No tick is there to stay in curling.
Canada has adopted the new rule that the World Curling Federation tested at the women’s and men’s world championships earlier this year.
The “no tick” rule will be played out at the 2023 Canadian Men’s and Women’s Championships and in the playoffs to get there.
The tick shot as a strategy emerged from setting up the free guard zone. Stones in front of the rings, or guards, cannot be removed from play in a round until five stones have been delivered.
A well-executed tick shot pushes those guards to the wings, but keeps them in play while opening up access to the house.
Now a guard on or partially on the center line cannot be hit until five stones are delivered.
Less predictable results
According to the WCF, the odds of a team winning with the hammer in a draw at home or in an extra inning approach 90%.
So the rationale for the change is to make the outcome less predictable, and therefore to keep your eyes on a play until the last stone is thrown, and to reduce the number of blank ends in a game.
No tick gives the team with no last rock advantage in an inning the chance to fire around that center guard in the rings, and potentially force the opposition to execute harder shots to score with a hammer.
“Certainly on the men’s side, where teams have become so proficient at doing the tick and if they don’t do a double or triple peel to eliminate any chance of stealing, that’s probably not a bad idea to have. .
“We look at the stats, some of the best teams are at 95% when they have the hammer at home. It doesn’t give a team a lot of hope, or a spectator watching… it’s not going to provide much entertainment when 95% of the time it’s going to be a certain outcome.”
Verification process
The WCF did not endorse any ticks at its convention last month after considering it at the women’s world championship in Prince George, B.C., in March, as well as the men’s championship in April in Las Vegas.
Top teams already knew about it as Grand Slam tournaments started testing without ticking in 2019.
They play a hybrid version of the rule during this week’s HearingLife Tour Challenge which ends Sunday in Grande Prairie, Alta.
“Either go, pick for the whole game, or don’t,” said Canadian women’s champion captain Kerri Einarson, while adding that she doesn’t object to non-ticking.
“It makes the end of a match much more interesting, especially if you’re tied or tied, there’s always a good chance you could potentially steal. We’ve definitely come up with different types of strategies for that.”
Curling Canada wants the winners of next year’s Tim Hortons Brier and Scotties Tournament of Hearts to be tick-free when they head to the world championships.
Mixed reactions
Gushue’s feelings about the modification are mixed as he is not yet convinced that any tick will do what it is supposed to. He would have liked to see more data before his introduction.
“Are we going to see instead of having 95% winning teams with the hammer, will it go down to 90 or will it drop to 75?” he wondered. “I don’t think we have a large enough data set to say what impact there will be.
“If it’s a 5% change, is that enough to change the game and potentially confuse viewers a bit more? If it’s 20%, it makes sense from an entertainment standpoint.”
WATCH | Gushue falls in the gold medal match at the World Curling Championships:
Niklas Edin wins gold for Sweden at the world men’s curling championship with an 8-6 victory over Canadian Brad Gushue who settles for silver.
The three-time Brier champion admitted he wouldn’t like his team chasing in the final end, but would like it less if he had the hammer tied.
“As a team, we always worked the first nine ends to make sure we had the hammer tied to the house,” Gushue said. “You do that, and your chances are potentially going to be reduced.”
Russia and Belarus eliminated
The WCF also decided at its annual congress that Russia and Belarus would be withdrawn from competition for the remainder of 2022, meaning Russia will not take part in next month’s European Championship in Oestersund, Sweden.
The Russian women will be replaced by Hungary and the men by Spain.
Russia, with the support of neighboring Belarus, invaded Ukraine in February.
The WCF quickly expelled 2021 runners-up Russia from the women’s world championship in Prince George the following month, as well as the men’s championship in Vegas.
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