Final six decided in Liverpool

LIVERPOOL, N.S.—Sometimes, you just know.

When a curling team is slipping, the players obviously know it first. And intimately.

Sometimes, though, an observer thinks he can see it.

Laura Walker (Edmonton) and Kirk Muyres (Regina) had only lost one game prior to Wednesday afternoon’s loss against Jennifer Jones and hubby Brent Laing. They got whomped both games though, and the body language—as the inflated score continued through the match—was noticeable, at least to this old pair of eyes.

Still, 4-2 heading into their final pool game wasn’t bad. They faced off against the struggling Sasky duo of Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock on Thursday afternoon, who were dead last at 1-5.

The bugaboos, however, were still hanging around the Queens Place Emera Centre.

Martin/Laycock opened with a three, and after an exchange of singles the Saskatchewan pair nabbed another three for a 7-2 lead.

This is mixed doubles mind you, and four down with three ends to play doesn’t mean it’s over. Particularly when you can initialize your power play.

Walker/Muyres did just that in the sixth, and scored a deuce, but they needed more. The final score was 7-5

The 2018 national champs finish these Canadian Mixed Doubles Olympic Trials at 4-3 and are out of the playoffs.

Same as the Lotts, who beat Walker/Muyres on a measurement in a thrilling 2024 national final.

Muyres acknowledged the finish to his team’s week was tough, wasn’t sure it was a tough week overall.

“You know what? It’s interesting,” said Muyres.

“I though we played pretty good. We just seemed to be maybe the wrong way on a couple of shots, but ultimately we played pretty good. It’s just at this level, and sometimes in mixed doubles, that’s how it goes.”

A win over Martin/Laycock would have got Walker/Muyres into the playoffs, as the Edmonton’s Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher defeated Jones/Laing 6-4 on the next sheet.

But Jones/Laing’s 4-3 mark gets them through, behind Homan/Bottcher (6-1) and pool-toppers Brittany Tran (Calgary) and Rylan Kleiter (Saskatoon, also 6-1).

“I mean everyone’s lost a lot of curling games in their life and they know how it is,” said Muyres.

“You know, this was just like a C-side battle and that’s how we looked at it… it just didn’t pan out today.”

The duo, who committed to the mixed doubles discipline years ago, will no doubt struggle with this over the next couple of weeks. Then it’s back on the road for their annual Community Rocks tour, which sees them visit Saskatchewan’s Unity, Kindersley and Denzil Curling Clubs at the end of January.

The playoffs start Thursday night with crossover games slated for 6:00 p.m. Atlantic time.