It’s been a dramatic 48 hours for curling fans at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, with the mixed doubles event delivering thrilling twists, technical challenges, and a stark reminder of just how quickly fortunes can shift on the Olympic ice. For Team Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, the last two matches have tested their adaptability and resolve as they chase a coveted playoff spot in a fiercely competitive field.
Canada entered the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium with high hopes, buoyed by an unbeaten start and memories of their gold medal performance when mixed doubles made its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang 2018. But as play heated up in Italy, so did the pressure—and the unpredictability of the ice.
On February 6, Canada faced the United States in a showdown that pitted two of the tournament’s early favorites against each other. The U.S. duo, Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin, came into the contest brimming with confidence after back-to-back wins over Norway and Switzerland. Canada, meanwhile, had been sharp through their first three games, but cracks began to show as the match unfolded.
From the outset, Peterman and Gallant found themselves at a disadvantage, starting without the hammer for the third time in four games. Still, they managed to steal a single point in the first end when Thiesse’s last rock takeout attempt clipped a guard. But the Americans quickly regrouped. After a tense measurement in the second end, the U.S. picked up two points and took their first lead over the Canadians in the tournament, 2-1.
Canada’s troubles mounted in the third end. Peterman’s draw was heavy, and Gallant’s runback attempts failed to remove the U.S. stones, giving Thiesse and Dropkin a 3-1 edge. But the Canadians weren’t done yet. In the fourth, Peterman executed a flat double with her final stone, tying the game 3-3 at the break.
After the U.S. capitalized on Canadian miscues to score one in the fifth, Canada called their power play in the sixth—an Olympic curling innovation that lets teams reposition stones to create scoring opportunities. But their attempt fizzled, and they managed only a single point. The Americans, by contrast, used their power play to devastating effect in the seventh, with Dropkin’s double takeout setting up a three-point end. That surge put the U.S. up 7-4, and though Canada clawed back a single in the eighth, the U.S. conceded it to lock in a 7-5 victory.
"Probably wasn’t our best today," Gallant admitted after the match. "We didn’t really get a jump on the ice. Just on the heavy side on a few shots. The ice was a little faster and straighter and we were bouncing off a few shots and they were taking advantage of it. A learning experience. We still had a tight game with them and they’re a really talented team. We’re 3-1 four games in, so we just need to refocus and go on to the next game."
Peterman echoed her partner’s sentiments, saying, "We didn’t adjust to the ice right away, but we’re continuing to talk and continuing to fight our way through it until the last shot." The defeat dropped Canada’s record to 3-1 and set up a crucial encounter against Great Britain the following morning.
Great Britain’s mixed doubles team, Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds, had been the talk of the tournament, entering the match undefeated and brimming with confidence. The British duo wasted no time asserting themselves, jumping out to a 3-0 lead and never trailing. Canada’s struggles with the ice became even more apparent as the game wore on. The rocks, freshly textured the night before, combined with faster, straighter ice conditions, made for a surface that left even seasoned Olympians scratching their heads.
"It was kind of like going from your municipal golf course (to) the greens at the U.S. Open," Gallant quipped, highlighting just how big the adjustment was. After five ends, Great Britain led 7-2, and only a rare miss by Dodds in the seventh allowed Canada to steal a pair and close the gap to 7-4. But the comeback fizzled when Gallant flashed a stone in the eighth, sealing a 7-5 loss for the Canadians.
Peterman described the challenge: "We were just trying to chat a lot, trying to talk about the throws and just adjusting the broom. It’s a really hard visual. I don’t know if we’ve ever played on ice that straight." Coach Scott Pfeifer noted that the difference in ice speed was evident from the first rocks of the pre-game practice, saying, "I think (their) first four rocks were in the hacks."
Great Britain’s consistency was reflected in the stats—they shot 83 percent as a team, while Canada lagged at 74 percent. The British executed their power play and shot-making with precision, while Canada’s power play in the fourth end yielded only a single point. Mouat and Dodds’ ability to adapt to the conditions proved decisive, and their win kept them undefeated at 6-0 atop the standings.
For Canada, the back-to-back losses left them with a 3-2 record, a nervy position with only four of ten teams advancing to the semifinals. As coach Pfeifer put it, "We’re in a really good spot still to make the playoffs. We have four great teams still coming up, but if we win a few of those, we’ll be exactly where we want to be." But the margin for error is thin. Depending on results, a 6-3 record may be required to reach the playoffs, and with Canada sitting last in the last-stone draw (LSD) standings—a tiebreaker metric based on pre-game draws for the hammer—every end and every point now carries extra weight.
The technical intricacies of curling have been on full display in Milano Cortina. Each match consists of eight ends in mixed doubles, with five stones thrown per team and one stone placed before the end. The scoring system rewards precision, with points awarded for stones closest to the center of the house. The hammer—the last stone advantage—can be a game-changer, as can the strategic deployment of power plays, which each team can use once per match to reposition stones for a potential scoring burst.
As the round robin nears its conclusion, the standings are tight. Great Britain leads at 6-0, followed by the U.S. at 4-0 and Italy at 3-1. Canada, now at 3-2, faces Estonia next, with every match a virtual must-win to keep their playoff hopes alive. The medal games are scheduled for Tuesday, and if the past two days are any indication, fans can expect more drama, more strategy, and perhaps a few more surprises before the Olympic champions are crowned.
For Peterman and Gallant, the path to the podium just got steeper—but as they and their coach have emphasized, there’s still plenty of curling left to play. With the right adjustments and a bit of Olympic grit, Canada’s mixed doubles team remains in the hunt, determined to write another chapter in their storied curling legacy.