‘We still can’t believe we’re here’ Peterson back at Scotties after five-year absence By: Taylor Allen Posted: 6:34 PM CST Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 Last Modified: 6:48 PM CST Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026 Updates

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Beth Peterson was starting to doubt if she’d ever make it back to the Scotties.

At her debut in 2021, she looked poised to be a regular at the event when she went 5-3 to qualify for the playoffs. The thing is, when you play out of a competitive province like Manitoba, reaching the national stage is never a given.

She came oh-so-close multiple times but couldn’t get over the finish line as Peterson suffered back-to-back heartbreaking losses in the provincial final — a 9-8 loss to Kaitlyn Lawes in 2024 followed by a 7-6 shortcoming against Kate Cameron in 2025.

“When provincials comes back around you’re like, ‘Oh God, are we really doing this again? Is it going to happen for us?'”

“When provincials comes back around you’re like, ‘Oh God, are we really doing this again? Is it going to happen for us?’” Peterson told the Free Press.

“It just takes a lot out of you, and it takes a lot out of your family and your friends, and it’s hard to kind of gear yourself back up.”

Peterson’s extremely grateful she didn’t throw in the towel. The 31-year-old Winnipegger, skip Kelsey Calvert, second Katherine Remillard and lead Melissa Gordon-Kurz finally won the big one on Jan. 4 in Rivers when they outlasted Team Lawes 9-7 to earn the right to wear the Buffalo jacket this week in Mississauga, Ont., for the 2026 edition of the Scotties (Jan. 23-Feb. 1).

Their first game is Saturday afternoon against Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mackenzie Mitchell.

“It does feel like a long five years. I had no kids last time, and now I have three so that ages it a little bit,” said Peterson.

“(The finals losses) weigh on you pretty heavily. I will admit, it makes the win a lot sweeter. They say you learn something from all your losses and I can say that now because we’ve won.”

This year’s Manitoba title game and the one back in 2024 were particularly emotional for Gordon-Kurz considering she’s family with half of Team Lawes. Lead Kristin Gordon is her sister-in-law and third Selena Njegovan is married to Gordon-Kurz’s cousin Connor Njegovan.

It worked out for everyone in the end with Lawes grabbing the 18th and final spot in the Scotties field based on their Canadian Team Ranking System points.

“It’s hard. I don’t enjoy it. I rather would have been playing anyone else,” said Gordon-Kurz.

“I was happy that we won, but I was sad that they didn’t win. I’m happy they got to go either way, but after the game was over, we didn’t know that.”

This is Gordon-Kurz’s first trip to the Scotties. The childcare worker wasn’t able to get the time off work to play in 2021 as it was in the Calgary bubble and required an additional two weeks to quarantine.

“It feels pretty amazing. We had talked about it for years, and years, and years, and to finally breakthrough to win, it was lots of emotion and happy tears,” said Gordon-Kurz.

“Honestly, we even said today we still can’t believe we’re here.”

They might not be here if Peterson and Calvert didn’t swap positions several months ago. After a disappointing 2-5 showing at the Canadian Curling Pre-Trials in October, they knew they had to shake things up. It was an option they always knew they had in their back pocket with Calvert being a two-time world junior champion skip.

Calvert, who’s originally from Alberta but now lives in Carberry with her husband Braden Calvert, joined the squad in 2023. She was an alternate for Laura Walker at the 2020 Scotties, and filled in at second for Team Cameron at 2024 nationals for a pregnant Taylor McDonald.

“I was starting to feel a little lost in the position, I wasn’t feeling the best. I don’t know if it was the upcoming provincials that were looming or if I wasn’t feeling right, but I thought we had one moment to make that decision and it was when we had a rough week at the pre-trials,” said Peterson.

“It kind of brought life back into the team.”

“We all just bought into it. Kelsey was excited and nervous, I was excited and nervous, and our team did a really good job of seamlessly making that transition. Both of us are feeling very comfortable in the positions we’re in now and firing the way we need to. It kind of brought life back into the team.”

There’s three teams from Manitoba in Mississauga with Peterson, Lawes, and Gimli’s Kerri Einarson who will be wearing Team Canada colours as the favourite. Peterson might not have the same experience or resumé, but it wouldn’t be a surprise to see her surging rink in the mix next weekend.

“There is still a job to be done,” said Peterson. “We weren’t happy to just get to the Scotties. We have some goals while we’re here this week.”

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