2025 Big Jib Draw

The sixth Big Jib Draw bonspiel was held on 25-28 September 2025 at the RE/MAX Centre (St. John’s Curling Club), located at 135 Mayor Avenue in St. John’s.

Champions

The team that won is Is It In? from Halifax, shown below with the BJD trophy:

Photographs

Thru Lucy’s Lens Photography took many photos for us at the curling club. Click here to view the photo galleries.

Registration

The following 32 teams were in the competition.

Team Name	Skip	Team Location
Backdoor Bandits	Burroughs	St. John’s
Hack Rolls?!	van der Meer	St. John’s
Hammer(ed) Queers	St. Coeur	St. John’s
House Music	Pike	St. John’s
Oh Sheet!	Elliott	St. John’s
Pebble Pushers	Trainor	St. John’s
Pumpkin Salad	Cotter	St. John’s
Schitts Sweep	Cull	St. John’s
Sip and Slide	Cribb	St. John’s
Team Gallagher	Gallagher	St. John’s
Team Saunders	Saunders	St. John’s
Team Taylor	Taylor	St. John’s
Team Trish	Grimes	St. John’s
White Load-Us Up	Bailey	St. John’s
Goldilocks & the Three Bears	Ott	St. John’s / Toronto
Brush Offs	Anderson	Paradise / Halifax
The Spud Muffins	Trimble	Charlottetown
Is It In?	Oickle	Halifax
Just Between us Curl Friends	White	Halifax
Bosses	Sasura	Montreal
50 Sheets of Gay	Morrison	Ottawa
Steal Magnolias	Verberne	Ottawa
Sweeping Around	Reichelt	Ottawa
Team McAlear	McAlear	Ottawa
Miss Xandie and the Pit Crew	Coffey	Ottawa / St. John’s
Better from Behind	Shreim	Toronto
Electric Sliders	Fleury	Toronto
Rock Bottom	Aloussis	Toronto
Rock, Button, Scissors	Visanji	Toronto
Tonya Hurry Hardings	Harding	Toronto
Your house or mine?	Knight	Toronto
Drunken Sailors	Field	Toronto / Vancouver / St. John’s

Food Trucks

The Big “R” Food Truck will be in the parking lot on Friday and Saturday at the following times:

Friday: 12 noon until 8 pm

Saturday: 12 noon until 6 pm

The Newfie Bites Food Truck will be in the parking lot on Sunday at the following times:

Sunday: 11 am until 3 pm

Social Events & Entertainment

On Thursday, teams can come to the curling club as soon at 5:00pm to meet other players and collect their registration kits. We will be joined by St. John’s Pride and local community members later in the evening.

On Friday evening there will be a drag show featuring Tara Nova and Gravy.

On Saturday from 3:30pm to 5:30pm, local musician Brad Jefford will be performing at the curling club.

On Saturday evening we will be heading to the Quidi Vidi Brewery. This a private event for Big Jib Draw participants. Wristbands from team welcome kits are required for admission.

Travel & Lodging

For those planning to fly, please be sure to book flights using airport code YYT for St. John’s, Newfoundland. Do not select the city of Saint John in New Brunswick as your destination. Although the people in Saint John are very nice, that is not where our bonspiel is taking place.

Discount code from Air Canada: UQ3D7921
This promotion code is valid for travel within several days of the bonspiel. Enter the code when making a booking on the Air Canada website to see the discounts that it provides for travel to/from St. John’s, Newfoundland.

For teams planning to drive to Newfoundland, you will want to book a ferry crossing with Marine Atlantic. The service between North Sydney NS and Argentia NL lasts until September 30th this year. After that, crossings between North Sydney NS and Port aux Basques NL will be the only option.

The Hilton Garden Inn has provided special rates for our bonspiel participants, starting at $139/night (including parking and breakfast), valid from September 1st 2025 to January 31st 2026. Click here to make a booking.

