Preview: What to watch in Thursday's matches at Rock League

TORONTO — Some longtime teammates go head-to-head on Day 4 of the inaugural season of Rock League. Here’s a look ahead at Thursday’s slate of matches.

Frontier Curling Club vs. Shield Curling Club, Noon ET

Frontier (1-2) appears to be finding its form. After two losses to start, the American-based franchise scored its first win Wednesday, defeating Maple United 2-1. The match saw Frontier earn its first game wins for the men’s team, skipped by Danny Casper, and the mixed doubles duo of Taylor Anderson-Heide and “Captain America” Korey Dropkin.

The Frontier women’s team had been carrying the slack to start, winning its games over Typhoon Curling Club and Alpine Curling Club, but lost to Maple as skip Rachel Homan and her crew were too much to handle. 

Shield Curling Club (1-2) kicked off the start of Rock League with a win over Alpine on Monday but is now reeling from back-to-back losses to Northern United and Typhoon. The Canadian-based franchise has made a lineup change, with Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel joining Marlee Powers on the mixed doubles team, and Jake Horgan slotting in at third on the men’s squad.

Schwarz-van Berkel and Carole Howald earned a 6-4 win in mixed doubles over Alpine before handing the reins over to Horgan and Powers for the following two matches.  

Both franchises will rely on the super spares for one more game, with Linda Stenlund filling in for Stefania Constantini on Frontier and Mattia Giovanella in for Shield’s Amos Mosaner. Constantini and Mosaner had a prior commitment to attend and both are expected to be back on the ice Friday.

Northern United vs. Typhoon Curling Club, 3:30 p.m. ET 

Alpine Curling Club made Rock League history on Wednesday, at the expense of Northern United, by completing the first three-game sweep. It was the first loss for Northern (2-1) and the franchise slipped to third overall by the end of the night with Typhoon holding an identical record but scoring more total points in its games.

Northern GM Christoffer Svae has reverted to his team’s lineup from the first match, a win over Maple, with Giulia Zardini Lacedelli back at lead on the women’s team, Rasmus Wranå returning to second on the men’s team and Robin Brydone moving up to third, and Kristin Skaslien and Yannick Schwaller playing mixed doubles. 

Their opponents are coming off a spirited win over Shield on Typhoon Takeover Night. Like Frontier, the key now for Typhoon (2-1) is getting all three teams firing at the same time. The women’s team, skipped by Anna Hasselborg, defeated Maple on Tuesday but lost its games against Frontier and Shield while it was the reverse for the men’s and mixed doubles squads with wins over Frontier and Shield and losses to Maple. 

Bruce Mouat and Bobby Lammie have won world titles in juniors and men's together, plus Olympic silver medals and a dozen Grand Slams, but they'll square off here. Mouat is the captain of Northern and skip of the men's team, while Lammie throws third stones for Typhoon's men's squad.

Maple United vs. Alpine Curling Club, 7 p.m. ET 

Maple (1-2) will make a lineup switch as it looks to steady its up-and-down run. Brett Gallant shifts over from mixed doubles to the men’s team at third, with Colton Flasch moving to second, as Tanner Horgan joins Jocelyn Peterman on the mixed doubles team. Gallant and Peterman represented Canada in mixed doubles at the Winter Olympics, but their start to the week has sort of reflected Maple’s performance overall.

Alpine (2-1) is heating up with back-to-back match wins, including the aforementioned sweep over Northern. The mixed doubles pairing of Almida de Val and Oskar Eriksson are looking more like the duo that won bronze medals at the 2021 worlds and 2022 Winter Olympics. Captain Alina Pätz and the women’s team got out to a slow start against Northern, but finished strong to earn a narrow 4-3 win. The men’s team skipped by Joël Retornaz has been solid, never trailing in its last two games and building insurmountable early leads.

The matchup will see longtime teammates Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew face off. The pair have played together since Bantam, but Homan captains Maple here and skips the women's team, with Miskew at second on the Alpine women's team.

How to watch Rock League live

Canada: CBC Sports that will bring the league’s inaugural season to fans across Canada with more than 40 hours of live streaming coverage on CBC Sports’ digital platforms, including CBC Gem, cbcsports.ca, and the CBC Sports YouTube channel. In addition, coverage of the playoffs, semifinals, and championship matches - three games in total - will broadcast nationally on CBC TV.

United Kingdom: Playoff games on BBC iPlayer‍.

Korea: All games on CHZZK (Naver)‍.

‍USA: All games available on ESPN+.

Outside of Canada: All games available on DAZN‍.

Worldwide: Full access globally on RockChannel.com.

Catch around-the-rings coverage of every match, with live commentary, for free.

Purchase the event pass ($4.99 USD) for full access to every individual game, live or on demand. Individual games can also be purchased separately ($0.99 USD).