BOW VALLEY – If three times is a charm then Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman must have been waiting for the fantastic four.
In what was their fourth finals appearance at the Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic, a four-day curling tournament in Banff and Canmore, Team Gallant/Peterman got their trophy, while another Canadian duo booked a ticket to the upcoming Olympic trials.
On Sunday (Dec. 8) at Banff Fenlands Recreation Centre, with their infant son, Luke, and family in attendance, Team Gallant/Peterman had a decisive 6-2 victory over Kadriana Lott and Colton Lott in seven ends to claim top prize at the sixth edition of the 32-team mixed doubles event.
“In Canada, the depth has increased [in mixed doubles curling] and there are a lot of teams that are really good at the strategy and the shot-making, so it certainly hasn’t gotten any easier,” said Gallant.
Since the beginning of the mixed doubles classic in 2019 at the Canmore and Banff curling clubs, Team Gallant/Peterman has been an ultimate force to be reckoned with, holding an impressive combined record of 34-9 over five Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic events.
Although a shiny championship trophy had eluded the married couple despite three previous trips to the finals in 2019, 2021, and 2022, with 33 per cent of their losses being credited to the runners-up spot.
“It’s always such a tough event,” said Gallant. “We’ve been pretty proud of our results here in the past, but obviously we’re really satisfied about getting the monkey off our backs and winning the trophy here.”
Team Gallant/Peterman won the $6,500 grand prize, while the runners-up won $4,500.
Having been busy with their four-person teams, the couple said they used the Bow Valley event to practice a “playoff mentality” for the upcoming Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials taking place Dec. 30 to Jan. 4 in Nova Scotia, where the hope is to play as Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics.
Of the top-10 ranked mixed double teams in Canada, six of them participated in the Bow Valley event.
“That was kind of the goal, to get sharp for the trials that are coming up in a few weeks, and it’s a good event to build on leading into that,” said Gallant.
Compared to regular team curling, mixed doubles requires just two players (one male, one female), with scoring the same.
Team Lott/Lott advanced to the finals of the local event after defeating Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing 6-3 in eight ends, while Gallant and Peterman defeated Tyrel Griffith and Jennifer Armstrong 6-2 in the semifinals in eight ends.
In partnership with Curling Canada, the local curling classic also served as a Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials Qualifier, which the top team not already qualified later this month, got a berth.
Team Griffith/Armstrong punched their ticket to Nova Scotia as the eighth team to qualify after a top-four finish at the Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic.
They said it was an exciting weekend, but it didn’t come easy.
“We started off a little slow and started rebounding and once we got the momentum we kind of started fighting back and grinding every game,” said Griffith. “It feels really good to kind of pull off those wins and show that we deserve it and are really excited to go to trials.”
The team took some “lumps out of the gate,” finishing 3-2 in the qualifying rounds when some things just weren't going their way. In the playoffs, back-to-back high scoring victories (9-8 against Papley/van Amsterdam; 9-6 against Gagne/Morissette) landed them in the semifinals against the eventual winners in Gallant and Peterman.
“We’ve been playing this form of curling for a few years now so we kind of have our own game plan and our own insights,” said Armstrong. “But playing against the top teams always helps because you’re always in those difficult situations … but we have our own game plan and we like sticking to it.”
Teams Griffith/Armstrong and Jones/Laing both won $3,000 in prize money.
Banff’s Jennifer Sachkiw, who was the only local curler competing, teamed with Ryan Jacques of Edmonton at the Rocky Mountain Mixed Doubles Classic. In an incredibly tough field, the duo finished 0-3; however, they gave big problems against their first two teams.
In the opening game on Dec. 5, Team Sachkiw/Jacques lost 6-5 to Team Walker/Muyres of Edmonton. Then up against Team Sturmay/Kleibrink of Calgary, they lost 7-6. In their final game, Team Sachkiw/Jacques lost 8-1 to Winnipeg’s Team Lyburn/Lyburn.
