Focus will be on the button

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA

They do things a little differently at the Olympics when it comes to determining which team gets the hammer in the first end.

In Canadian events and on the Grand Slam tour the draw-to-the-button competition to determine last rock is simpler. One player from each team shoots, both on the same side of the ice, and the team with the closest rock to the button gets hammer.

The distances are also measured cumulatively and can come into play for breaking ties at the end of the round robin.

At this event, two players from each team throw draws, one clockwise and one counter-clockwise.

“You really have double the draws to the button,” says Canadian skip Kevin Koe. “It’s the two rocks combined vs. the other team’s two rocks combined.

“That’s something we never do back home, but we did have to do at the worlds in Switzerland a couple of years ago.

“We’re pretty good at the draw to the button and I think it works in our favour now that you have to have two people doing it and they both count.”