CANADIAN MIXED SET TO BEGIN

ST. CATHARINES, ONT. READY TO HOST CANADIAN MIXED CHAMPIONSHIP

It seems like the World Mixed Curling Championship just ended. 

That’s because it did just end a week ago – and yet, it’s already time for the Canadian Mixed Championship to get started on Sunday. 

This year’s edition of the Canadian national final in four-player mixed will take place at the St. Catharines Golf & Country Club in St. Catharines, Ont., just outside Niagara Falls.  

The event will feature fourteen teams, each representing a member association. Each team will play a six-game round robin in one of the two pools, with the top four teams advancing to a championship pool including the best teams from the other group. 

After six pool games, and four more crossover games in the championship pool, the top four teams will advance to standard semifinals, and eventually finals on Saturday. 

While the mixed isn’t necessarily a marquee event, this year’s edition still has a fair bit of star power, from provinces and territories across the country. 

Regina’s Amber Holland, playing with skip Jason Ackerman on Team Saskatchewan, was the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts winner. Ackerman won the Canadian Mixed the same year. Holland’s nine appearances at the Scotties made her a familiar face to curling fans.  

Perhaps even more familiar, due to her 21 Scotties appearances, is Yellowknife’s Kerry Galusha. She’ll be playing with her brother Jamie Koe on Team Northwest Territories. Koe, no stranger to fans of the sport himself, has appeared at the Montana’s Brier 17 times. Galusha and Koe were silver medalists at the Canadian Mixed title in 2015. 

Charlie Sullivan will be skipping Team New Brunswick for the eighth time at the Mixed. He’s also played in the Brier five times. 

Christina Black, who appeared in her fifth Scotties last year, will be part of a young Nova Scotia team skipped by Owen Purcell. Purcell was a Canadian U-18 champion, a U SPORTS Canadian champion, and also won bronze for Canada at the 2022 World Juniors after winning a COVID-era qualifier in 2021. 

Games begin on Sunday and will run through the week. Streaming will be available on Curling Canada+ free of charge. An account is required, but there will be no subscription charge. Scores will be available at http://curling.ca/scoreboard . 

Unfortunately for the winners, there will be no World Mixed Championship next year due to a busy Olympic-related schedule. Last year’s champions recently competed at the World Mixed in Aberdeen, Scotland. The Saskatchewan-based team of Shaun Meachem, Kelly Schafer, Chris Haichert, and Teejay Haichert qualified for playoffs with a 7-0 record, but were knocked out in the round of 16 by Team Netherlands. 

Games begin on Sunday at 12:30pm ET, followed by the Opening Ceremonies.