Canadian curlers get another shot at Olympics in mixed doubles

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This article was published 18/12/2017 (3153 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The road to Pyeongchang, South Korea and Olympic stardom begins in Portage la Prairie for 18 teams vying to represent Canada in mixed doubles curling.

And a heavy dose of Manitoba pride will filter through the trials, set for Jan. 2-7 at Stride Place.

But the makeup of a few teams has been altered due to the results of the recent Canadian men’s and women’s trials held earlier this month in Ottawa.

Call it a game of musical hacks.

Rachel Homan’s victory in women’s play means she’s out of the mixed doubles trials, as is her second, Joanne Courtney, so in steps Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg (replacing Homan) to join John Morris of Canmore, Alta., while Jill Officer (replacing Courtney) partners with fellow Winnipegger Reid Carruthers.

Jennifer Jones, whose 2014 Olympic gold-medal winning Winnipeg women’s foursome includes Officer and Lawes, needed a new mixed doubles partner because her teammate and husband, Brent Laing, is off to the Olympics with Kevin Koe of Calgary, so Mark Nichols, the third for Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., is hooking up with Jones for the trials in Portage.

Meanwhile, other Winnipeg curlers competing at the trials include the wife-and-husband team of Dawn and Mike McEwen, Shannon Birchard and Jason Gunnlaugson, and Colin Hodgson and Chelsea Carey, who now calls Calgary home.

The 18 teams will be split into two nine-team pools, based on their seedings in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Rankings (CMDR).

The teams will play a single round-robin within their pools before eight teams (first and second in each pool, and the next four best win-loss records) move onto the playoffs.

There are six draws scheduled each day until the playoffs. The championship final is Jan. 7 at 1 p.m.

Tickets for trials are available at curling.ca.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell