Familiar names advance to playoffs at Canadian Olympic mixed doubles curling trials

If you're feeling like the Olympic mixed doubles curling trials are earlier than usual, that's because they are.

In a move to better prepare Canadians curlers for the Olympics, Curling Canada has overhauled its schedule, moving the mixed doubles trials a year earlier — the thinking being that a full year of training and building chemistry will lead to success at the Milan-Cortina Olympics in about 14 months from now. 

There's still a long way to go before any of that happens, however.

The first test is winning the trials happening now in Liverpool, N.S. The team that wins the trials will then be tasked with qualifying Canada for the Olympics with a strong showing at the world championships in Fredericton at the end of April and early May. 

Should the team that wins trials then qualify Canada for the Olympics at worlds, they will represent Canada in Italy. 

Sixteen of the country's top mixed doubles teams arrived in Liverpool at the beginning of the week hoping to advance to the playoffs and compete in the championship game. That number has now been trimmed to six.

There have been some surprises along the way, including the defending Canadian champions, Kadriana and Colton Lott, being eliminated from playoff contention. Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres, who have won a Canadian title before, have also been eliminated after being defeated in their final round-robin game. 

The top three teams in each Pool advance to the playoffs — in Pool A Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter finished first, Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher finished second and Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing got the final spot.

Tran and Kleiter have surprised so far, dropping just one game through the seven-game round robin. They finished tied with Homan and