Canada’s Peterman and Gallant headed to World Mixed Doubles Championship playoffs

Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant arrived in Fredericton, N.B., a week ago for the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship with certain goals in mind.

You can be assured that merely making the playoffs was not at the top of the list.

But that step was an absolutely critical part of equation for the Chestermere, Alta.-based Canadian team, and it was taken care of Wednesday night at Willie O’Ree Place with a 9-4 triumph over China’s Yu Han and Zhiyu Wang (2-6).

It capped a two-win day for the Canadians, who along with team coach Laine Peters and national coach Scott Pfeifer will complete their round-robin schedule Thursday at 1 p.m. (all times Eastern) against Scotland’s Jennifer Dodds and Bruce Moaut (6-2).

Scotland also locked down its playoff spot Wednesday, completing the trio of qualifying teams from the 10-team Group A, as Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner (8-0) also are through and have secured a bye to the semifinal.

For Peterman and Gallant, getting to the playoffs is just one step in the process as they compete in their third world championship. Silver-medallists in 2019, they are eyeing the top step of the podium this time around.

“Any time you’re at a world championship, the goal is to win,” said Gallant. “When you’re not standing on the top, there’s always a desire to be higher up, so, you know, it motivates us. We train as hard as we do to try to get to the top.

“We know it’s difficult, and it’s not easy — it never is. But that’s always the goal, so, for sure, that’s the goal again this week, and it’s going to be a challenge.”

The other goal, of course, is for Canada to secure its spot in the mixed doubles field for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina, Italy, and while that hasn’t been locked in just yet, Peterman and Gallant are on the verge of securing that coveted trip to the Winter Games.

They took a big step with the two wins on Wednesday, and put on a clinic in the second half of their game against China, which held a 3-2 lead at the fourth-end break before Canada broke through with a big three in the fifth end on a precise tap from Peterman.

“It just took us a while to figure out the ice,” said Gallant. “We were really close in a lot of shots, and once we figured out where to put the broom, we were dialled in. Just a really good second half for us.”

The teams traded singles with their power plays the next two ends and in the eighth, Gallant made a series of wonderful freezes that left China with only a Hail Mary to try to score a game-tying pair. It missed, and Canada celebrated its seventh win in eighth outings.

Earlier Wednesday, Canada cruised to a 13-2 win over Finland’s Lotta Immonen and Markys Sipila. Peterman and Gallant were in control the entire way. They scored a first-end deuce, and then added stolen deuces in each of the following three ends to rack up an 8-0 lead at the fourth-end break.

Finland ended the shutout with two in the fifth, but in the sixth, with Canada using its power play, Peterman made a double takeout with her final stone to score four and that was enough for Finland to concede.

Peterman believes the duo is in a good place heading into the weekend.

“I think so,” she said. “I think we’re making a lot of shots, we’re communicating well and trying to figure out the ice together, and we’re picking up on it. We’re working well as a team, so that’s all you can ask.”

Each 10-team group is playing a nine-game round robin, and the top three teams from each group will advance to the playoffs. The first-place teams in each group receive a bye to the semifinals, which are scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m.. The second- and third-place teams cross over for qualification games Friday at 9 a.m, from which the winners advance to the semifinals. The winners of those games go to the gold-medal game Saturday at 1 p.m., and the losing teams compete in the bronze-medal game Saturday at 8:30 a.m.

While the Group A playoff picture is set, it’s anything but in Group B, which has two round-robin draws on Thursday to sort it all out as eight of the 10 teams still have a mathematical chance to reach the playoffs.

World Curling’s live-streaming platform The Curling Channel will be the only way to watch games from the World Mixed Doubles Championship.

For the latest scores, draw and list of teams, CLICK HERE.

The French version of this story will be posted as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/?lang=fr.