Chasing the whole Lott!

Team Manitoba’s Lott/Lott tandem turning heads at 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship 

Team Manitoba’s Kadriana Lott and Colton Lott are a perfect 5-0 through three days of play at the 2024 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championships, hosted at the Aitken Centre in Fredericton, New Brunswick. 

While it’s hardly unexpected that a team wearing Manitoba colours would be undefeated midway through any national curling championship, what’s catching the eyes of fans and putting other teams on notice is how dominant the Lott/Lott rink has been thus far. 

By the numbers, the Lotts have outscored their opponents 49-14, averaging 9.8 points per game while holding opponents to a paltry 2.8 points per game against. They’ve also surrendered only a single stolen end, all the while thieving 11 ends from their foes. 

To describe their play as surgical in its precision and devastating in its weighty effectiveness only begins to do it justice. This is a team that is rising to the occasion in the round robin. 

“We know we have to be pretty precise in making those key shots, especially, which I think we’ve been making,” said Kardriana Lott of her team’s success so far. “That helps the game a lot.” 

Staying that course, Lott and Lott added to their fortunes on Tuesday afternoon defeating Team Prince Edward Island’s Jenny and Edward White (0-5; Crapaud) by a 6-5 score to lock up their fifth-straight win.  

The Islanders gave the Manitobans all they could handle taking the game to the wire in the eighth end, but a timely deployment of the power play allowed Team Manitoba to secure the one-point victory. 

Add all that up and you have two very happy Manitobans who sit alone atop Pool D. 

“Compared to last year, we had a couple losses in the round robin, so it’s nice to come out strong and be 5-0 with only two left,” said Kadriana Lott. “We’ll see where the rest of the week takes us.” 

With only two games remaining on their schedule, the Lotts are keeping their heads level and not letting a looming playoff picture crowd their vision. 

“We still got one more full day here tomorrow,” said Colton Lott. “We just want to come out here guns blazing and put the pedal down. We play two top seeds in our pool next so we know we have to be good and take the way we’ve been playing and push through.” 

The next two games will be no picnic as Team Manitoba is set to face Team Peterman/Gallant (4-1; Calgary) on Wednesday at 10 a.m., (all times Atlantic) followed by Team Griffith/Armstrong (2-3; Saint John, N.B.) at 4 p.m. 

“It comes down to those key shots,” said Colton Lott. “These ends can sneak up on you very quickly so it’s just staying on top of that and being aware of the angles and knowing what shots to play and when not to play them.” 

Teams play a seven-game round-robin schedule from Sunday evening through Wednesday, with 12 teams advancing to the single knockout playoffs, which begin on Thursday morning. The four pool winners earn byes directly into the quarterfinals on Thursday at 7 p.m., while the teams with the following eight best records, regardless of the pool, will compete in the opening playoff draw at 1 p.m. 

The semifinals are scheduled for Friday at 9 a.m., with the bronze-medal game at 12:15 p.m. and the gold-medal game at 1 p.m. 

Select games will be streamed live on Curling Canada’s streaming platform, Curling Canada +. 

Schedule information, scores and more details about the event can be found here.