After 13 years and five appearances on the national mixed stage, Brent MacDougall has finally hoisted the Canadian mixed trophy.
Halifax’s Team MacDougall won the 2026 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship at the West Prince Curling Club in Woodstock, P.E.I., with a 9-5 win over Team New Brunswick’s Sylvie Quillian on Saturday afternoon.
MacDougall credited the win to his team of vice-skip Erin Carmody, second Scott Weagle, lead Marie Christianson, and coach Danny Christianson.
“This feels amazing because it’s very rare you get here at all,” said MacDougall. “Marie came here with a nine-week-old and Scott stuck with it the whole game. He just kept sweeping us out and stuck with us. Erin, of course, does what Erin does. She’s a great player. It feels exhilarating, for sure.
“Danny, our coach, has lost four [national] finals as a coach. This is his first final won. We would not have won it without him. Danny helped get us to that next level, and that’s why we won.”
The game opened with a New Brunswick steal of two that no one saw coming. With two New Brunswick stones set up on opposite sides of the 12-foot, both teams exchanged a singular rock in the rings. MacDougall’s last rock was just thin and conceded a steal of two.
In the fifth end, Nova Scotia looked to flip the hammer with an open peel. Instead, MacDougall’s last rock stuck around to score one and head into the sixth end with a tied score and without last-rock advantage.
Quillian took advantage of this error. Also capitalizing on another Nova Scotian miss, the New Brunswick skip had four rocks in scoring position. MacDougall immediately responded with a tricky draw into the pocket of New Brunswick stones that Quillian couldn’t answer.
Looking to pick out that one red stone to score at least three, Quillian threw too wide. She tapped each of her stones back and left MacDougall with a steal of one.
The seventh end initially looked promising for Quillian after MacDougall’s guard came up short.
“I threw a perfect freeze to force her to one, and then I tucked it a bit, and it caused it to overcurl,” said MacDougall. “Even Scott, who’s a great sweeper, couldn’t hold it, and then we gave [Quillian] the out-turn draw—and she is a drawing phenom—so she made that draw for two even though our whole strategy was to keep her away from drawing.”
Nova Scotia won with a convincing five-ender after making an open hit to seal the game.
“There’s a definite feeling of pride,” said MacDougall of representing Canada on the world stage. “A proud moment for our whole team.”
Team MacDougall will wear the Maple Leaf at next season’s World Mixed Curling Championship (date and location TBA by World Curling).
Team Northern Ontario’s Bryan Burgess secured the bronze medal with a 4-3 win over Team Québec’s Félix Asselin.
The 2027 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship will be held at Curl Moncton from Nov. 7-13.
