“This is absolutely mind-blowing”
With files from Curling Canada
A stunning late-game comeback etched Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson into Scotties Tournament of Hearts history on Sunday evening at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.
Skip Einarson, with Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Karlee Burgess stole a 4-3 extra-end win over Manitoba’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes in front of a Mississauga, Ont., crowd of 4,000 to win the Canadian women’s championship.
Down one in the 10th end, Einarson was forced to try a long angle-raise takeout just to tie the match – she made the shot, and the crowd erupted.
“I just thought, do this for your teammates, Kerri, they need you here, and we’ll take this to an extra and go from there,” Einarson said. “It was amazing – called amazing, thrown great, and the girls just swept it.”
In the extra-end, Canada earned the winning steal after slipping a stone behind a centre guard and forcing Team Lawes into a tough thin double-raise attempt.
Lawes made contact, but couldn’t spill the Canadian stone far enough.
“We all tried our best and you can’t really ask for shots back,” Lawes said. “It’s just, what could we do differently if we were to keep going? I’m super proud of my teammates – they played incredible. I wish I could have made that last shot for them.
“I had about a half inch of the rock and had to throw it in hope, so it’s kind of a Hail Mary. I had to make my first one, and it was just a little bit short.”
Lawes crouched on the ice in anguish after her miss, reminiscent of her missed last shot in the Manitoba provincial final. Her squad was the 18th and final team to qualify for the STOH, and made it in by a fraction of a qualifying point according to the CTRS (Canadian Team Ranking System).
The victory marks a record-tying six Scotties titles for Birchard. She won her first playing third for Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones in 2018, then added five more with Team Einarson. She is tied with Jones, Colleen Jones and Jill Officer.
“To get one in my career would have been a dream come true, and this is absolutely mind-blowing,” Birchard said. “To be among legends of the sport, people I’ve looked up to my whole life, is just unbelievable.”
It’s the fifth Scotties title for both Einarson and Sweeting, and the first for Burgess. Burgess had played in the previous three finals, claiming silver each time – once with Jones in 2023, and twice with Einarson in 2024 and 2025.
Lawes was playing in her first Scotties final in 11 years. Teammates Selena Njegovan and Kristin Gordon lost the 2018 STOH final – with former skip Einarson – and also lost the 2021 Olympic Trials final, with current Rachel Homan third Tracy Fleury as skip.
Laura Walker was the fourth member of Team Lawes. Walker was filling in for regular second Jocelyn Peterman, who is in Italy preparing for this week’s Olympic Winter Games.
Team Lawes dominated the previous matchups with Einarson, defeating her 9-4 in round-robin play and 10-2 in the Page 1v2 game – Lawes’ 100th career STOH victory – to clinch a spot in the final.
Einarson rebounded from the first playoff loss to Lawes by thumping Selena Sturmay of Alberta 12-4 in the Sunday semifinal.
Team Lawes started the final with hammer but couldn’t capitalize early. In the second, Einarson nailed a hit-and-roll to hide, and Lawes was light on a draw to give up the steal. In the fourth, Manitoba attempted a runback for two but over-curled, handing over another steal.
Ends one, three and five were blanked, including a neat double-and-roll-out by Team Lawes following back-to-back raise takeouts from Team Einarson.
In the sixth, Lawes converted a deuce after a rare Einarson miss. Canada’s last rock flashed, leaving Lawes an open draw for two to tie it up. Manitoba built on that momentum in the seventh. Canada tried to clear two staggered Lawes stones on the wing and roll out for a blank. Sweeting swept a Manitoban stone behind the tee-line, but it stopped just before the back line, catching a piece of the house for the steal.
“We battled so hard all week and I’m so proud of my teammates and for sticking in there with me,” Einarson said. “I was really mad at myself in seven when I gave up the steal and I just told them hang in there. In 10, I had to come in with a clutch shot. I just told them stay patient, stay with me.”
Team Einarson will represent Canada at the world women’s championship Mar. 14-22 at WinSport Event Centre in Calgary.
The last skip not named Einarson or Homan to win the title was Chelsea Carey, who stole the 2019 final in remarkable fashion over Homan.
Olympic Trials finalist Christina Black defeated fellow Halifax skip Taylour Stevens in the Page qualifier before falling to Sturmay in the Page 3 vs 4 playoff.
A third Manitoba team skipped by Beth Peterson – with Kelsey Calvert throwing last stones – went 8-0 to win their pool before falling twice in playoff matches.
The 2027 Tournament of Hearts will be hosted at Charlottetown, PEI for the fifth time in the Maritime city’s history.
Category: General Sports
