Peterman & Gallant secure playoff spot for Canada at mixed doubles curling worlds

Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant will be moving on in the medal hunt at the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship taking place in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Canadian duo secured their spot in the playoffs following a 6-2 win over England on Wednesday.

With a 6-1 record, Peterman and Gallant currently sit second in Group B behind 7-0 Scotland. Canada’s only loss of the tournament came against the Scots on Monday. Scotland is represented by Eve Muirhead, who skipped her women’s team to gold at Beijing 2022, and Bobby Lammie, who was part of the Olympic silver medal-winning men’s team in February.

Peterman and Gallant still have two games to play on Thursday, the results of which will determine whether they get a bye directly into the semifinals or if they will have to play a qualification playoff game.

Canada secure play-off spot at the #WMDCC2022

Congratulations, @jpete93 and @bpgallant

WCF / Céline Stucki#Curling pic.twitter.com/NNzgUaGvmW

— World Curling (@worldcurling) April 27, 2022

“If we continue to play the way we’re playing and we continue to get comfortable with the ice, we’ll be in a good position,” Gallant said. “We’re positioning our draws better than we were at the start of the week, and that’s been the key to our game. Getting those angles set up, and we’re starting to make a few more shots a game, and that’s really been helping.”

Gallant is making history by being the first Canadian curler to compete at the Olympic Winter Games, the men’s world championship, and the mixed doubles world championship in the same year. As the second for Team Brad Gushue, he won Olympic bronze in Beijing. A couple weeks after returning home, they won the Brier to become Team Canada for the men’s worlds where they captured the silver medal.

Peterman also competed in Beijing as the second for Team Jennifer Jones. The couple, who will be getting married in June, are seeking their second podium at the mixed doubles worlds. They won silver together in 2019 and are two-time national mixed doubles champions.

“We like playing together and we enjoy it,” said Peterman. “It’s fun on the ice and we’re not really thinking about the pressure ever. We just like playing and making great shots and this discipline is fun for us to highlight that.”

Peterman and Gallant opened the worlds with a 9-3 win over Germany on Saturday, which was followed by victories against Spain (8-2) and Turkey (10-5) before their encounter against Scotland which they lost 8-4. They rebounded with big wins over Hungary (10-1) and the Czech Republic (10-4) before keeping their win streak going against England.

Still to come are games against two teams still in the playoff hunt, Australia (currently 3-4) and the United States (currently 4-3).

The 20 teams in the tournament are divided into two groups. The top three teams in each group at the end of the round robin advance to the playoffs. The top team in each group receives the semifinal bye. The second- and third-ranked teams will cross over for qualification playoff games with the winners moving on to the semifinals.

The bronze and gold medal matches are both scheduled for Saturday.