Canadian curling fans have a series of three world curling championships to turn their attention to as we near the end of the 2021-22 international curling season. This Saturday, the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship and the World Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships will begin at the Geneva Sous-Moulin Sports Centre in Geneva, Switzerland.
Olympians Jocelyn Peterman (Winnipeg) and Brett Gallant (St. John’s, N.L.) return to the world championship for the first time since the 2019 event and aim to upgrade the silver they won that year into gold. Sherry Anderson’s team from the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon has won back-to-back championships in 2018 and ’19 and is hoping to add a third consecutive gold to their collection (the event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19). Also, Alberta’s Wade White and his team from the Lac La Biche Curling Club will be no pushovers. The team is heading to its second World Senior Men’s Curling Championship after winning gold in 2018 at Östersund, Sweden.
WORLD MIXED DOUBLES CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP
It won’t be the first time Peterman and Gallant have represented their country during this curling season. Both team members competed at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing with their respective women’s and men’s teams. Peterman, second for Team Jennifer Jones, finished with a 5-4 record and Gallant, who played second for Team Brad Gushue, clinched a bronze-medal victory.
Gallant’s journey through the international ranks didn’t end there. Team Gushue competed at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier in Lethbridge, Alta., a mere week-and-a-half after the Olympics and won the event. Then the team won silver at the 2022 LGT World Men’s Curling Championship in Las Vegas after advancing to the final against Sweden’s Niklas Edin.
When Gallant steps onto the ice in Geneva, it will be the first time a Canadian curler has competed at the Olympic Winter Games, a world men’s championship, and a world mixed doubles championship in the same season.
The team is coached by national mixed doubles coach Scott Pfeifer and Lisa Weagle.
Canada will play in Pool B and opens its schedule against Germany’s Pia-Lisa Schöll and Klaudius Harsch on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET. The German duo competed at the 2021 world mixed doubles event and finished 10th overall with a 5-4 record. It will be Canada’s lone game on opening-day Saturday.
Twenty teams will compete in two pools of 10 and play a nine-game round-robin schedule. The top three teams from each pool advance to the playoffs, with the first ranked team in each group receiving a bye to the semifinals. The second- and third-ranked teams crossover for qualification games where the winners advance to the semifinals. The winners of those games go to the gold-medal game, and the losing teams compete in the bronze-medal game.
Here’s is Canada’s complete mixed doubles schedule (all times ET):
- Saturday, 8 a.m. — Canada vs. Germany (Pia-Lisa Schöll/Klaudius Harsch)
- Sunday, 4 a.m. — Canada vs. Spain (Oihane Otaegi/Mikel Unanue)
- Sunday, Noon — Canada vs. Turkey (Dilsat Yildiz/Muhammed Zeki Ucan)
- Monday, 8 a.m. — Canada vs. Scotland (Eve Muirhead/Bobby Lammie)
- Tuesday, 4 a.m. — Canada vs. Hungary (Ildiko Szekeres/Gyorgy Nagy)
- Tuesday, Noon — Canada vs. Czech Republic (Julie Zelingrova/Vit Chabicovsky)
- Wednesday, 8 a.m. — Canada vs. England (Anna Fowler/Ben Fowler)
- Thursday, 4 a.m. — Canada vs. Australia (Tahli Gill/Dean Hewitt)
- Thursday, Noon — Canada vs. United States (Rebecca Hamilton/Matt Hamilton)
- Friday, 3 a.m. OR 6:30 a.m. — Qualification game 1 & 2
- Friday, 10 a.m. OR 1:30 p.m. — Semifinal 1 & 2
- Saturday, 4 a.m. — Bronze-medal game
- Saturday, 8 a.m. — Gold-medal game
The 10 teams in Pool A are: Denmark (Jasmin Lander/Henrik Holtermann), Estonia (Marie Kaldvee/Harri Lill), Finland (Lotta Immonen/Markus Sipilae), Italy (Stefania Constantini/Amos Mosaner), Japan (Chiaki Matsumura/Yasumasa Tanida), New Zealand (Natalie Thurlow/Warren Dobson), Norway (Maia Ramsfjell/Magnus Ramsfjell), South Korea (Minji Kim/Kijeong Lee), Sweden (Isabella Wranå/Rasmus Wranå) and Switzerland (Alina Pätz/Sven Michel).
Canada is coming off a fourth-place finish from last season’s event when Kerri Einarson and Brad Gushue led Canada to the semifinals. Canada’s earned two silver medals at the event, including the one achieved by Peterman/Gallant in 2019, and two bronze.
