponed games are not permitted during the playoffs. They may, however, be played prior to the scheduled game.

Bell Rule – Playoffs

A single bell rule will be in effect for the playoff games. After 1 hour and 40 minutes, the bell will sound as a reminder for Teams to finish the end in play and complete one more end. Upon completion of the “one more end,” there will be no further ends played.

The Crossover finals will be full 8-end games with no bell rule in effect.

Ties – Playoffs

No ties are allowed during the playoffs. A full extra end will be played if necessary.

Free Guard Zone – Playoffs

During the playoffs, all games will be played using the 5 rock rule.

Substitutions – Playoffs

You must have a minimum of three players and at least two members of the original team must be present, to avoid a game forfeit.

• You are allowed a maximum of one-two spares per game.
• Juniors are not eligible to spare.
• The spare must play lead, or lead and second if two spares are playing.
• Crossover games can only use a player who has not competed in the Crossover Playoffs

Team Seeding - Start of Season

At the start of each new season, the team ladder location will be determined using the following guidelines:

• The previous year's final standing prior to the start of playoffs.
• The team’s position is retained by priority:
  • 1st - Four returning team members.
  • 2nd - Three returning team members
• Seeding of new teams will be determined by the Evening Men’s Committee. (Convenor, General Manager and Committee)
• A current member’s team will be given seeding priority over a new member’s team. For this purpose, a current member's team is defined as consisting of 3 or more current members, regardless of position of those members on the team, while a new member's team is defined as consisting of 2 or less returning members. Should two or more new member teams vie for one available spot, a team with one current member will be given priority over a team with all new members.
• Teams selected sequentially from the previous year’s final standings will fill vacant team’s positions.
• Should a team wish to change from a Tuesday/Thursday ladder, the team seeding for the new ladder position will be the lowest position in the division the team finished in the previous year’s final series.
• Returning teams will be given priority over new teams as long as at least one current member on a returning team has registered for this league and identified the members of his team before or on the day of the club members' open house. After that date, open spots will be filled in order of registration dates, regardless of whether a team is returning or is a new team.

OCA Traveler's Men's Club Championship Selection Process

The Oakville Curling Club men's team representative for the OCA Traveler's Men's Curling Club Championship will be selected each fall from qualified teams that participated in the preceding season's Evening Men's League A division playoffs. The teams will be evaluated in the following order, until a qualified team is available to play:

1. The winner of the final playoff game
2. The runner-up of the final playoff game
3. Looking at the remaining two teams in the semi-finals, if they are both from the same evening (either Tuesday or Thursday), then the highest ranked team at the start of the crossover playoffs shall be selected. If they are from different evenings, then a one game playoff between the two teams shall be arranged and the winner of that game shall be selected.
4. Looking at the remaining four teams of the quarter-finals, if they are all from the same evening (either Tuesday or Thursday), then the highest ranked team at the start of the crossover playoffs shall be selected. If they are from different evenings, then a one game playoff between the two top-ranked teams at the start of the crossover playoffs shall be arranged and the winner of that game shall be selected.

If none of the 8 teams that participated in the A division quarter-finals is available to play, Oakville will forfeit its entry in that year.