Canadian curling teams start quest for 2026 Olympic Games at pre-trials
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The road to the Olympic Games is long, but donning the Maple Leaf is reachable for eight men’s and eight women’s curling teams competing in Canada’s pre-trials starting Monday.
The men’s and women’s winners of the Home Hardware Canadian Curling Pre-Trials in Wolfville, N.S., advance to November’s trials where Canada’s teams for the 2026 Winter Games will emerge.
Teams made it to pre-trials based on their 2024-25 national rankings.
For Jayden King’s London Curling Club team all under the age of 24, and fresh out of the junior and university ranks, the pre-trials is a milestone in their young curling careers.
“It’s definitely an event you circle on the calendar,” King said. “We just approach it as a great opportunity to not only play against some of the best in Canada, but just kind of level ourselves and see where we’re at.
“We know that anything can happen in any game, and we’ve shown this year that we can definitely compete with some heavyweights.”
A mix of veteran and young teams at the pre-trials will each play a seven-game round robin on arena ice at the Andrew H. McCain Arena.
The top three teams advance to playoffs with the first seed gaining a bye to the final.
The men’s and women’s finals are each a best-of-three affair that can conclude Sunday, but as early as Saturday.
The victors complete the fields at the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials — also eight teams per gender — Nov. 22-30 in Halifax.
Teams skipped by Beth Peterson, Danielle Inglis, Kayla MacMillan, Nancy Martin, Ashley Thevenot, Myla Plett, Selena Sturmay and Krista Scharf comprise the women’s pre-trials field.
“It means everything to be in the pre-trials,” said Winnipeg’s Peterson. “To play against the best in the country and then to have a chance to represent your country is great.”
King, Braden Calvert, Jordan McDonald, Owen Purcell, Jean-Michel Menard, Sam Mooibroek, Scott Howard and Mark Kean skip teams in the men’s field.
King’s foursome was a late addition to the event after veteran Reid Carruthers withdrew to focus on coaching Kerri Einarson’s women’s team.
“We played a lot last year with the hopes of getting enough points to get in directly, so it was a bit of a letdown when we figured at the end of the season last year that we wouldn’t be involved,” King said.
“When we found out in June that we were, we were thrilled and then it was just the whirlwind of trying to re-plan our season because you want to make sure you’re peaking at these big events.”
King, 23, calls his team a “unique mix.” He says he had no family connection to the sport as his father is an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago. King wanted to try the sport when he saw it on television at age 11.
King’s third Dylan Niepage is deaf and wears cochlear implants. His 20-year-old second Owen Henry is still a junior curler. Lead Victor Pietrangelo is the most experienced with national mixed and world university games on his resume.
“We all kind of pool something unique together,” King said.
While his team will compete on arena ice for the first time this season in Wolfville, Plett’s Canadian junior women’s champions got reps in September’s PointsBet Invitational in Calgary, and with the same rocks that will be used at pre-trials and trials.
“Being able to learn the rocks, which ones we like, that’s just a huge bonus for us, as well as just the arena-style of ice is super-big,” Plett said.
“Pre-trials is a great experience. If we were to actually join the trials, that would be beyond anything we could imagine. That would be a huge dream for us.”
The women’s trials field in November features teams skipped by reigning world champion Rachel Homan, Einarson, Kaitlyn Lawes, Kayla Skrlik, Corryn Brown, Kate Cameron and Christina Black.
Brad Jacobs, Matt Dunstone, Brad Gushue, John Epping, Mike McEwen, Kevin Koe and Ryan Kleiter will skip men’s teams at trials.
Brett Gallant and Jocelyn Peterman will represent Canada in mixed doubles curling at the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy, starting Feb. 6 and closing Feb. 22.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 19, 2025.