Multiple changes will be applied starting this season to the club championship at the national and provincial levels. These changes will modify the admissibility and team composition criteria.
1. Fifth players allowed
Up until the 23-24 season, teams were not allowed to register a fifth player for the club championship. Teams had to register with only four players, which will no longer be the case. As was the case in previous seasons, all registered team members will be required to be members of the same curling club.
Starting this season, teams will be allowed to register a fifth player for the club championship. A team will be allowed to use a substitute (who will still need to be a member of the same curling club as the team) during regionals if applicable. Only the registered 4 or 5 players will be allowed to compete at the provincial championship.
2. New team eligibility criteria
Team members will no longer need to play on the same team in a league within their club. While the four or five team members will still have to be regular members of the same curling club, it will no longer be required for a minimum of three team members to play regularly together in a league.
It is important to note that a player will not be allowed to represent more than one club for this competition within the same season, even if they have been eliminated, after a regional for example.
3. Modified criteria to designate players as “elite”
Each team will be allowed a maximum of one player that is designated as “elite”. The criteria to determine if a player is elite or not will be slightly modified.
As of this season, a player will be designated as “elite” if they have participated in the following events over the last three seasons, or if they finished in the top 3 of a provincial championship leading to the following events in the past three seasons:
- Canadian Junior U20 Championship (4 player)
- Canadian Colleges Association Championship
- Canadian USPORTS Championship
- Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship
- Canadian Mixed Double Olympic Trials
- Tournament of Hearts
- Brier
- Canadian Olympic 4 person pre-trials and trials
- The Grand Slam of Curling Tier 1 or 2
- Pan-continental Curling Championship
For this season, the following years will be considered: 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
If you have questions about theses changes, please contact Émile Asselin (emile.asselin@curling-quebec.qc.ca).
