Power plays the difference as Canada falls to U.S. in mixed doubles curling at 2026 Olympic Games

Team Canada’s unbeaten run in mixed doubles curling at Milano Cortina 2026 ended Friday morning in a 7-5 defeat at the hands of the United States.

The U.S. team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin used an effective power play to score three in the seventh end to break a 4-4 tie and keep the 2023 World champions unbeaten in three games in the Cortina Olympic Stadium.

The Canadian team of Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, who had been so sharp through three games, didn’t have the same pinpoint accuracy and that proved costly against the U.S.

“Probably wasn’t our best today,” admitted Gallant. “We didn’t really get a jump on the ice. Just on the heavy side on a few shots. The ice was a little faster and straighter and we were bouncing off a few shots and they were taking advantage of it.

“A learning experience. We still had a tight game with them and they’re a really talented team. We’re 3-1 four games in, so we just need to refocus and go on to the next game.”

Peterman agreed with her partner’s assessment of their game, saying “we didn’t adjust to the ice right away, but we’re continuing to talk and continuing to fight our way through it until the last shot.”

Canada, now 3-1, started without the hammer for the third time in four games and, as they did in the previous two games, stole a single in the first end. The one game they had the hammer to begin Peterman and Gallant scored five against the reigning Olympic champions from Italy.

Canada got the steal against the U.S. when Thiesse’s last rock takeout attempt wrecked on a guard.

But the U.S. bounced back in the second, setting the house early for a possible big scoring end. A well executed in-off by Peterman forced Thiesse into what seemed like a straight-forward double, but she eliminated only one Canadian stone. A measurement left the U.S. to count two and for the first time in four games Peterman and Gallant, the married couple from Chestermere just outside of Calgary, trailed in a game, 2-1.

Team Canada was in trouble again in the third after Peterman’s first draw was heavy, giving the U.S. the opportunity to get to shot rock early. Two runback attempts by Gallant failed and the U.S. easily had a steal and a 3-1 edge.

Coming off an impressive 7-2 win over reigning Olympic and World champion Italy, Team Canada finally got some momentum in the fourth, scoring two to tie the game at the break. Peterman, a 32-year-old University of Calgary Kinesiology graduate, made a flat double with her final stone to get the deuce.

After the U.S. took advantage of early miscues by both Peterman and Gallant to score one in the fifth end, Canada used its power play in the sixth. It was not overly successful, however, after a pivotal hit and roll by Dropkin forced Canada to settle for a single on Peterman’s last stone draw.

The U.S. then used its power play much more successfully. Gallant and Peterman were inches light on three freeze attempts that ultimately led to Dropkin’s key double takeout that set up the pivotal three for the Americans.

Thiesse and Dropkin, former classmates at the University of Minnesota Duluth, gladly conceded a single to Canada in the eighth end to secure the win that moved them into a first-place tie in the standings with Great Britain.

The Americans came into the game 2-0 after wins over Norway and Switzerland,

In the two other morning games, Italy beat Switzerland 12-4 and Great Britain defeated Sweden 7-4.

“It re-enforces kind of what we already knew,” Gallant said of the early results. “We played four really tough teams. The last three teams were all world podium or Olympic podium teams and we have another one coming tomorrow.

“We knew that coming into the event it would be super, super tough, so a 3-1 start, we just got to be back to the winning ways,  hopefully tomorrow.”

After five draws of the 10-team round robin, the Great Britain team of Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds top the standings at 4-0. The U.S. is alone in second at 3-0 followed by Canada at 3-1, Italy 2-1, Sweden 2-2, Switzerland 2-3, Estonia 1-2 and Czechia, Korea and Norway all winless in three games.

The top four teams at the conclusion of the round robin will advance to the semifinals.

Canada will play Great Britain Saturday morning and Estonia in the evening draw.