CurlingZone: Gray-Withers/Pietrangelo mount incredible comeback to win 2026 Canadian Mixed Doubles crown

The Comeback Cardiac Curlers had the script they'd been writing in the playoffs of the 2026 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship at the Cloverdale Curling Club in Surrey, B.C. flipped on them in the final. Photo: Amanda Wong/Curling Canada

Serena Gray-Withers (Edmonton) delivered a draw to the edge of the button to score three for herself and Victor Pietrangelo (Niagara Falls, Ont.) completing a comeback from a large deficit right out of the gate in downing Team Alberta (Zoe Cinnamon, Johnson Tao and coach Larry Cinnamon) 10-9.

Team Alberta, which had orchestrated big comebacks in their previous two playoff games, scored the maximum six points in the first end and went on to hold leads of 8-4 after four ends and 9-7 heading into the eighth. But they couldn't hold on.

"My rock picked (on the last shot of the first end) almost right out of my hand and we were set up for a force," said Gray-Withers. "We didn't need to do anything special and just tried to play some messy curling."

And messy it was. They scored three in the second end and stole another in the third. After Team Alberta got two in the fourth, Team Gray-Withers/Pietrangelo scored two in the fifth and stole one in the sixth before forcing Cinnnamon and Tao to one in the seventh.

"It was just a lot of plugging away. We got a couple of chances and we capitalized on them," said Pietrangelo, who along with Gray-Withers had pulled off a last-end comeback themselves in the quarterfinal Thursday evening scoring four in the eighth for an 8-7 triumph over previously unbeaten Team Ontario (Kira Brunton and Tanner Horgan, Ottawa).

"Last night we gave up a big score early (trailing 5-1 after three ends) and just learned we've got to stay in there and that's what we tried to do (Friday)."

For emerging out of the 28-team field as champions, they'll get $20,000 and the right to represent Canada at the 2027 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in early January at a site to be determined.

It was a showdown of two back-end teammates. In women's competition, Cinnamon, who is from Cochrane, Alta., and plays lead for Gray-Withers, 24, whose hometown is Rosewood, Man., were members of the University of Alberta's curling program. They won two Canadian U-Sports titles together and then they took Curling Canada's U-25 championship for the third time last September. Gray-Withers and Pietrangelo also won the mixed doubles competition at the event that was held in Edmonton.

"They're a great team. They're some of our very closest friends," said Gray-Withers. "Winning a championship is awesome, but playing a friend and teammate is always really hard. You always want what's best for them, it sucks, but it's a great opportunity for us."

"This was our first year playing together," said Pietrangelo. "I genuinely thought we could win a championship if we played really good curling. In the round robin (when they were 4-2) we spent a lot of time figuring things out and in the playoffs, we put together a few good performances.

"When we formed this team a year ago maybe winning championships wasn't on our radar. But..."

"The goal was to get here, to be honest," chimed in Gray-Withers. "At the beginning of the season we were a wild card team so having enough points to put us in this position was goal No. 1. We just wanted to keep learning all week and put up good games and ultimately, we did that."

When his previous partner moved to California, he teamed up with Gray-Withers.

"She has been super dominant on the women's side for a lot of years now," said Pietrangelo. "I thought having two young players would be a good partnership."

As it turns out, all four players on the ice in the final are recent products of Curling Canada's Next Gen program.

"We (both teams) work really hard so I'm not surprised if this is the first time we'll see under-25 teams in the final of Canadian championships," said Gray-Withers.

The devastating defeat for Team Alberta came on the heels of dramatic comeback victories in both its quarterfinal and semifinal. In the semifinal, Team Alberta, after trailing 8-2 at the fourth-end break, scored four in the fifth, stole one in the sixth and then Cinnamon delivered an angle-raise double takeout to put four on the board in the eighth end to defeat previously unbeaten Katie Ford and Oliver Campbell (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.) 11-9. After putting her hands on her head in disbelief at what she'd pulled off, the first person Cinnamon slid over to hug in celebration was Gray-Withers knowing they were playing each other for a Canadian championship.

Thursday evening, they also won 11-9 overcoming a 9-5 deficit after six ends by scoring three in the seventh and stealing three in the eighth to beat Team Melissa Adams/Alex Robichaud (Fredericton). That was on top of upset victories over two high-powered squads, Team Jocelyn Peterman/Brett Gallant (Chestermere, Alta.) and Team Rachel Homan/Brendan Bottcher (Edmonton) in the round robin.

"It's funny, you never know what to expect, especially in these playoff situations under pressure," said Tao, who will be joining Alberta men's champion and Montana's Brier runner-up Kevin Koe next curling season.

"Things can't always go our way."

Tao, who grew up in Richmond, B.C., and used to play league curling in Cloverdale as a junior, said it was a blessing and a curse to jump out to such an early lead.

"We tried to put that six behind us and play the rest of the game with a clean slate and being aggressive. They ended up playing a very good game after that first end when it was very unfortunate shot of hers in the first end. They took advantage of their opportunities the rest of the game and we didn't capitalize on many," said Tao. "As much as it sucks for us to come so close, it's a big confidence booster for us moving forward, knowing that we belong here and we can come back and win it."

The other semi also came down to the final shot. With the score tied 4-4 Homan, one of the world's best sharpshooters, went too deep on a draw to the full eight-foot to give up a steal of two giving Team Gray-Withers/Pietrangelo a 6-4 win. Team Homan/Bottcher elected to go for the draw over a hit and short roll for the win because a nose hit would not have left them with shot rock.

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