2026 Big Jib Draw

The seventh Big Jib Draw bonspiel will take place on 24-27 September 2026 at the RE/MAX Centre (St. John’s Curling Club), located at 135 Mayor Avenue in St. John’s.

There will be a pre-event gathering at Quidi Vidi Brewery on the evening of Wednesday September 23rd. More details are given below.

On Thursday, teams can come to the curling club as soon at 5:00pm to meet other players and collect their registration kits.

Buy Drinks for Players

You can support your favourite teams and players by sending them a drink. Click here to make someone happy.

Registration

The following 32 teams are confirmed to be playing in the bonspiel.

Team Name	Skip	Team Location
Rock Hard	van der Meer	St. John’s
Rink Pony Club	Worthman	St. John’s
The Devil Wears Curling Pants	Hillier	St. John’s
I ❤️ DP	Delaney	St. John’s
5 On The Rock	Wayne	St. John’s
Bend and Sweep	Cull	St. John’s
Big Jeff’s Button Bashers	Bailey	St. John’s
Sweepin’ Around	Butler	St. John’s
The Tonya Hurry Hardings	Harding	Toronto
Is It In?	Oickle	Halifax
Nice Hog	Leier	Saskatoon / Ottawa
Drunken Sailors	Field	Toronto / Vancouver / St. John’s
Let’s Get Your Rocks Off	Gallo	Toronto
Les Maudites Vaches	Weingartshofer	Montreal
Team McAlear	McAlear	Ottawa
Ends with Benefits	Dykstra	Charlottetown
Best Kind and Rotted	Mudryk	Toronto
Team Saban Jr	Chris	Toronto
Team Lui	Lui	Toronto
Goldilocks and the Three Bears	Ott	St. John’s / Toronto
Brush Offs	Anderson	Paradise / Halifax
Cowboy Curlers	Cotter	St. John’s
Rock Bottom	Wong	Toronto
The Winner Takes it All	Sparrow	St. John’s / Cape Broyle
The Fax Machine	Sutherland	Halifax
Fruity Pebbles	Bradley	Toronto
Cod U Next Tuesday	Gillette	Toronto
Atlantic Bear Backenders	Hood	St. John’s / Halifax / Charlottetown
We Ain’t Worried	Taylor	St. John’s
Sip and Slide	Cribb	St. John’s
Trish	Grimes	St. John’s
Team Eaton	Eaton	St. John’s

Food Truck

The Cojones 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

Social Events and Entertainment

Curlers who are in town on Wednesday September 23rd are welcome to informally gather at the Quidi Vidi taproom anytime after 6pm (but before doors close at 10pm). Enter through the main entrance to the Quidi Vidi Brewery, go upstairs to the taproom, out to the deck area and then downstairs to where we will be.

On Friday evening there will be a drag show featuring Crystal Queer and Trish Bish.

On Saturday evening we will be heading to Bella Vista, located at 26 Torbay Road. This a private event for Big Jib Draw participants. Wristbands from team welcome kits are required for admission. There will be a bus leaving the RE/MAX Centre at 9:15pm.

Sensory Space

This year we are excited to pilot ‘Sensory-Friendly Hours’ in the second-floor viewing lounge at the RE/MAX Centre. During these designated times, we will dim the lights and encourage a quiet environment to create a more comfortable, calming space for participants and guests with sensory sensitivities. The designated times are as follows:

Thursday	6:00pm – 8:00pm
Friday	9:00am – 11:00am, 2:30pm – 4:30pm
Saturday	9:00am – 11:00am, 3:30pm – 5:45pm
Sunday	11:45am – 2:45pm

Travel

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: CQV8WHU1
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 October 3rd this year. After that, crossings between North Sydney NS and Port aux Basques NL will be the only option.

Schedule

With 32 teams playing in our bonspiel, there will be eight draws of pool play, with the first two draws happening on the evening of Thursday September 24th. 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 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.
NEW for the 2026 Big Jib Draw: the No-Tick Shot Rule applies.
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 single shots 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