What the blank? Pun intended, as that was the question during the most recent Grand Slam of Curling event. A few new rules were implemented during the CO-OP Tour Challenge in Nisku, Alta., with one in particular designed to curb the number of blank ends.
Each team was allowed to blank only once during a game. If they blanked a second time, whether in the following end or later in the game, they would lose the hammer. In all cases, teams opted for a single point rather than lose the hammer for nothing.
The draw-to-the-button shootout, which had already been in place during the preliminary round and tiebreakers at the AMJ Masters, now replaced extra ends for the playoffs, too.
Yes, one event is a small sample size, but let's take a deep dive into the numbers and look at the immediate impact those rules had on the numbers.
FIRST END: Success? The number of blanks decreased compared to last season.
The men's division averaged 0.49 blanks per game during the CO-OP Tour Challenge, or roughly one blank for every other game. Last season's average was up around 0.93 blanks per game. Even last month's AMJ Masters hovered above that at 1.05 blanks per game.
As skip Kerri Einarson told colleague Jolene Latimer, there tend to be fewer blanks in the women's game anyway. That rings true in the numbers, but there was also a sharp decline. The women's division averaged 0.41 blanks per game during the CO-OP Tour Challenge, down from last season's average of 0.75 and even the AMJ Masters average of 0.90.
| Blanks Per Game | Men's Division | Women's Division |
| 2024-25 Season Averages | 0.93 | 0.75 |
| 2025 CO-OP Tour Challenge | 0.49 | 0.41 |
(Sidenote: We feel comfortable tracking data to the hundredth decimal point. Save the thousandth for determining pole position.)
Here's a direct comparison to the last event, as you can see the number of blank ends decreased by more than half.
| Total Blank Ends | Men's Division | Women's Division |
| 2025 AMJ Masters | 43 | 35 |
| 2025 CO-OP Tour Challenge | 20 | 17 |
SECOND END: The rule also meant teams had to be more strategic about when they should blank. Blank early, and it might come back to bite you later in the game when you're forced to a single.
As a result, the number of blank ends that occurred in the first end plummeted. Here's a look at how many times there were blanks in the first end.
| Season | Event | Men's Division | Women's Division | Total |
| 2024-25 | Tour Challenge | 10 | 14 | 24 |
| Canadian Open | 13 | 9 | 22 | |
| National | 15 | 10 | 25 | |
| Masters | 10 | 13 | 23 | |
| Players' Championship | 8 | 11 | 19 | |
| 2025-26 | Masters | 11 | 14 | 25 |
| Tour Challenge | 6 | 5 | 11 |
We didn't average out last season as the number of games fluctuates event to event, but even taking that into account, blanks in the first end took a sharp nosedive.
This also instantly eliminated another problem: serial blanking, particularly to start a match. Don't you just love it when a team starts the game by blanking the first couple of ends? Said no one ever. If teams are still figuring out the rocks and ice conditions, that's what the pre-game practice should be for. Imagine watching the Indy 500, the green flag waves ... and everyone stays in first gear, still warming up their tires and saving fuel. Fans want to see action and excitement out of the gate.
THIRD END: With fewer blanks, average scoring over eight ends* also rose to 10.22 total points per game on the men's side and 11.07 total points per game on the women's side.
Last season's averages were 9.89 for the men and 10.56 for the women.
(*Points scored in extra ends and shootouts were ignored during our tabulations, since teams could theoretically score multiple points in an extra end, whereas in a shootout, the maximum they could get is one.)
| Total Points Scored Per Game | Men's Division | Women's Division |
| 2024-25 Season Average | 9.89 | 10.56 |
| 2025 CO-OP Tour Challenge | 10.22 | 11.07 |
Comparing it to the AMJ Masters, scoring on the men's side dropped by only six points, but the women's side increased by 62 points. That's a significant jump even when accounting for the fact that there were two women's tiebreaker games at the CO-OP Tour Challenge and none at the AMJ Masters.
| Total Points Scored | Men's Division | Women's Division |
| 2025 AMJ Masters | 422 | 392 |
| 2025 CO-OP Tour Challenge | 416 | 454 |
Having said that, the force was strong in this one.
What also increased at the CO-OP Tour Challenge was the number of times the team with the hammer was held to a single point.
The men's side averaged 3.12 single-point ends per game, up from last season's average of 2.52, while the women's side averaged 2.93, up from 2.57.
| Single-Point Ends Per Game | Men's Division | Women's Division |
| 2024-25 Season Average | 2.52 | 2.57 |
| 2025 CO-OP Tour Challenge | 3.12 | 2.93 |
One last time, here's a direct comparison to the AMJ Masters.
| Total Single-Point Ends | Men's Division | Women's Division |
| 2025 AMJ Masters | 109 | 95 |
| 2025 CO-OP Tour Challenge | 128 | 120 |
FOURTH END: It's a bit uncommon for playoff games to require an extra end, happening only seven times across 66 games last season (10.6 per cent). Six of seven were won by the team that held the hammer (there's your six-seven reference, kiddos).