Schedule

With 32 teams playing in our bonspiel, we are planning to have eight draws of pool play, with the first two draws happening on the evening of Thursday September 25th. Each team will play three 8-end games in advance of the playoffs. A tentative schedule (with the 32 teams divided into eight colour-coded pools, each having four teams that play a round-robin within their pool) is shown below. All times are with respect to the Newfoundland time zone.

Game results will be updated online on an ongoing basis, usually after each draw, but sometimes maybe even while games are in progress. They can also be viewed in PDF format.

You can also view the points that each team has earned during pool play. There is also a PDF version.

Rules of Play

Unless otherwise noted, the Rules of Curling for General Play (2022-2026) published by Curling Canada will apply.
The Five Rock Rule applies.
The No-Tick Shot Rule will not be enforced.
All brush heads except for hair/corn brooms are permissible.
Teams typically consist of four players, but three are allowed. A team is in default if the minimum complement of three players is not achieved within 15 minutes of the scheduled start of a game.
Each team must do a measured draw to the button after their first game.
During Round-Robin Play:
- Each team will play all 3 of the other teams in their own pool.
- Each game has up to 8 ends if time permits.
- Extra ends are not allowed, so there may be tied games.
- A timer will sound after 1 hour and 45 minutes. You can then finish the current end and no more. If the timer sounds while you are between ends (i.e., before the first rock of the next end has been delivered), then the game is over.
During Playoff Games:
- Each game has 8 ends.
- Ties are to be broken by playing extra ends. For the benefit of spectators, extra ends should be played towards the windows.
- Games will not be timed, but all players are asked to be mindful of the schedule and to not waste time.
At the start of each game, the winner of a coin toss shall have their choice of hammer or rock colour.
Spare players are permitted. During playoff games, spares can only play in a team’s front-end.
It is customary for the winning team to buy a round of drinks for the losing team when they socialise after the game is over.
Scheduling and sheet assignments are subject to change at the discretion of the bonspiel committee or Draw Master to expedite play.
Earning Points During Round-Robin Play:
- 10 points for winning a game
- 5 points for each team in a tied game
- 1 point for each end in which a team scores
- Rocks scored do not count towards points.
- Blanked ends generate no points for either team.
- Ends that are not played because time ran out: no points for either team
- If a team concedes: the other team is deemed to win (and will also get 1 point for each remaining unplayed end)
- If a team defaults: the other team will earn 14 points (10 for winning plus 4 for half of the ends that could have been played)
Ranking for entry into playoffs:
- Regardless of points earned during round-robin play, if a team has won against all three other teams in their pool, then this team will advance to the Division A Playoffs. If no team in a pool has won against all three other teams in their pool, then the team with the most points in that pool will advance to the Division A Playoffs.
- The 8 teams that advance to the Division A Playoffs will be ranked 1-8 based on their points. The 4 teams that don’t win their initial Division A game will then go to Division C. The 2 teams that win their initial Division A game but don’t win their second Division A game will then go to Division B.
- The 24 teams that do not advance to the Division A Playoffs will be ranked 9-32 based on their points. Teams 9-16 will advance to Division D, 17-24 to Division E, and 25-32 to Division F.
- In case of point ties, measured draw results will be used. If measured draw results still do not resolve a tie, then the tie will be broken by coin toss.

The Ugly Stick

During each draw we will have a special bell (in the form of a traditional Newfoundland ugly stick) that can be jubilantly rung by any team that makes a double take-out. This team will retain the coveted ugly stick until a double take-out is made by a different team during the same draw, at which time the ugly stick will be transferred accordingly. Since each draw has multiple games in progress concurrently, the ugly stick may visit many sheets over the course of a draw. The team that holds the ugly stick at the end of the draw will be rewarded with a round of double shots of Newfoundland Screech Rum from the bar.

Hogged Rocks

Any player who fails to deliver a rock past the far hog line must pay $2 into the Hogged Rock Piggy Bank. They will receive a piggy pin (plus one additional pin for each violation) and a Piggy Ticket. After Round Robin play, one ticket will be drawn, and the winner gets 50% of the piggy bank!

Odds & Ends Curling