The Grand Slam of Curling saw quite a few rule changes during the 2025-26 season.

Teams were allowed to blank only once per game. Draw-to-the-button shootouts replaced extra ends during the preliminary round, which also led to a 3-2-1-0 points system and had an impact on tiebreakers.

We took a peek at the immediate impact of these rules through the first two events, small sample size and all, but now that the season is in the books, let’s look at the effect through the full 2025-26 campaign, highlighting the wacky and wild stats.

FIRST END: The blank rule first came into play at the CO-OP Tour Challenge, the second GSOC event, and was in effect for the remainder of the season. Teams could blank just once per game and would lose the hammer if they blanked a second time.

The rule was introduced as a way to increase offence and decrease the total number of blank ends in a game, but it also meant teams had to be strategic about when they should blank. Do you use it early or save it for later?

Here’s a breakdown of when teams used their blank in both divisions.

First End Second End Third End Fourth End Fifth End Sixth End Seventh End Eighth End
Men's 14 5 10 6 18 4 10 1
Women's 19 4 12 1 5 3 12 1
Total 33 9 22 7 23 7 22 2

The first end was the most popular by far, although it’s interesting to see that the odd ends overall vastly outnumbered the even ends: 100 to 25. It makes sense when you consider curling games finish with an even end, i.e. you want to have the hammer in the eighth.

There were only 11 games where both teams used their blank. Six came during the CO-OP Tour Challenge when the rule had just been established, so we’ll chalk that up to "early-installment weirdness" as teams were still figuring it out.

Strange but true: Yes, two teams blanked the eighth end. Team Mouat was already ahead 7-6 against Team Muskatewitz in the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe and opted to blast away with the last rock of the game. Team Fujisawa was also up by one with the hammer coming home against Team Homan, 5-4, in the Crown Royal Players' Championship. Rachel Homan was unable to sit shot rock for a potential steal as she hit and rolled out, resulting in an empty house that was scored as a blank since Satsuki Fujisawa didn't need to throw the final rock.

SECOND END: There were some interesting quirks after taking a deeper dive into the numbers of which men's teams blanked in the first end.

Of the 14 men’s games, seven were courtesy of Team Retornaz. Half!

The only other men's team to blank in the first end multiple times was Team McEwen, both occurrences taking place at the Crown Royal Players' Championship.

Further down the rabbit hole, Retornaz blanked the first end twice against McEwen.

THIRD END: No team lost the hammer for blanking a second time in the Tier 1, but it happened twice on the opening day of Tier 2 action at the HearingLife Canadian Open.

Team Maeda blanked the third and seventh ends against Team Xu, losing the hammer for the final frame. Xu was already up one and added a single coming home to win 5-3.

Meanwhile, Team McDonald blanked the first two ends against Team Knapp to lose the hammer for the third. Although Team McDonald managed to steal a point in the third, Knapp went on to win the game 5-3.

FOURTH END: Shootouts replaced extra ends for the preliminary and tiebreaker rounds starting at the AMJ Masters. This was extended to the playoffs for the next two events, the CO-OP Tour Challenge and KIOTI GSOC Tahoe, then dialed back to just the preliminary round for the final pair of tournaments.

Shootouts are not only quicker than playing an extra end, but they also bring down the predictability factor. During the previous two seasons, the team with the hammer won 84.8 per cent of the time in the extra end.

Here’s how things shook down during the shootouts.

Event Total Shootouts Shootout Won By Team With Hammer Shootout Won By Team Without Hammer
AMJ Masters 9 3 6
CO-OP Tour Challenge 7 6 1
KIOTI GSOC Tahoe 9 4 5
HearingLife Canadian Open 6 4 2
Crown Royal Players' Championship 13 5 8
Total 44 22 22

Well, would you look at that? It's an even 50-50 split. The shootout certainly levels the playing field. Even if it’s a coincidence that the numbers worked out like that, it’s still less predictable than the advantage for the team with the hammer with an extra end.

Besides, the team that would have had the hammer in the extra end still gets to choose who throws first in the shootout (more on that in a moment).

Strange but true: All six shootouts at the HearingLife Canadian Open took place in the men’s division, with zero happening in the women’s division.

FIFTH END: Is it better to throw first or second in the shootout? The advantage of going second is that you know how close you have to draw. The disadvantage is that the pressure is on if you have to cover the pin.

Another thing to consider: If your opponent just threw a draw in the eighth end to tie the game, you'll want to go first in the shootout and have them throw second to cool the hot hand.

There were 28 shootouts in the men's division and 16 shootouts in the women's division. Conclusion: It just depends on which division you’re playing in.

Winner Shot First Winner Shot Second
Men's 9 19
Women's 14 2
Total 23 21

SIXTH END: A double shootout? What does it mean?

This strange but true note deserves its own section, as two shootouts during the season required a second round and both took place during the Crown Royal Players’ Championship.

This occurred as both teams covered the pin, requiring different players to throw the second shot.

Team Tirinzoni defeated Team Tabata 5-4 in Draw 3, and Team Dunstone edged out Team Jacobs 7-6 in Draw 11.

What’s next? A triple shootout? How about a shootout where all four players have to throw? Of course, now that we’ve mentioned it, watch it manifest next season.

SEVENTH END: Who were the shootout masters?

That would be Team Waddell in the men's division, with a perfect 5-0 record in shootouts. Four of Waddell’s shootout wins were "steals," i.e., the Scottish squad wouldn’t have had the hammer if it went to an extra end.

Team Mouat appeared in the most shootouts in the men’s division at six games and split with a 3-3 record.

The shootout masters in the women’s division: Team Homan at 3-0.

Team Hasselborg played the most shootouts in the women's division with six games and went 3-3.

As for the worst? Team Muskatewitz had the most losses, appearing in five shootouts in the men’s division and going 1-4. Team Yoshimura was at the bottom of the women’s division at 0-3.

EIGHTH END: The switch to shootouts in the preliminary round also led to the 3-2-1-0 points system. Teams earned three points for a regulation win (in eight ends or fewer), two points for a shootout win, one point for a shootout loss and zero points for a regulation loss.

This didn’t necessarily solve the tiebreaker mess, but as we saw at the AMJ Masters, it has the potential to tidy things up, as zero tiebreakers were required in the women’s division during that event. If only the other tournaments were as neat.

Another thing to consider is how the tiebreaker winners perform in the quarterfinals. There were 14 tiebreaker games during the 2025-26 season. The combined record of the tiebreaker winners in the quarterfinals was 3-11.

It shouldn’t be too surprising to see tiebreaker winners struggle in the quarterfinals:

• Just being in the tiebreakers signals that you haven’t been at your best all week.
• You’re entering the quarterfinals as one of the lowest seeds and likely facing an undefeated team.
• Your quarterfinal draw might be taking place an hour after your tiebreaker game ends.

Good luck, you’re going to need it.

This might sound like we're dismissing tiebreaker games, but they are crucial for ranking points when you factor in the gap between qualifying and not qualifying for the playoffs. Teams receive 30 points for making the playoffs in Grand Slam events, compared to only 3.75 points per round-robin win if they miss the cut. It adds up.

Besides, the alternative is to use last stone draw totals to break ties, and that proved to be super unpopular when it was used.