The CO-OP Tour Challenge had two playoff games that required shootouts. Both were won by the team that held the hammer, but boy, did it ever make it spicier.
Rachel Homan pinned her draw in the semifinals and held on for the win after Anna Hasselborg landed on the lid as well but came up short by an inch, or maybe even a centimetre. That was certainly a lot more thrilling to watch and in a tighter time window.
There were fewer shootouts during the preliminary round at the CO-OP Tour Challenge (four total, two in each division) compared to the AMJ Masters (nine total, with five on the men's side and four on the women's side).
That could also be why there was a tiebreaker frenzy this time, as both divisions had five teams tied for the final two playoff spots. That meant there had to be an odd man out, and Team Reid Carruthers on the men's side and Team Seung-youn Ha on the women's side were eliminated based on last stone draw totals. It's an unfortunate break, but it also shows how the 3-2-1-0 points system can swing from clean to chaotic.
FIFTH END: What could be the next experiment? Don't be surprised if it's tightening things from eight to seven ends.
The ultimate goal here is to get down to a two-hour broadcast window, so lopping off an end would be the easiest way to achieve that.
It would be interesting to see how that affects blanks as well. Think about it: if you're starting with the hammer, you still want the last-rock advantage in the final end. If that's an eight-end or 10-end game, then there has to be either a steal or a blank at some point. With an odd number of ends, how much would that change?
SIXTH END: The Pan Continental Curling Championships, we hardly knew ye.
World Curling announced a week before the start of this year's tournament in Virginia, Minn., that this would be the final edition of the event. Team Brad Jacobs captured Canada's third gold medal in four years on the men's side, running the table and defeating Team John Shuster of the United States 7-3 in Sunday's final.
Canada's Team Rachel Homan fell just short of defending the gold on the women's side, losing 7-6 to China's Team Wang Rui in the final.
Jacobs came in fresh, having skipped the CO-OP Tour Challenge, whereas Homan arrived at the Pan Cons straight from winning a second straight Grand Slam women's title in Nisku, Alta., and had to grind it out to another final appearance.
"I think we came into this a little bit tired, and I’m really proud of my team for battling through when it was hard, and when it was a bit of a grind mid-week," Homan said in a Curling Canada release. "We made a ton of shots out there. They (China) made everything, and kudos to them. It's just been the end of a long two weeks for us, and we're really proud of how we did."
Jacobs helped secure a spot for Canada in next year's World Men's Curling Championship in Ogden, Utah. That wasn't a concern for Homan, as Canada is guaranteed a berth as the host nation for the World Women's Curling Championship in Calgary.
After this season, the world championships will expand the fields to 18 teams and include a promotion/relegation system, as seen in other sports like hockey. The World Curling Championships B-Divisions will happen in November, so if a team falls out of the A event, they can still work their way back in before the next one.
It makes sense to group teams at similar skill levels in the B- and C-level divisions and actually give them a better chance of improving. It also means we won't see teams like Jacobs or Shuster having to decline a Grand Slam to play in a world qualifier. Qualifying for the worlds at the Pan Cons was less of a challenge and more of an inconvenience for Canadian teams, especially when half the time they had already qualified by default as host. Sure, there was the potential (as low as it was) of relegation to the Pan Cons B division. That was never actually a threat, and we saw the same four or five countries in the mix every year.
SEVENTH END: Team Jordon McDonald and Team Selena Sturmay came out on top during the Home Hardware Canadian Curling Pre-Trials in Wolfville, N.S., and will be heading to Halifax in three weeks with Olympic aspirations at the Montana's Canadian Curling Trials.
Both will be considered long shots to win as the final entrants, but let's not forget Team Mike Harris in 1997 and Team Brad Gushue in 2005 were far from favourites when they won.
Jacobs also came through the pre-trials when his team won in 2013. However, don't forget they were the reigning Brier champs and captured silver at the World Men's Curling Championship. By no means were they underdogs, and they would have made it straight through to the trials under the current qualification method (you'd think winning the most recent national championship would have been enough, but that's 2013 for you).
McDonald is an intriguing case study, with wins over the likes of Team Matt Dunstone and Team Rylan Kleiter at the PointsBet Invitational at the start of the month. The Winnipeg club also upset Dunstone and Team Kevin Koe in the event last season. We'll see how McDonald fares against Dunstone in a non-PBI tournament next week, as his team was invited as a sponsor's exemption to the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe.
EIGHTH END: The start of the next Grand Slam of Curling event is just days away, with the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe running Nov. 4-9 at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in Lake Tahoe, Nev.
Be a part of the first international Grand Slam tournament. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com, with the full draw schedule available here.
Can't make it to Tahoe? Watch every game online for free at rockchannel.com.
Broadcast coverage in Canada on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ begins Nov. 6.
