Curling spouses up against the wall in Liverpool

Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing have been up against a curling wall before.

The world champion and Olympian spouses are up against it again, as they sit at 2-2 in their pool at Canada’s mixed doubles Olympic trials in Liverpool, N.S.

Their losses in the competition thus far—the event started on Dec. 30—came to the new pairing of Calgary’s Brittany Tran and Saskatoon’s Rylan Kleiter as well as the previously winless Nancy Martin/Steve Laycock combination.

The real problem lies ahead. After a New Year’s Day afternoon match against Edmonton’s Paige Papley and Evan Van Amsterdam, the 2023 national champs conclude their pool with games against two of the toughest MD squads around—Laura Walker/Kirk Muyres and Rachel Homan/Brendan Bottcher.

Homan/Bottcher currently lead their pool at 4-0 after an 11-4 thrashing of Walker/Muyres (3-1) on New Year’s Eve.

Tran and Kleiter are also ahead of Jones/Laing at 3-1.

After retiring from women’s fours competition last April, Jones replaced Joan McCusker in the Sportsnet broadcast booth.

Laing, who departed from competition following the 2023 Brier, now commentates for the Grand Slam’s new livestreaming initiative.

In Pool B, Peterman/Gallant are 4-0 with Lisa Weagle and John Epping in hot pursuit at 3-1.

Three other teams are jammed at 2-2: B.C.’s Cotter crew, Jennifer Armstrong and Tyrel Griffith and defending national champs Kadriana and Colton Lott.

The top three teams in each of the two eight-team pools will advance to the playoffs.

The championship continues with draws Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. The late afternoon draw sees a highlight match between Weagle/Epping and Lott/Lott, while the night draw sees Jones/Laing battle Walker/Muyres.

Selected matches are available live on the Curling Canada YouTube page.