22-year-olds off to Italy next week

LIVERPOOL, NS —They’re out, but in. If you know what I mean.

Two of the youngest teams at Canada’s Olympic Trials for Mixed Doubles battled each other on Wednesday night, and both are part of Curling Canada’s National NextGen Program.

Paige Paley and Evan Van Amsterdam of Edmonton fell 6-5 to Jessica Zheng and Victor Pietrangelo of Niagara Falls, Ont.

With one game left in pool play, both teams’ won/loss records aren’t good enough for the playoffs. However, both squads have Curling Canada thrilled for the future.

NextGen aims to identify and cultivate young (under 27) talent and provide world-class training, coaching, and support.

“I’m super excited about this,” said program chief Helen Radford. “Look at Zhang and Pietrangelo… they’re 22. And they’ve been doing this for seven years already, focussing on mixed doubles.”

These Trials at Queens Place Emera Centre are a perfect training ground in other ways. Zhang and Pietrangelo are off to Turin, Italy next week—with Radford—to represent Canada at the Winter Universiade, also known as the World University Games.

“Both teams held their own and competed very well in all their games this week,” continued Radford. “They’ve learned a lot, and are definitely teams of the future.”

The revamped NextGen program was unveiled in May of 2024, and is strategically structured to influence younger athletes in their pursuit of excellence, while also shaping them into ambassadors and competitors for Canada.

The program helps in training, preparation and competitive performance while offsetting some of the financial burdens associated with elite-level participation.

Selected teams spend two years in the program, with funding and support contingent on meeting performance standards and expectations. Coaches—including those at the highest level, such as Scott Pfeifer (the National Team Coach and Program Manager)—play a pivotal role, guiding teams through training and providing mentorship.

Heading into Wednesday night’s draw, the much-vaunted pairing of Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher were looking to rebound from a 7-6 loss to Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter.

They did so, scoring an 8-3 victory over Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock (1-5) to move to a 5-1 won/loss record and claim a playoff berth.

Tran and Kleiter took on Quebec’s Anne-Sophie Gionest and Robert Desjardins, and scored a critical three in the sixth end to tie the score at 5-5. They won 8-6 to continue leading the Pool A at 5-1, and also earn a playoff spot.

Tran and Kleiter have also scored tops in their pool in LSD (Last Stone Draw).

Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing won their afternoon game and faced off in the evening against Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres.

The veterans came to play early, scoring two in the first end and stealing four in the second for a 6-0 lead.

They led 7-0 after three, prompting Walker and Muyres to launch their power play, resulting in a deuce followed by a steal. The mountain was too high to climb, however, and Jones/Laing won the match by a 9-3 count.

Both squads are now at 4-2, with huge matches coming on Thursday.

In Pool B, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant have clinched first place and a playoff berth at 6-0, with the Kadriana and Colton Lott and Lisa Weagle/John Epping duos both at 4-2.

Following Thursday’s 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. pool draws, the six-team playoffs commence with crossover games at 6:00 p.m. (all times Atlantic).

The winners score a direct berth in Friday’s Page 1 vs 2 game, while the losers drop down to play the third-placed teams in each pool for the spots in the Page 3 vs 4 game.

From there, the winner of the Page 1/2 game advances to the final, while the loser will play the winner of the Page 3/4 game in the semifinal.

The semifinal winner moves on to the gold-medal match on Jan. 4.

Various games are being livestreamed at the Curling Canada YouTube page.