Familiar names advance to playoffs at Canadian Olympic mixed doubles curling trials

If you're feeling like the Olympic mixed doubles curling trials are earlier than usual, that's because they are.

In a move to better prepare Canadians curlers for the Olympics, Curling Canada has overhauled its schedule, moving the mixed doubles trials a year earlier — the thinking being that a full year of training and building chemistry will lead to success at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in about 14 months from now.

There's still a long way to go before any of that happens, however.

The first test is winning the trials happening now in Liverpool, N.S. The team that wins the trials will then be tasked with qualifying Canada for the Olympics with a strong showing at the world championships in Fredericton at the end of April and early May.

Should the team that wins trials then qualify Canada for the Olympics at worlds, they will represent Canada in Italy.

Sixteen of the country's top mixed doubles teams arrived in Liverpool at the beginning of the week hoping to advance to the playoffs and compete in the championship game. That number has now been trimmed to six.

There have been some surprises along the way, including the defending Canadian champions, Kadriana and Colton Lott, being eliminated from playoff contention. Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres, who have won a Canadian title before, have also been eliminated after being defeated in their final round-robin game.

The top three teams in each Pool advance to the playoffs — in Pool A Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter finished first, Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher finished second and Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing got the final spot.

Bottcher and Homan, pictured during Draw 5, wrapped up round-robin play with a 6-4 win over Jones and Laing on Thursday. (Michael Burns/The Canadian Press)

Tran and Kleiter have surprised so far, dropping just one game through the seven-game round robin. They finished tied with Homan and Bottcher with a 6-1 record but clinched the top spot because they defeated the duo in the round robin.

Homan is the reigning Scotties and world champion with her four-person team and is having another successful season to date. Bottcher has joined Team Gushue as second and is looking to help that team win yet another Brier title.

Jones, a six-time Scotties winner and Olympic champion, retired from the four-person game at the end of last season but continued on with her husband in mixed doubles.

Peterman, Gallant go undefeated in Pool B

In Pool B, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant went undefeated to clinch first, Lisa Weagle and John Epping finished second and Jaelyn Cotter and Jim Cotter secured the final playoff spot.

Peterman and Gallant have won the Canadian title twice before, winning the title in 2016 and 2019. They are brimming with confidence as they head into the playoffs. Both curlers, husband and wife, competed at the Beijing Olympics with their four-person teams — Gallant was second for Team Gushue and Peterman was second for Team Jones.

The playoffs begin Thursday evening at Queens Place Emera Centre with the top two teams from each pool crossing over and playing for a direct spot in the 1 vs 2 game — the losers drop down to play the third-placed team in each pool for a spot in the 3 vs. 4 game.

The winner of the 1 vs. 2 game goes directly into Saturday afternoon's final, while the loser drops down to play the winner of the 3 vs. 4 game in the semifinal. The semifinal winner then advances to the gold-medal game on Saturday.

Important change 

It's also important to highlight another important change made by Curling Canada.

In the past, Canadian curlers had to make the difficult decision to either compete in the four-person game or mixed doubles at the Olympics — they could not play in both.

That limiting decision was scrutinized by fans and curlers, especially considering many other countries allowed their curlers to compete in both. Now, Canadian curlers have the option should they win both the mixed doubles and four-person trials, to compete in both.