Teams will now face discipline should they attempt to slow down a stone while sweeping.
World Curling released a new sweeping technique policy on Tuesday to include infractions for what's been deemed "unacceptable effects on the stone."
Teams will receive a warning from the game umpire after the first offence, with additional infringements resulting in the rock being removed from play.
The policy comes less than a month before the start of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
The Crown Royal Players' Championship, which began Tuesday at the Southeast Event Centre in Steinbach, Man., is the first major tournament with the new policy in place, although players will be enforcing the rules.
Matt Dunstone, who is a member of the World Curling Athlete Commission, was part of the discussions for the new policy and said he was quite proud that World Curling pushed through with the announcement during the season.
"A lot of the time it's wait and see, reactionary, and then it's kind of like oops, it's too late, everybody's pissed off, that sort of thing," Dunstone said. "We knew through discussions that this had to be done. If we were going to do it before the Olympics, this had to be done pronto. It had to come out as much in advance as possible."
Skip Anna Hasselborg said the change has been welcomed by her team ahead of the Winter Olympics.
"We have been very frustrated with the over-releases over the hogline and we have been frustrated about the dumping situation," Hasselborg said. "I'm really happy we're taking some action into that, but I don't want it to be like a self-monitoring thing that we put on the players. Let's see if the umpires of the games can do something about it also, but it's definitely a welcome change.
"We don't want our sport to be trying to slow rocks down, and we don't want to see unfair play. I think it's really good, and I'm happy that World Curling is showing the lead and taking actions before the Olympics."
Skip Mike McEwen believes it's a hint that there will be more discussions over the off-season about what the sport should look like in the future.
"I was just surprised at this stage that there was action, which traditionally, going back there, probably arguably, has been inaction and slow to do anything, so I think it's going in the right direction," McEwen said. "I was surprised, but I think this is going to lead to even better conversations about what we want sweeping to look like for the sport going forward.
"We want it to look professional, and I don't want to say that method is gimmicky, but it has maybe the appearance of being so, if that’s fair. I think it looks a little cringy, let's be honest. ... Whether it works or not, like that aside, I think from just trying to have the perspective of fans, I'm not sad to see that, OK, let's just not do that."
World Curling outlined the sweeping methods that are prohibited:
• Single brush strokes (standard or knifing orientation) using primarily a push motion.
• Single brush strokes that keep the brush on the ice while returning to its original position.
• Single brush strokes that lift the brush head off the ice before returning to its original position.
Dunstone explained that the biggest issue he saw was that the variance involved with sweeping was too large.
"If we're able to drag a rock 10 to 15 feet as is, which is about what we can do with our existing equipment, but we're also able to begin to slow rocks down and again, if that possibility is there, we're talking 15-18 feet of variance. That's a lot," Dunstone said.
"For me, it's like if we're able to bring these brooms back where we're carrying rocks five, six feet, four to six feet, then you know what? Maybe we increase that variance. If we are actually able to slow rocks down, who the hell knows if that's even possible, then it makes a bit more sense."
Nobody's perfect, and Dunstone believes the sport needs more drama and misses.
"Drama is created by misses, and truthfully, I just didn't think it was a good look for the sport either," he said. "I didn't like the look of it. I just didn't think it had a place that fit in nicely in our sport."
Team Mouat's Hammy McMillan Jr. demonstrated these techniques that will now result in an infraction.
