It has been seven years since the who’s-who of our country’s mixed doubles curling teams have met on the actual pebbled ice to the determine an Olympic representative.
But that’s the deal going down at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials, beginning Monday and running through Jan. 4 in Liverpool, N.S.
“Yup … best of the best,” declared Brett Gallant, who teams with partner on ice — and in life — Jocelyn Peterman to make up one of the event’s favourites in Nova Scotia.
“I think there’s any number of teams that could be there at the end of the week, too. So it’s going to be a slugfest here.”
If nothing else, it should be fun.
And it should be intense, as well, given a berth is on the line to represent Canada at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina, Italy. It also will be up to the winning duo to make sure that Canada qualifies to play in mixed doubles at the Olympics by recording a good enough result at the 2025 world championship.
Here’s what you need to know about the trials:
WHO ARE THE PARTICIPANTS?
There are legends and superstars of the sport, such as the Jennifer Jones/Brent Laing tandem and the Rachel Homan/Brendan Bottcher dynamic, vying for the trials win.
And there are new kids on the block, such as Ontarian duo of Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo looking to surprise in vying for Olympic magic.
Plus there are the usual contenders — think defending national champions Kadriana Lott and Colton Lott, or Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres — in the mix for the mixed honour.
“You’re seeing kind of all different teams,” Gallant said. “You’ve seeing some veteran curlers, but you’re seeing some up-and-coming curlers. You’re seeing teams with lots of experience at the national level or international level. You’re seeing some that maybe don’t have a lot of experience internationally but have done really well competing in Canada.
“So … yeah … there’s a kind of a good balance. It’s just good blend.”
Here are the 16 teams and how they qualified for the trials:
- Kadriana Lott/Colton Lott (Gimli, Man.) – 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship gold medallists
- Laura Walker/Kirk Muyres (Edmonton/Humboldt, Sask.) – 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship silver medallists
- Jocelyn Peterman/Brett Gallant (Chestermere, Alta.) – 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Championship bronze medallists
- Nancy Martin/Steve Laycock (Wakaw, Sask./Saskatoon) – 2023-24 Canadian Mixed Doubles Rankings (CMDR)
- Jennifer Jones/Brent Laing (Barrie, Ont.) – 2023-24 CMDR
- Brittany Tran/Rylan Kleiter (Calgary/Saskatoon) – Canadian Mixed Doubles Qualifier (Maple Ridge, B.C.)
- Rachel Homan/Brendan Bottcher (Beaumont, Alta./Spruce Grove, Alta.) – Canadian Mixed Doubles Qualifier (Guelph, Ont.)
- Jennifer Armstrong/Tyrel Griffith (Rothesay, N.B./Kelowna, B.C.) – Canadian Mixed Doubles Qualifier (Banff, Alta.)
- Riley Sandham/Brendan Craig (Guelph, Ont.) – 2025 Trials CMDR
- Lisa Weagle/John Epping (Ottawa/Toronto) – 2025 Trials CMDR
- Taylor Reese-Hansen/Corey Chester (Kitimat, B.C./Victoria) – 2025 Trials CMDR
- Anne-Sophie Gionest/Robert Desjardins (Alma, Que./Saguenay, Que.) – 2025 Trials CMDR
- Melissa Adams/Alex Robichaud (Fredericton, N.B.) – 2025 Trials CMDR
- Jessica Zheng/Victor Pietrangelo (Niagara Falls, Ont.) – 2025 Trials CMDR
- Paige Papley/Evan Van Amsterdam (Edmonton) – 2025 Trials CMDR
- Jaelyn Cotter/Jim Cotter (Vernon, B.C.) – 2025 Trials CMDR
“I think it’s one of the stronger fields we’ve seen in Canada at a mixed doubles national event,” Gallant said. “Like the last time we had the trials where you had probably the top 16 or 18 teams was seven years ago, right? And the teams have changed a lot since then.
“But every team here is really talented, and those teams that have chosen to focus on mixed doubles, they’re dialled into the game. They’ve perfected a lot of the shots you use in mixed doubles, and they’ve gained a lot of experience just focusing their time on mixed doubles. So there’s certainly no easy game at this event. And I think the quality of curling that’s going to be shown this week is going to be extremely high.”
WHAT IS THE FORMAT?
With 16 teams challenging for the championship at Liverpool’s Queens Place Emera Centre, the trials mirror what the Brier and the Scotties Tournament of Hearts put out there:
- Two pools of eight
- Top three teams from each pool after the four days of round-robin action earn playoff berths
- Page playoff system, with the top two teams from each pool getting two chances to advance to the semifinals
There are four draws daily in the first three days of round-robin action, followed by a half-day on the fourth day to wrap up the round robin after which the playoffs begin.
HOW CAN WE WATCH?
The games will be presented on Curling Canada’s YouTube channel (All times ET):
- Monday @ 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 6:30 p.m.
- Tuesday @ 8 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 6:30 p.m.
- Wednesday @ 9 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 7:30 p.m.
- Thursday @ 9 a.m., noon, 5 p.m. (Page 1v2)
- Friday @ 1 p.m. (Page 1/2v3), 6 p.m. (Page winners)
- Saturday @ 9 a.m. (semifinals), 1 p.m. (final)
WHO HAS THE MOMENTUM?
Gallant and Peterman won two weeks ago at Banff/Canmore’s Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic, a sort-of prequel to the mixed trials. The event also acted as a last-chance qualifier for these Olympic trials.
“We already had our Olympic trial spot,” said Peterman, a 31-year-old native of Red Deer, Alta. “But it was important for us to play well at that event and had really kind of turned it up a notch in the playoffs. And so we’re happy with that and happy coming into the trials with a big win.”
Of course, both focus primarily on team curling — Peterman as the second for Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes, and Gallant as the second for Calgary’s Brad Jacobs.
“Especially since we hadn’t really played any other mixed doubles events this year, it was nice to kind of turn that side of the brain on and get into the groove in Banff,” continue Peterman. “And a lot of the top teams here at the trials were playing in that event, so it’s nice to compete against them and have a great weekend.”
Even with their commitments weighed heavily to the team side of curling, the Glencoe Club tandem can draw on the success they have enjoyed in mixed action.
They have won both the 2016 and 2019 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, finished runner-up to Lawes and John Morris at the 2018 Olympic trials and placed fifth at the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
“The nice thing is we have about eight years of experience playing mixed doubles together, so we do have that to rely on,” added Gallant, a 34-year-old native of Charlottetown, P.E.I. “And we’ve focused a number of practices over the last couple of months on mixed doubles just because there’s nuances to the game that are different from four-person curling. And the roles that we have on our on our mixed-doubles team are different than the roles we play on our four-person teams. So it’s just kind of nice to stay fresh with that.
“We’re happy with our preparation, so now it’s, ‘Let’s get the event started.’ ”
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