John Morris, Jolene Campbell lead way at Canadian mixed doubles championship
Playoff seeding set with Olympic champ, partner receiving 1st-round bye
The field has been trimmed from 32 teams to 12 for the playoffs after round-robin play wrapped up on Friday.
Jolene Campbell and John Morris, Dezaray Hawes and Tyler Tardi, defending champs Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres, and Nancy Martin and Tyrel Griffith all received byes to the quarter-finals as the top four seeds.
Catera Park and Cody Tanaka will face Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant in one of Saturday morning's four playoff draws to set up a final eight with the top four duos.
Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing will play Shannon Birchard and Catlin Schneider, Kadriana Sahaidak and Colton Lott battle Melissa Gordon and Kyle Kurz while Bobbie Sauder and Brendan Bottcher are up against Kimberly Tuck and Wayne Tuck in the other Saturday morning draws.
The quarters go Saturday afternoon, with the semifinals and championship set for Sunday.
Morris, Campbell leading
The reigning Olympic champion and his partner formed the lone unbeaten team with two draws to play in the preliminary round of the Canadian mixed doubles curling championship.
Campbell and Morris, who teamed with Kaitlyn Lawes to win gold in Pyeongchang last year, were 6-0 after the second of four draws on Friday.
The team beat fellow Alberta squad Danielle Shmiemann and Jason Ginter 7-6 on Friday.
Two B.C. teams — Park and Tanaka as well as Hawes and Tardi — and Alberta's Peterman and Gallant, the 2016 champs, were tied for first in Pool A at 5-1.
Defending champs Walker and Muyres of Alberta, Sauder and Bottcher of Alberta and Birchard and Schneider of Saskatchewan were tied atop Pool B at 5-1.
Pool C also had a three-way tie at the top. Nancy Martin and Tyrel Griffith of Saskatchewan, Kadriana Sahaidak and Colton Lott of Manitoba and Jones and Laing of Ontario were all 5-1.
The winners will represent Canada at the world mixed doubles championships, April 20-27 in Stavanger, Norway.