Manitoba well represented at mixed-doubles trials

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This article was published 15/12/2021 (1699 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Several Manitobans will have home-ice advantage at the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials in Portage la Prairie later this month.

The event is scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 28 to Sunday, Jan. 2 at Stride Place, and the winning duo will represent Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.

Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes and John Morris of Canmore, Alta., won gold for Canada in 2018 in Pyeongchang, however, Lawes is already headed to the Olympics with Jennifer Jones and her four-player women’s team out of St. Vital.

Instead, Morris will partner with Ontario’s Rachel Homan.

Meanwhile, Jones is being replaced by Selena Njegovan of Winnipeg, who will partner with Brent Laing of Horseshoe Valley, Ont., at the Trials.

Kerri Einarson of Camp Morton, Man., won the 2021 Canadian mixed doubles title with Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., earlier this year/ But Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., will slot in at the Trials for Gushue, who will guide his four-player men’s team in Beijing.

The Gimli duo of Kadriana Sahaidak and Colton Lott, Shannon Birchard of Winnipeg and partner Catlin Schneider of Regina. and a union of former Winnipeggers, Chelsea Carey of Calgary and Colin Hodgson of Red Lake, Ont., are preparing for Portage.

The rest of the Trials field includes: Nancy Martin, Saskatoon and Tyrel Griffith, Kelowna, B.C.; Lisa Weagle, Ottawa and John Epping, Toronto; Laurie St-Georges, Laval, Que. and Félix Asselin, Montreal; Val Sweeting, Lottie Lake, Alta., and Marc Kennedy, St. Albert, Alta.; Clancy Grandy and Patrick Janssen, Pickering, Ont.; Laura Walker, Edmonton and Kirk Muyres, Regina; Kim and Wayne Tuck, Strathroy, Ont.; Émilie and Robert Desjardins, Chicoutimi, Que.; Bobbie Sauder and Brendan Bottcher, Spruce Grove, Alta.; and, Lauren Wasylkiw, Kleinburg, Ont., and Shane Konings, Stouffville, Ont.