Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant secured a playoff spot at the world mixed doubles curling championship with Wednesday’s 6-2 victory over England.
Winnipeg’s Peterman and Gallant of St. John’s, N.L., have two more round-robin games to play Thursday at the Sous-Moulin Sports Centre, but the Canadians were guaranteed one of six playoff berths with the victory over siblings Anna and Ben Fowler.
Canada (6-2) can finish no worse than third in Pool B. It plays its final preliminary-round games Thursday versus Australia (3-4) and the United States (4-3).
“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.”
The top three teams in each pool of 10 make the playoffs. Scotland’s Eve Muirhead and Bobbie Lammie (7-0) were also playoff-bound out of Pool B.
The top-ranked duos earn byes to Friday’s semifinals with the remaining four playing off earlier that day. The medal matches are Saturday.
A Canadian team has never won a world mixed doubles title in the event’s 13-year history.
Peterman and Gallant, who are engaged to be married in June, won a silver medal in 2019 in Stavanger, Norway.
“We like playing together, and we enjoy it,” Peterman said. “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.” The pair was hand-picked by Curling Canada to wear the Maple Leaf in Geneva because the COVID-19 pandemic scrubbed the national championship.
