Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing during Draw 12 action Wednesday against Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres. (Curling Canada/ Michael Burns Photo)
The playoff picture at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Liverpool is a lot clearer after draws on New Year’s Day.
Three teams secured playoff spots on Wednesday: Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant clinched the top spot on Pool B with their undefeated record of 6-0, Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher and Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter are tied at the top of Pool A with records of 5-1.
Playoff action begins Thursday evening. The top two teams from each pool cross over to compete for a spot in the Page 1 versus 2 game, in Curling Canada’s Page Playoff system. The winners of each of those games advance directly to the Page 1 versus 2 game. The losers of each of those first games then have a second chance to advance by playing a third-place team.
The winner of the Page 1 vs 2 game goes on to the final, while the loser has yet another chance in the semi-final as they go against the winner of the Page 3 vs 4 game.
The team of Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing are still in the playoff picture, tied for third in Pool A. They have a must-win game at 1 p.m. Thursday against Homan and Bottcher.
Reigning Canadian champions Kadriana Lott and Colton Lott also have to win their game this morning against Peterman and Gallant to have a chance at the playoffs.
The semi-final is set for Saturday at 10 a.m., with the final getting underway at 2 p.m.
Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter during Draw 5 action on Tuesday at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Liverpool. (Curling Canada/Michael Burns)
Two teams are at 3-0 after the first five draws at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Liverpool.
Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres are on top of Pool A, along with Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher.
In Pool B, three teams are undefeated at 2-0: Lisa Weagle and John Epping, father-daughter team Jim Cotter and Jaelyn Cotter and Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant.
In Tuesday morning’s action, Walker and Muyres beat Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter 9-3 in six ends. Other morning winners were Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, Paige Papley and Evan van Amsterdam and Homan and Bottcher.
A battle of the undefeateds is shaping up for the 4 p.m. draw, with Homan and Bottcher taking on Walker and Muyres. In the 12:30 draw, two of the top teams in Pool B will go head to head as the Cotters take on Weagle and Epping.
Tuesday’s final draw takes place at 7:30 p.m.
The round robin continues until Thursday, when the playoffs are set, with the top three teams from each pool competing for a spot in the final on Saturday.
Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing in first-draw action at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool on Monday. (Rick Conrad)
UPDATED 3:45 p.m. MONDAY
Some of the favourites were early winners on Monday at the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool.
Sixteen teams are competing for a chance to represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
The winning team here will represent Canada at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Championship in April in Fredericton. That event also serves as a qualifier for the Olympics. If Canada qualifies there, it will be the winning team from Liverpool who will go on to the Olympics in Italy.
Some of the biggest names in Canadian curling are at Queens Place Emera Centre this week.
Teams are divided into two pools of eight during the round robin, which goes until Thursday. The top three teams from each pool then advance to a six-team playoff.
In the first draw Monday morning, Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher beat Paige Papley and Evan van Amsterdam 8-2 in six ends.
Bottcher and Homan said afterwards that they were happy with how they began the tournament.
“We played great,” Bottcher said. “I thought it was awesome to come out at the start of the week and have a real good game, but it’s going to be a long week so we’re going to have to keep playing well.”
“It was great to finally get on the ice and game mode,” Homan said, “just see how it felt for speeds and how the ice held up and it was great out there.”
Other winners on Monday morning were Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres, and Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter.
Local organizers were happy to get the first games under their belt. And they’re hoping curling fans will come out to some of the action.
“It’s coming along great,” said Kim Thorbourne-Whalen, vice-chair of the Liverpool Championship Host Society.
“It’s been a year, year and a half in the making and just to have to the opening cermeonies last night, it was a good crowd. It’s been great seeing all these big names … in Liverpool, on our ice, in our community, it’s amazing. For the final draw, there are only 60 seats available. We still have a lot of tickets (available) through the week.”
