Canada started the week looking unstoppable, with wins over 2022 Olympic gold and silver medalists Italy and Norway, but just three games later, everything seems to have fallen apart.
The husband-and-wife duo of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant lost both of their games on Saturday at Milano Cortina 2026. First to Great Britain 7-5 (7-0) and then to Estonia 8-6 (2-4).
With the losses, the Canadians drop to 3-3 overall and are now tied with Switzerland, Sweden at three losses for the last playoff spot.
The starts in both games were a massive problem, and without hammer, Canada gave up three points each time and were left chasing the rest of the game.
As a result, Peterman and Gallant’s playoff hopes are in jeopardy. However, they can control their own destiny with games against Sweden and Switzerland still upcoming.
They weren’t the only team to be upset on Saturday though, here is a look at the rest of the results.
Draw 7
Great Britain 7, Canada 5
Sweden 13, Switzerland 7
Draw 8
Norway 6, Estonia 5
Czechia 9, South Korea 4
Sweden 9, Italy 4
Great Britain 6, U.S. 4
Draw 9
South Korea 6, U.S. 5 (EE)
Estonia 8, Canada 6
Switzerland 10, Czechia 3
Italy 6, Norway 5
Canada struggles to read the ice
Professional curlers are used to the ice changing day-to-day, and even end-to-end. It’s usually the ones who can adjust the quickest that find the most success.
For whatever reason on Saturday, Peterman and Gallant just couldn’t adjust to the ice, and it ended up costing them two important matches.
In the early game against Great Britain, there were multiple times the ice just simply confused both Gallant and Peterman.
“It’s like taking a Honda Civic for a drive down the highway and then jumping into a Ferrari. It’s just going to ride a little differently,” Gallant said when asked by reporters post-game about the changing ice conditions versus Great Britain, per Jonathan Brazeau of The Curling Group.
It was highlighted in the fifth end when Peterman had a great chance to apply pressure on Jennifer Dodds while throwing her final shot but just couldn’t get a feel for the ice and threw it too wide. She left an easy hit for two, blowing the game open 7-2.
Again, in the sixth, Canada was set up to score three or four, but Dodds made a triple takeout with her last stone and left Canada with the chance to only score two.
Peterman, though, couldn’t find her draw weight and just got one.
With about seven hours in between games, Gallant and Peterman hoped it would be different against Estonia, but it quickly became the same story.
In the first end, Peterman had an opportunity to make a double takeout, which would’ve forced Estonia to take one, but she crashed on the guard. It left an open hit for Kaldvee to score three.
Her very next shot was supposed to be a draw into the four-foot but ended up as just a guard. The couple had a quick discussion right afterwards to try and make sense of what was happening.
Despite the two losses on Saturday, there is some positive to take from the situation.
Even when Peterman and Gallant couldn’t adjust to the ice and were outplayed, they managed to fight their way back into each game.
If they can just figure out how to adjust to the ice quickly on Sunday, they should be fine.
Brits up their game
Maybe Dodds and Mouat read my takeaways from Friday and wanted to prove me wrong. I wrote if they kept shooting the way they were in their first five games (75-77 per cent), it wouldn’t be enough to beat Canada or the U.S.
Well, they certainly proved me wrong.
Not only did Dodds and Mouat beat Canada and the United States on Saturday to stay undefeated (7-0), but they also became the first country to book their ticket to the playoffs.
The most impressive part though, they won in different ways.
Against Canada, Dodds was quick on the attack. She made big final shots in the first and third ends to open the game up 5-1. From there, Mouat and her were able to keep it clean and cruise to victory.
In their game against the U.S., however, it was Dodds and Mouat’s mental toughness that shone through.
The Brits started strong and even had a 4-1 lead heading into the break. In the fifth end it was a different story, as Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin put a three-spot on the board to tie the game after a couple misfires by Mouat and Dodds.
All the momentum had swung in the United States favour and with the strong crowd presence cheering them on it would’ve been easy for Dodds and Mouat to fold.
Instead, they settled back into their game, and honestly just took over as the U.S. didn’t score again.
If Mouat and Dodds play like they did on Saturday, they can easily medal.
Day five of the mixed doubles curling competition gets underway at 4:05 a.m. ET/ 1:05 a.m. PT. For Peterman and Gallant, they will play twice on Sunday. First against Sweden at 8:35 a.m. ET/ 5:35 a.m. PT before facing Korea at 1:05 p.m. ET/ 10:05 a.m. PT.
The top four teams after nine round-robin games advance to the playoffs on Monday, Feb. 9.
