We now know seven of the eight teams who will participate in the double knockout portion of the 2018 Canadian Olympic Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba.
In Pool A, Jocelyn Peterman of Red Deer, Alberta and Brett Gallant of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island went through undefeated at 8-0. They are joined in Pool A by Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg, Manitoba and Mark Nichols of Labrador City, Newfoundland (6-2) and Jill Officer and Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg, Manitoba (5-3).
In Pool B, Laura Crocker of Edmonton, Alberta and Geoff Walker of Beaverlodge, Alberta went through undefeated at 8-0. They are joined by Dana Ferguson and Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton, Alberta (6-2), Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg, Manitoba and John Morris of Kelowna, British Columbia (5-3) and Val Sweeting of Edmonton, Alberta and Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Newfoundland (5-3).
The final eighth spot who will qualify for double knockout Friday will come from a tie-breaker between Chelsea Carey of Calgary, Alberta and Colin Hodgson of West St. Paul, Manitoba versus Nancy Martin of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Catlin Schneider of Regina, Saskatchewan Friday morning. In the double knockout, Ferguson and Bottcher will play Lawes and Morris, Jones and Nichols will play Officer and Carruthers, and Crocker and Walker will play Sweeting and Gushue. The tie-break winner will then play Peterman and Gallant.
Four spots will emerge from the double knockout tournament. A page playoff system will then be used to determine the champion. The winner of the 2018 Canadian Olympic Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba will represent Canada at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
