And then there were six: We’re down to the playoffs at the 2025 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in Fredericton with six teams remaining in the chase for gold.
Both group leaders received byes to the semifinals, with the second-place teams crossing over to play the third-place teams in the qualification games.
Here’s a look at Friday morning’s qualification games (10 a.m. AT / 9 a.m. ET) and what’s ahead for the winners in the evening semifinals (6 p.m. AT / 5 p.m. ET).
Qualification Game 1: Canada vs. Estonia
Canada and Estonia face off in the qualification round for the second straight season, but with a twist. Marie Kaldvee and Harri Lill return for Estonia, but Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant represent Canada this time around. Kaldvee and Lill eliminated Canada’s Kadriana and Colton Lott last year en route to silver medals.
Peterman and Gallant enter the playoffs on a bit of a downer after losing 8-7 to Scotland in an extra end to wrap up round-robin play Thursday afternoon. Scotland scored an equalizing three points in the eighth end to force the extra and stole the winning point on a measurement. Both teams finished with 7-2 records, however, the head-to-head result meant Scotland finished second and Canada finished third in Group A.
It was a madhouse in Group B as Estonia, the United States and Norway all finished in a tie for second with 6-3 records and drama down to the wire as Estonia needed an extra end to solve Czechia in their round-robin finale. With the game tied in the eighth, Czechia just needed to hit and stick, but rolled out to blank the end.
Head-to-head between Estonia, the United States and Norway was a rock-paper-scissors scenario as they all had a win over each other, so it came down to their draw-to-the-button shootout scores. Estonia held the best average of the bunch at 20.29 cm to grab the B2 seed, while the United States took the B3 seed with a 22.61 cm average, leaving last year’s bronze medallist Norway (24.09 cm) as the odd team out.
Canada finished preliminary play with the best last stone efficiency at 63 per cent and tied for second with the United States in points for/against with a plus-31 differential. By comparison, Estonia was tied for 10th in last stone efficiency at 41 per cent and was ninth in points for/against with a plus-10 differential.
Peterman and Gallant also tied the U.S. in fewest stolen ends allowed (three). We already mentioned one of them in the loss to Scotland, but the other two came during Canada’s 7-5 loss to Italy. Peterman and Gallant were leading 5-4 with the hammer but gave up a steal of one in the seventh and two in the eighth.
The Canadian pair finished third in shooting at 84.1 per cent, while Estonia was tied for ninth at 79.0 per cent.
Although Canada has the edge in the stats, don’t underestimate Estonia. Both teams can breathe a bit easier knowing they’ve secured spots for their countries in next year’s Winter Olympics in Italy.