On Sunday evening, the Dartmouth and District Pipe Band kicked off the opening ceremonies at Queens Place. Mi’kmaw artist Melissa Labrador and her family performed a smudging ceremony. And Queens MLA Kim Masland, Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian and Thorbourne-Whalen welcomed athletes and fans. Curling Canada’s Scott Pfeifer officially opened the trials.
Greg Thorbourne is the chairman of the Liverpool Championship Host Society, which is organizing the 2025 Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
Some of Canada’s top curlers will be ringing in the new year in Liverpool as they compete to represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
Local organizers are putting the final touches on the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials. It will be held at Queens Place Emera Centre from Dec. 30 to Jan. 4.
It’s the first of three major qualifying events in Nova Scotia for the 2026 Winter Olympics. Wolfville is hosting the full-team Canadian pre-trials in October 2025, and Halifax will host the Canadian curling trials in November 2025.
Canada won the first-ever mixed doubles curling Olympic gold medal in the sport’s debut at the 2018 games in South Korea.
Greg Thorbourne is the chairman of the Liverpool Championship Host Society. He says the 16 teams all have their plane tickets and hotel rooms booked, and they start arriving just after Christmas.
“There’s Olympic champions and there’s world champions coming,” Thorbourne told QCCR.
“The who’s who in curling will be here. Jennifer Jones, (Brent) Laing, Lisa Weagle, (Rachel) Homan. It boggles my mind to see this caliber coming to small-town Nova Scotia.”
In addition to Olympic gold medallist Jones, some of the other big-name Canadian curlers coming to Liverpool are reigning world curling champion Rachel Homan, former Canadian champ Brendan Bottcher, and a host of other Canadian, world and Olympic medallists.
“All the names that are on these big teams that play in the events, they’re all gonna be here. It’s super to see. Mixed doubles is probably the fastest curling game on ice.”
Thorbourne said he expects the event to be a big boon to the local economy.
“This is worth probably over $1 million to the economy of Liverpool and area. You have 16 teams staying plus their coaches, every staff member from Curling Canada will be here and high-performance coaches and everybody else that I’ve talked to through Curling Canada in the last couple of weeks is going to be here in Liverpool. So the place will be humping with outside people between Christmas and New Year’s, a big boost to the economy.”
Four sheets of curling ice will be installed at Queens Place, with professional ice makers arriving on Dec. 22 and working through till the 27th.
Practices begin on Dec. 28, with the opening ceremonies scheduled for Dec. 29 at 7 p.m.
Thorbourne says the practices and opening ceremony are all free. And that will be the best time to meet the players.
“Watch the teams practice, meet the teams, they’ll be floating around the facility those two days.
“And afterwards, the players will be hanging out, so if you want autographs or pictures with these players, most of them are very accommodating. They love to talk to people.”
Mixed doubles curling is a quicker game than traditional curling, usually taking less than an hour. Each team throws five stones per end. The scoring is the same as in traditional curling, but there are a few other differences which add to its appeal.
“(Fans) can’t see better curling anywhere, and it’s going to be live and you’re gonna be able to meet the players. Queens Place has good seating and there’s not a bad seat in the place.”
About 14 government and private sponsors are helping cover the costs of the $255,000 event, including Mersey Seafoods, ACOA, Province of Nova Scotia, Region of Queens, Best Western Plus, Source Atlantic/Len’s Plumbing & Heating, Belliveau/Veinotte, Liverpool Lions Club, Tim Hortons Liverpool, Sobeys, Culligan, Dixie Lee, Arby’s, and Home Hardware.
Organizers have also recruited more than 100 volunteers from the community.
Thorbourne says the host society is also selling tickets on a heat pump with installation. People can contact the organizers through the Liverpool Championship Host Society Facebook page to buy tickets.
Tickets for the event are available at Queens Place Emera Centre or through Ticketpro. The action will be livestreamed on the Curling Canada website.
Here’s a full list of teams competing in Liverpool:
