{"id":501921,"date":"2025-03-20T22:05:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/?p=501921"},"modified":"2025-03-20T22:05:17","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:05:17","slug":"earning-the-maple-leaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/blog\/2025\/03\/20\/earning-the-maple-leaf\/","title":{"rendered":"Earning the Maple Leaf!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"block-container\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-cossette-block-container\">\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/files\/2025\/03\/Day-5-draw-8-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/files\/2025\/03\/Day-5-draw-8-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-530805\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Team Vivier\/Codner will represent Canada at the inaugural World Junior Mixed Doubles Curling Championship&nbsp;in May. From left, Dominique Vivier, Nick Codner. (Photo, Curling Canada\/Mike Bernard)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"text-align:left\" class=\"wp-block-cgb-block-algori-social-share-buttons\"><button class=\"bttn-simple bttn-md bttn-primary algori-social-share-buttons-settings algori-social-share-buttons-facebook\"><i class=\"fab fa-facebook-f\"><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Facebook<\/button><button class=\"bttn-simple bttn-md bttn-primary algori-social-share-buttons-settings algori-social-share-buttons-twitter\"><i class=\"fab fa-twitter\"><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Twitter<\/button><button class=\"bttn-simple bttn-md bttn-primary algori-social-share-buttons-settings algori-social-share-buttons-email\"><i class=\"fas fa-envelope\"><\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Email<\/button><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2>Team Vivier\/Codner to represent Canada at inaugural World Junior Mixed Doubles Curling Championship&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>After five days of competition at the 2025 Canadian U-21 World Mixed Doubles Curling Qualifier, hosted at the Gerard \u201cTurk\u201d Gallant Arena and the Silver Fox Entertainment Complex at Summerside, P.E.I., Dominique Vivier (Navan, Ont.) and Nick Codner (Torbay, N.L.) will represent Canada at the inaugural World Junior Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, it was declared on Thursday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 29-team world championship&nbsp;event is scheduled for May 6-11, 2025, at the Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/files\/2025\/03\/Day-5-draw-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/files\/2025\/03\/Day-5-draw-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-530801\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dominique Vivier and Nick Codner share a hug after defeating Team Tracy\/Riggs 7-5 in the 2025 Canadian U-21 World Mixed Doubles Qualifier final on Thursday. (Photo, Curling Canada\/Mike Bernard)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Team Vivier\/Codner (6-3) defeated Team Tracy\/Riggs (7-1; Oromocto, N.B.) 7-5 in the Canadian qualifier final to earn the Maple Leaf.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t even know what to say,\u201d said Nick Codner after the win. \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve been playing to become Team Canada forever, but it\u2019s only been a couple of years. You don\u2019t get very many opportunities to play in a game where the Maple Leaf is on the line, and you\u2019ve just got to make the best of it.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wearing the Maple Leaf is special, according to Vivier, who is looking forward to being the host nation at the world event.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think a couple more of our supporters are going to come out,\u201d said Vivier. \u201cIt\u2019 just nice to be able to play in your own country. We know the fans are going to be there and ready to support. And even the ones that can\u2019t be there, but can watch online and support us, it\u2019s really nice.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Team Vivier\/Codner started its week on an 0-2 skid before finding its pace on the way to the qualifier victory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think we kind of looked at ourselves after the second game and we said \u2018Really good curlers have really bad days\u2019\u201d, said Codner. \u201cWhen you put yourself in a corner that you can\u2019t get out of without winning, it\u2019s kind of how it\u2019s gone for us. Bit of a slow start, but you just have to fight through it if you want to win these things.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite being a new team and having limited experience curling together, both Vivier and Codner are not concerned about the unit\u2019s chemistry.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe only played two tournaments together before this one,\u201d said Vivier. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a problem. We\u2019ll just keep practicing on our own and if we made it this far practicing across provinces, I think we\u2019ll be OK. We\u2019ll perform the best that we can and I\u2019m confident we\u2019ll do well.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/files\/2025\/03\/Day-5-draw-24-copy-2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/files\/2025\/03\/Day-5-draw-24-copy-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-530799\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Nick Codner (left) delivers a stone to teammate Dominique Vivier (right) in Thursday night&#8217;s 2025 Canadian U-21 World Mixed Doubles Qualifier (Photo, Curling Canada\/Mike Bernard)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Coaching the team will be mixed doubles specialist and 2018 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling&nbsp;Champion Laura Walker. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to it, obviously,\u201d said Walker. \u201cI\u2019ve seen a lot of mixed doubles games and I\u2019ve seen pretty much every scenario that they could possibly think of, so hopefully that brings them a little bit of confidence and comfort knowing that there\u2019s nothing that is going to stump me. Hopefully I can share that with them.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curling Canada\u2019s Manager of NextGen &amp; Podium Pathway Helen Radford shared her excitement for the inaugural world mixed doubles event and has already seen the value it\u2019s producing in Canada.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been absolutely fantastic,\u201d said Radford. \u201cWe had 73 teams from across the country play down for this one opportunity to represent Canada at the very first U-21 World Mixed Doubles Championship. There\u2019s been so much excitement about this particular event. Play was fantastic all week and it was very even amongst all the teams and we\u2019re thrilled to see how this week progressed.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe think the number of teams will grow now that world curling is hosting an event,\u201d said Radford. \u201cThe only times we\u2019ve seen youth mixed doubles is at the Youth Olympics, which is under-18, and there are already some really great players. I think the level of competition is going to be really great.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Curling Canada\u2019s Under-21 World Mixed Doubles Team Qualification Plan was determined in consultation with Member Associations and the Podium Pathway Council. This collaborative effort addressed the challenges and opportunities of creating a competitive yet accessible pathway for young athletes and minimizing issues related to accessibility, cost and scheduling.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This pathway to the World Junior Mixed Doubles Curling Championship is in effect for the 2024-25 &amp; 2025-26 seasons. Curling Canada will continually assess the new event structures and review the process for 2027 and beyond.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For more details on the 2025 Canadian U-21 World Mixed Doubles Curling Qualifier, visit the event website here: <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<section role=\"divider\" class=\"block-divider divider-small content-full-wrapper\">\n<\/section>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"block-column column-50-50 column-smallwidth    \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-cossette-block-column-2\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flex wp-container-3 wp-block-columns has-2-columns\">\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\"><section role=\"banner\" class=\"block-ad-banner \">\n  <!-- \/4252397\/CURLING_Homepage_Medium-Rectangle_300x250_TOP -->\r\n<div>\r\n  \r\n    googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(&#8216;div-gpt-ad-1614872767887-0&#8217;); });\r\n  \r\n<\/div><\/section>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-layout-flow wp-block-column\"><section role=\"banner\" class=\"block-ad-banner \">\n  <!-- \/4252397\/LocalSpons_2022Seniors -->\r\n<div>\r\n  \r\n    googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(&#8216;div-gpt-ad-1631711370493-0&#8217;); });\r\n  \r\n<\/div><\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":501928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[26],"tags":[427,447,448,452,453,449],"acf":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":"","source_text":"","source_url":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501921"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=501921"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501930,"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/501921\/revisions\/501930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/501928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=501921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=501921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ww1.curling.ca\/2025u21mdqualifer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=501921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}