Home ice big for Canada's Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant at World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship
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The home-ice edge is hard to ignore if you’re Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
There’s that fans-cheering-in-the-stands thing as the beloved host Canadian team in Fredericton, N.B.
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Home ice big for Canada's Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant at World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship Back to video
There’s also the winning rapport the couple from Calgary has with the rink housing these worlds, Willie O’Ree Place.
And then there’s the family support that’s on hand with the Canadian mixed doubles champs at the eight-day event, especially their young son, Luke.
“Yeah … our son’s with us,” said Peterman. “And we’re pretty excited about that.
“He’s at such a fun age right now,” continued the proud mom of Luke, who’s turning two next month. “He sees our uniforms and he screams, ‘Team Canada’. And then he’s practising getting in his curling slide.
“And he’s obsessed with Brett’s hands right now. Brett’s got calluses from all the sweeping he’s done all year. And Luke just thinks it’s the coolest thing that Brett says, ‘Sweeping hard.’ They’re ‘Dad’s sweeping-hard hands’.”
They’re Gallant’s winning hands, too.
Heading into Wednesday’s fifth day of the worlds — a spiel not only to crown a global champ but to finalize Olympic participants — Gallant and Peterman boasted a 5-1 record in round-robin action.
Their most recent win came Tuesday afternoon with an 11-6 decision over South Korea’s Kim Kyeongae and Seong Jihoon (1-5) to keep them in the push for first place in Group A. Italy (6-0) also beat Scotland (4-2) 7-4 in the same draw.
Sweden (5-1) was also in the group’s playoff mix after an 8-6 victory over Germany (2-4), with the top three teams after Thursday’s wrap-up of the marathon round robin earning playoff berths.
“It’s one of the longer mixed doubles events we play, because you do get quite a number of games in round-robin play,” Gallant said. “So it’s staying patient and focusing on our own play. If we can play at a high level and feel like we’re going to be there at the end of the week, it’s just making sure we’re kind of up and ready to go for each and every game.
“But it’s a tough event.”
The support of fans helps soften up that lengthy schedule.
As does the love of family, especially with everybody — including Luke — by their side in Fredericton.
“Yeah … I mean … it wouldn’t be possible, really, for us to be able to play mixed doubles together without the support they’ve given us,” Peterman said. “Obviously, we ask a lot of their time when we’re playing together, but it’s really special.”
How can it not be with everybody on hand this week in New Brunswick?
Peterman, a 31-year-old native of Red Deer, Alta., has dad Lowell and mom Nancy along for the ride at worlds.
And Gallant, a 35-year-old product of Charlottetown, isn’t far from home at all in Fredericton, so his parents — Kathie and Peter, who are 1987 Canadian mixed team champions — made the three-and-half-hour drive from Prince Edward Island.
“Our families have always been very supportive of our curling,” said the 35-year-old Gallant. “We grew up kind of watching it.
“Like, for me, I grew up watching my parents curl. And Jocelyn’s dad is a very competitive curler, and her mom curls, as well. So it’s so ingrained in our family. So to have them there, it’s pretty special.”
It turns out Willie O’Ree Place is also pretty special for Canada’s curling royalty.
That’s where Gallant and Peterman won the Canadian mixed doubles title in 2019, with a 9-6 final victory over Nancy Martin and Tyler Griffith.
“I guess that just gives a bit of sense of comfort, too,” agreed Peterman, who joined Gallant for a 6-1 round-robin record back in 2019 before sweeping through the playoff round. “We’ve played in this building a couple of times and had some great events and obviously won the Canadian championship together. So there’s good vibes and good memories. So hoping to lean into that.”
If, for some reason, that all doesn’t work, there’s still the love of Luke to cushion any blows.
“Yeah … having Luke around makes those losses a little bit easier, because he doesn’t really care at all,” added Gallant. “It’s just a lot of fun seeing him get to hang out with his grandparents and having some fun around curling, which — like I said — is kind of how we grew up a little bit, too.
“So that’s pretty cool and pretty special.”
EXTRA ENDS
The round-robin schedule continues Wednesday with two games for Peterman and Gallant. They line up against Finland’s Lotta Immonen and Markus Sipila (3-2) in the morning draw (9 a.m. ET) and then square off against China’s Han Yu and Wang Zhiyu (2-3) later in the day (5 p.m. ET) … The Group B leaders were Austria (4-1), Norway (4-1) and USA (4-1) heading into Tuesday’s late action … Draws 13, 14 and 15 are slated for Wednesday at 9 a.m. ET, 1 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. respectively … All games are streamed live on Curling Channel.
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