Colton and Kadriana Lott will live to fight another day.
The Manitobans found their touch when they needed it most and now control their playoff destiny at the Canadian mixed doubles curling trials after stringing together consecutive wins on Wednesday.
The Winnipeg Beach couple, and No. 5-ranked tandem nationally, is tied for second place in Pool B at 4-2 with one game remaining in round-robin play. Only Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman hold a better record in their pool at 6-0.
Michael Burns / THE CANADIAN PRESS via Curling Canada
Jocelyn Peterman calls to partner Brett Gallant on Wednesday during Canadian mixed doubles curling trials action vs. Tyrel Griffith and Jennifer Armstrong in Liverpool, N.S.
The Lotts will play the undefeated duo from Alberta on Thursday at 8 a.m. CT (Curling Canada’s YouTube channel and TSN+) at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool, N.S., where a win will secure their spot in the playoffs.
Depending on the outcome of the other contests, a loss could leave the Lotts in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot with daughter and dad duo Jaelyn and Jim Cotter, and Jennifer Armstrong and Tyrel Griffith, both of whom defeated the Manitobans earlier in the tournament and own the tie-breaker.
The Lotts are playing in their first Olympic trials for mixed doubles. Their last opportunity was supposed to come at the 2021 trials, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, Rachel Homan and John Morris were selected to represent the country.
With their sights on avenging that stolen opportunity, and entering the tournament as the reigning Canadian champions, expectations were high for the Lotts. That tune changed slightly after they opened the tournament 2-2, though.
With their margin for error almost zero entering Wednesday, the Manitobans showed their resilience in 8-2 victory over Riley Sandham and Brendan Craig (1-5) and an 8-6 triumph over Lisa Weagle and John Epping (4-2) that required extra ends.
Colton threw at a 79 and 83 per cent efficiency in those contests, respectively, while Kadriana tossed at a 66 and 71 per cent rate.
Their play was a reminder that they would be a tough out the rest of the way.
Meanwhile, there are four teams remaining with a shot at the playoffs in Pool A. Rylan Kleiter and Brittany Tran, and Brendan Bottcher and Rachel Homan hold the most favourable odds with 5-1 records, respectively. On their heels at 4-2 are Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing, and Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres.
Jones and Laing faced a similar situation to the Lotts entering Wednesday but pulled through with two wins, including a convincing 9-3 victory over Walker and Muyres in the evening draw. A win over Bottcher and Homan at 11 a.m. CT will punch their ticket to the knockout rounds.
The playoffs begin Thursday at 4 p.m. CT.
The team that wins will have earned the right to represent Canada at the world championships from April 26 – May 3 in Fredericton, where a top-eight finish would punch Canada’s ticket to Milan-Cortina, Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Joshua Frey-Sam
Reporter
Josh Frey-Sam reports on sports and business at the Free Press. Josh got his start at the paper in 2022, just weeks after graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College. He’s reported primarily on amateur teams and athletes in sports and writes a weekly real estate feature for the business section. Read more about Josh.
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