Peterman, Gallant punch playoff ticket at Canadian mixed doubles curling trials

LIVERPOOL, N.S. — Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant stayed undefeated at the Canadian mixed doubles curling trials with a pair of victories Wednesday.

The husband-and-wife duo from Calgary clinched a playoff spot at 6-0 atop Pool B with one preliminary-round game remaining.

“I think at the start of the week you really kind of want to be in that game to potentially get into the 1-2 game,” said Gallant. “So we’re where we want to be. I think the good news is we’re playing well too. We feel more comfortable with the ice and how we’re throwing it as the week’s gone along, and that’s the important thing.”

The trials winner can represent Canada in the 2026 Olympic Games if the duo also finishes high enough at the 2025 world championship to qualify their country for Italy.

The Olympic field will include the top eight ranked countries in the world, or the top seven plus host Italy if the Italians aren't in the top eight. Canada currently ranks fifth.

The 16-team trials field was divided into two pools. The top three teams in each pool advance to the playoff round starting Thursday evening. The final is Saturday at Queens Place Emera Centre.

Peterman and Gallant, who were silver medallists at the 2019 world championship, defeated the father-daughter combo of Jim and Jaelyn Cotter 8-1 before downing Tyrel Griffith and Jennifer Armstrong 5-2 on Wednesday.

Peterman and Gallant had one pool game remaining Thursday against 2024 Canadian champions Colton and Kadriana Lott (4-2).

The Lotts were 8-6 winners Wednesday afternoon over Lisa Weagle and John Epping, who were also 4-2 in Pool B.

The Cotters and Griffith and Armstrong were 3-3.

Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher dropped their first game in Pool A on Wednesday when they fell 7-6 to Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter.

But both teams clinched playoff berths with wins during Wednesday evening's draw.

Homan and Bottcher got back in the win column with an 8-3 victory over Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock (1-5), while Tran and Kleiter won 8-6 against Robert Desjardins and Anne-Sophie Gionest (1-5).

Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo (2-4) took it 6-5 over Paige Papley and Evan Van Amsterdam (2-4) and Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing (4-2) dealt a 9-3 loss to Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres (4-2).

Homan and Bottcher are tied with Tran and Kleiter at 5-1 atop Pool A heading into Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 1, 2025.

The Canadian Press