It’s hard to believe what just happened for Canada’s husband-and-wife duo of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant at Milano Cortina 2026.
Even though Peterman and Gallant lost three straight coming into Saturday, and were sitting at 3-3 overall, they still controlled their own destiny. All they needed was to win out and they would secure a playoff spot.
Well, they quickly lost that control in their 7-6 loss to Sweden for their first match of the day. At moments it looked like Canada would snap their losing streak, but a massive three points in the seventh end for the Swedes changed everything, and Canada couldn’t recover.
However, even though Canada lost, they still had a chance to make the playoffs. In order to get in, Peterman and Gallant just needed to win out, and Italy needed to lose both of their remaining games.
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Keep up with Olympic mixed doubles curling
The Milano Cortina 2026 mixed doubles curling event runs Feb. 4-10. Follow along with the scores, standings and schedule on Sportsnet.ca
Canada got the help they needed as Great Britain defeated Italy, but Peterman and Gallant lost to South Korea 9-5, thus officially eliminating them from the playoffs.
For Peterman, with her husband standing by her side and tears running down her face, the post-game realization was hard.
“Tough reflecting on the week. I think we battled hard, we fought till the end,” Peterman told CBC Olympics. “We really, really worked hard to figure out the ice and tried to figure out how to make shots on it and we were close in a lot of games.”
It marks the second Olympics in a row Canada will miss the podium in mixed doubles after Rachel Homan and John Morris fell short in 2022. Kaitlyn Lawes and Morris won gold for Canada in mixed doubles when the event made its Olympic debut in 2018.
Switzerland’s married couple Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann and Yannick Schwaller – who Canada plays Monday at 4:05 a.m. ET/ 1:05 a.m. PT – also had their playoff hopes to come to an end on Sunday when they lost to Norway 6-3.
With that, Great Britain, the U.S., Sweden and the defending gold medalists, Italy, have secured semifinal spots.
Here are the full results from Sunday.
Sunday, Feb. 8 results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 10
Czechia 6, Norway 3
South Korea 9, Estonia 3
Draw 11
Sweden 7, Canada 6
Switzerland 7, Great Britain 6
U.S. 5, Estonia 3
Italy 8, Czechia 2
Draw 12
Great Britain 8, Italy 6
U.S. 8, Sweden 7
Norway 6, Switzerland 3
South Korea 9, Canada 5
Why everything went south for Canada
For the first three games Canada’s duo had swagger.
Peterman and Gallant felt confident, in control, and could make pretty much everything, but most importantly they had a great feel for the ice and how it was acting.
On Friday however, before Canada played its fourth game against the United States, the ice crew wanted to make a slight change to the ice. They wanted to speed it up about a second from hog line to hog line as the ice was running slower than normal for arena speeds.
This change threw everything off for both Peterman and Gallant.
Because yes, the ice did speed up by that second but as a result, it also lost curl and that change has confused Gallant and Peterman ever since.
After Canada was eliminated from the playoffs, Gallant spoke out on it.
“Just on the wrong side of the inch,” Gallant told CBC Olympics. “To be honest we just struggled with the ice conditions. We were loving it early and then it just changed and just honestly was a bit of an uphill battle after that.”
Now, it wasn’t like the Canadian duo weren’t in the fight each game, but in each end of their five straight loses, it felt like the ice kept getting to their heads.
“We tried and we’re giving it our all, just kind of got on the wrong side of the inch once that (change) happened,” said Gallant.
Multiple times throughout the games, Peterman tried keeping her husband’s spirits high, but for one of the best shot makers in the world, it was frustrating.
“You know, it’s still fresh, it’s still disappointing, we’re disappointed. We wanted better this week, we wanted a better outcome, so, that’s going to hurt for a little while, but I’m proud that we got to do this together,” Gallant told CBC Olympics. “We worked hard; we never gave up. We have our son here watching this week and I hoped that he just saw his parents really battle.”
At the end of the day, both teams in each game had to play on the same ice and had to deal with the same changing conditions. Peterman and Gallant just couldn’t wrap their heads around what the ice was doing, and it cost them a shot in the playoffs.
Especially the out-turn shots.
For Gallant’s draws with his out turn, Peterman was holding the broom on the edge of the four-foot (meaning the ice basically had no curl), but even then, Gallant and Peterman were stunned by most of the outcomes as the rock just never landed in the spot they thought it would.
The Canadian couple has one game remaining against the Swiss and will look to go out on a high.
“We’re going to try our hardest. It’s a matter of pride a little bit for us and we want to end this on a winning note. So, yeah, we’re going to be full on, full out tomorrow trying to get that win.”
If there is one thing that’s positive for Gallant impartially, he’s also representing Canada for the men’s team where he will play second. The team is skipped by Brad Jacobs.
Day six of the mixed doubles curling competition gets underway at 4:05 a.m. ET/ 1:05 a.m. PT. when Canada will play Switzerland.