TSN will broadcast select Canadian and playoff games. For its complete broadcast schedule, click here.
For the latest scores, draw and list of teams, visit the event website.
WORLD SENIOR CURLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
It will be the first world seniors curling event since 2019, when Canada’s Sherry Anderson and her team won a second consecutive gold medal in Stavanger, Norway.
While it’s been three years since the team was last on the international stage, Anderson, vice-skip Patty Hersikorn, second Brenda Goertzen, and lead Anita Silvernagle should be in contention for a podium finish in 2022. While Canada as a nation has won six consecutive world senior women’s curling crowns from 2008 through 2013, no individual team has won more than two back-to-back events. A win in Geneva by Team Anderson would break that record.
Team Anderson has a nearly flawless 18-1 record in two world championship appearances.
Thirteen teams will compete in two pools (one pool of six and one pool of seven) and play a round-robin schedule. The top three teams from each pool advance to the playoffs, with the first ranked team in each group receiving a bye to the semifinals. The second- and third-ranked teams crossover for qualification games where the winners advance to the semifinals. The winners of those games go to the gold-medal game, and the losing teams compete in the bronze-medal game.
Here’s is Canada’s complete senior women’s schedule (all times ET):
- Saturday, 2 a.m. — Canada vs. Scotland (Edith Hazard)
- Sunday, 1 p.m. — Canada vs. Denmark (Linette Henningsen)
- Monday, 2 p.m. — Canada vs. Ireland (Dale Sinclair)
- Tuesday, 6 a.m. — Canada vs. Sweden (Helena Klange)
- Wednesday, 10 a.m. — Canada vs. Czech Republic (Ivana Bartakova)
- Thursday, 6 a.m. — Canada vs. Italy (Lucilla Macchiati)
- Friday, 7 a.m. — Qualification games
- Friday, 1 p.m. — Semifinals
- Saturday, 4:30 a.m. — Gold- and bronze-medal games
The remaining six teams competing are England (Judith Dixon), Finland (Elina Virtaala), Latvia (Gunta Millere), Lithuania (Gaiva Valatkiene), Switzerland (Cristina Lestander) and the United States (Margie Smith).
Canada has won a leading 13 gold medals throughout the 18-year history of the event.
On the men’s side, Team White hopes to make it two for two after winning the world senior men’s title in 2018. White, vice-skip Barry Chwedoruk, second Dan Holowaychuk, and lead George White had a 9-1 record the last time they represented Canada and defeated Sweden in the gold-medal game.
Twenty-one teams will compete in three pools of seven teams and play a round-robin schedule within their group. At the end of the round robin the top two teams in each group plus the two third-ranked teams with the best Draw Shot Challenge will qualify for the quarterfinals, followed by the winners playing in the semifinals. The winners of those games advance to the gold-medal game, and the losing teams compete in the bronze-medal game.
Here’s is Canada’s complete senior men’s schedule (all times ET):
- Saturday, 2 a.m. — Canada vs. Finland (Timo Kauste)
- Saturday, 10 a.m. — Canada vs. Slovakia (Milan Bubenik)
- Monday, 2 a.m. — Canada vs. Australia (Hugh Millikin)
- Tuesday, 6 a.m. — Canada vs. Turkey (Murat Akin)
- Wednesday, 2 p.m. — Canada vs. Italy (Sergio Serafini)
- Thursday, 10 a.m. — Canada vs. United States (Bob Leclair)
- Friday 3 a.m. — Quarterfinals
- Friday, 1 p.m. — Semifinals
- Saturday, 4:30 a.m. — Gold- and bronze-medal games
The remaining teams competing are: Belgium (John Robillard), Czech Republic (David Sik), Denmark (Bent Kristoffersen), England (John Brown), Germany (Andy Kapp), Hungary (Peter Sardi) Ireland (Johnjo Kenny), Latvia (Ansis Regza), New Zealand (Dave Watt), Nigeria (Tijani Cole), Norway (Flemming Davanger), Scotland (Keith Prentice), Sweden (Mats Wranå) and Switzerland (Christof Schwaller).
The Canadian senior men have an impressive history throughout the 18-year event. Canada has advanced to the final in every edition since its debut in 2002. Canada has won 11 gold medals, including Bryan Cochrane’s most recent one in 2019.
For the latest scores, draw and list of teams, visit the event website.
Click to read this story at Curling Canada: https://www.curling.ca/blog/2022/04/21/trio-of-world-championships/