Peterman & Gallant respond magnificently to challenge of facing Olympic champions and their home fans

The task for Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant Thursday afternoon was huge: play the reigning Olympic and world champions in mixed doubles in their hometown with a rink full of cheering Italian supporters.

The challenge and the fans at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games didn’t faze the two Canadians. They shocked Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner with five in the first end that quieted the fans and then completed the stunning upset with a 7-2 win in six ends.

“It was fun, we were ready for it,” Peterman said of the noisy fans. “Fun to hear all of them. Also fun to hear our fans cheering really loud in the first end to settle them down.”

Peterman and Gallant settled the building down with their huge first end and never really gave Team Italy or their fans much hope for a comeback the rest of the game.

“It was a tough day, tough event,” Gallant said after the team’s second win of the day pushed them to 3-0. “Every game’s important here. We knew coming into that game, playing against the reigning world champions and Olympic champions. Only one kind of thing you have to do, play really well.

“I’m really proud of how we came out of the gate, five really good shots in the first end and got rewarded with a couple of errors by them. Five on the board. Really good start but we kept it going the whole game.”

READ: Clutch shooting by Peterman keys Team Canada’s second straight mixed doubles win

The win kept Canada unbeaten while the loss for Constantini and Mosaner was their first in three years. The Italian pair went undefeated to win gold at Beijing 2022 – winning Italy’s first ever Olympic curling medal – and the 2025 World Championship.

Unlike most teams, the pair have only played mixed doubles together in the world championships and Olympic Games.

Gallant and Peterman, who lost 7-5 to the Italians in the round robin portion of the 2025 Worlds, had hammer (last rock) in the first end for the first time in their three games and took full advantage.

Playing in her hometown, Constantini’s thin chip of Italy’s only stone in the house left them sitting shot in the middle of four Canadian stones inside the four-foot. Not to be outdone, Peterman came down the opposite side of the house with a short tap back to eliminate the Italian stone and give Canada a monstrous 5-0 lead.

Mosaner was visibly frustrated in the second when all three of his attempts to draw to the four foot came up short of the house – the last two well short. Fortunately for the Italians, Canada was never able to move Constantini’s first shot far enough to prevent Italy from scoring a single.

The 30-year-old Mosaner, who will be one of the host nation’s Opening Ceremony flag bearers on Friday, is as hard and accurate a thrower as anyone in mixed doubles. He found his draw weight in the third coming down the opposite side of the ice. His guards forced Canada to use two of Gallant’s shots to eliminate them and ultimately Peterman had to make a short tap back to count one.

The Italians used their power play in the fourth end and were set up for a potential big scoring end. But after Peterman’s last-rock double, Constantini rolled wide on a hit and had to settle for a single. Canada had their chance for a big end in the fifth. Gallant, a business administration graduate of the University of Prince Edward Island, who will swing right from the mixed doubles into the men’s event here, made a perfect freeze and then an impressive double elimination of two guards. But Canada also had to settle for one when Peterman’s try to eliminate two Italian stones got only one.

Italy’s struggles to constantly find the correct draw weight finally led to them shaking hands after six ends. The hometown favourites were in good shape until Peterman’s final stone, a tight double, got Canada out of trouble. Constantini’s try for a hit-and-stick rolled out to blank the end and signalled enough for Italy.

Team Canada had beaten Norway 6-3 earlier in the day. In other games Thursday evening, Switzerland beat South Korea 8-5, Estonia upset Sweden 7-5 and Great Britain nipped Czechia 8-7. Canada and Great Britain are atop the standings at 3-0.

Canada plays the 2-0 U.S. team of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin on Friday morning. The 10-team round round portion continues through Feb. 9. The top four teams from the round robin advance to the semifinals. The gold medal game is set for Feb. 22.