GENEVA, SWITZERLAND — On Saturday afternoon, Canada defeated Germany’s Pia-Lisa Schöll and Klaudius Harsch 9-3 at the Sous-Moulin Sports Centre in Geneva.
The first one is in the books for Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman (Winnipeg) and Brett Gallant (St. John’s, N.L.). Canada’s mixed doubles team picked up its first win at the 2022 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
Peterman and Gallant put both of their rocks on the button during the pre-game last stone draw sequence and maintained control from that point on.
“We both had a pretty handle on the ice off the bat, which helped, and we had a pretty good idea of where to put the broom. We made some good shots early, and that helped,” Peterman said.
While Germany tried to apply pressure in the first end with a nice freeze from Schöll, Peterman punched a Canada stone sitting in the top-four further into the pile to come out with a score of two to start the game.
The Canadians rolled with the momentum into the second end by controlling the four-foot and only needing to guard its first-and second stones in the house on its last shot. Germany had a hack-weight hit-and-roll, but the duo hit it on the nose and conceded another point to Canada.
It looked to be Germany’s turn to score in the third end, but its missed final shot led to the pendulum swinging event further in Canada’s favour. Harsch attempted to freeze the team’s fourth rock of the end onto the button, and while it was close, Peterman and Gallant managed to pick it out. It left Schöll with a draw to score one, but it didn’t curl enough, and Canada took another two for a 5-0 lead.
Fortunes favoured Schöll and Harsch in the fourth end when the Germans used their powerplay. They kept the house reasonably open throughout the fourth end and had a chance to score three by playing a split. However, their shot stone didn’t get enough of a roll, and the duo settled for two and trailed by three at the fourth-end break.
Canada had a shot for as many as three points in the fifth end but with a tricky in-turn double. Despite a strong scrub from Gallant, the rock didn’t curl enough and forced Canada to a single point.
But it is Canada’s ability to rebound after missing opportunities that peg the duo as one of the teams to beat in the competition.
“You’re always going to get a few opportunities and give away a few opportunities in mixed doubles, but it’s just trying to limit those and control the angles so that if a lot of rocks go flying, you’re staying closer to the middle,” Gallant said. “I thought we did a good job of that, there were just a couple of shots here or there that could have been a bit better, but overall it was a really good game for our first one here on the ice.”
In the following end, Canada forced Germany to one point. Peterman and Gallant locked their final throw onto Germany’s counting stone on the button. Schöll and Harsch did not have a shot worth playing and threw away their last.
Gallant showcased his accuracy on big weight shots in the seventh, which led to another score of three and sealed the deal on Canada’s victory against Germany. Gallant hammered a double to sit four on his second shot of the end and picked out a German stone to sit five on his next. Germany attempted a freeze on its last, but Peterman followed it in to score three and elicit handshakes from Team Germany.
It was the only game of the day Team Canada (1-0) on Saturday. It takes on Spain’s Oihane Otaegi and Mikel Unanue (1-0) on Sunday at 4 a.m. (all times ET), followed by a game against Turkey’s Dilsat Yildiz and Muhammed Zeki Ucan (0-1) at noon.
The top three teams in both pools advance to the playoffs, with the top two seeds receiving a bye to the semifinals, while the remaining four teams play in the first round. The gold- and bronze-medal games will be played on Saturday.
TSN will broadcast select Canadian round-robin games and all playoff games. For its complete broadcast schedule, click here.
