There was significant curling news in Canada on Monday as Canadian women’s curling champion and world championship silver medalist Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Manitoba has made a significant change to her team. In is Jocelyn Peterman of Red Deer, Alberta and out is Val Sweeting of Edmonton, Alberta according to the Canadian Press on Monday.
Peterman will play lead for Einarson. Shannon Birchard of Winnipeg, Manitoba, moves from second to third, and Karlee Burgess of Truro, Nova Scotia, who is currently living in Winnipeg, moves from lead to second. It appears that Peterman will be the provincial import as the other three curlers on the team are based out of Manitoba.
The news of Peterman joining Team Einarson comes after Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes, an Olympic gold medalist, announced on Thursday that she was taking a year off from competitive curling according to The Grand Slam of Curling. Lawes, who won the gold medal in mixed doubles curling with John Morris of Winnipeg at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, reached the Scotties final in 2026 before losing to Einarson. Peterman was Lawes’s second. In addition to Lawes taking a year off, it has been announced that Lawes’s lead Kristin Gordon will take a year off too.
Meanwhile, Lawes’s former third (and sometimes skip) Selena Njegovan of Winnipeg, Manitoba has announced she is expecting twins. Njegovan has not officially announced she is taking time off. However, Selena’s husband Connor Njegovan, who was the lead for the now retired Reid Carruthers out of Winnipeg, will take time off from competitive curling.
