Super sixpack!

Playoff pairings confirmed at 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts

A week of curling at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont., has whittled down the field to six aspiring Canadian champions.

Late Thursday night, the playoff field was set for the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and those six remaining teams — four of them with a second life in the playoffs by virtue of finishing first or second within their round-robin pools — will present their cases for being worthy of the top step of the medal podium and the right to wear the Maple Leaf as Team Canada after Sunday’s gold-medal final.

It all kicks off Friday at 1 p.m. (all times Eastern) with the Page 1-2 qualifiers: Pool A winner and reigning Scotties and world champions Team Canada, skipped by Rachel Homan, will take a perfect 8-0 record into battle against Pool B runner-up Nova Scotia’s Team Christina Black (6-2; Halifax).

At the same time, Pool B victor Team Kerri Einarson of Manitoba (6-2; Gimli), who won the Scotties title three years ago in this building, battles Pool A runner-up Alberta’s Team Kayla Skrlik (6-2; Calgary).

The winners of those two games will move directly to Saturday’s 7 p.m. Page 1-2 playoff, from which the winner will go into Sunday’s gold-medal final at 7 p.m. and the loser drops to the semifinal Sunday at 1 p.m.

The losers of Friday’s 1 p.m. games, meanwhile, will get a second shot to reach the Page playoffs by dropping into the Page 3-4 qualifiers against the two third-place finishers in pool play.

Pool A’s Team Corryn Brown (6-2; Kamloops) of British Columbia will play the Team Canada vs. Team Nova Scotia loser, while Pool B’s Team Danielle Inglis (6-2; Ottawa) of Ontario is up against the Team Manitoba-Einarson vs. Team Alberta-Skrlik loser.

The winners of the Page 3-4 qualifiers will meet in the Page 3-4 playoff Saturday at 1 p.m., with the winner going into Sunday’s semifinal and the loser eliminated.

It will be, in short, a tension-filled, action-packed and thoroughly compelling three days of curling to close out the 2025 Scotties, and the three teams who booked their spots at the end of Pool B play Thursday night were equal measures excited and relieved.

“It definitely hasn’t been easy, we haven’t made it easy on ourselves,” said Einarson, who has put together four straight wins after an indifferent 2-2 start in Thunder Bay. “We put our backs against the wall, and when that happens, that brings out the best in us, and I think we’re trending in the right direction. I think we’re getting hot at the right time.”

Team Einarson, rounded out by vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Karlee Burgess, lead Krysten Karwacki, alternate Lauren Lenentine and coach Reid Carruthers, locked up the Pool B round-robin title with a 9-6 win over Manitoba’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes (4-4; Winnipeg), sealing the win with three in the 10th end. 

Other than Team Homan, no team carries more big-game experience into the playoffs than Team Einarson, as Einarson and Sweeting won four straight Scotties titles from 2019 through 2023.

“We know that feeling, and being the only sheet out there (when it gets down to single-game draws), the ice conditions change sometimes, and we will be prepared for that,” said Einarson. “We’re definitely excited to be in this position, because it wasn’t looking like that early on in the week.”

Black’s Nova Scotia champs, meanwhile, had to grind out a tight win over Manitoba’s Team Kate Cameron (4-4; Winnipeg), picking up a crucial steal of one in the ninth end.

It’s the second trip to the playoffs for Black, who made the Page 3-4 playoff two years ago in Kamloops before losing to Team Einarson.

“You just know what it’s like to be out there in the playoff round; it’s different than the round robin,” said Black, who’s backed up by vice-skip Jill Brothers, second Jen Baxter, lead Karlee Everist, alternate Marlee Powers and coach Stuart MacLean. “The games are tough you just have to be able to maintain your focus for such a long period of time. It’s such a grind so I think I’m a lot mentally tougher than I was two years ago.”

Inglis, meanwhile, will be the playoff rookie coming out of Pool B; she, vice-skip Kira Brunton, second Calissa Daly, lead Cassandra de Groot, alternate Kimberly Tuck and coach Steve Acorn missed the playoffs last year in Calgary.

But, said Inglis after her team’s 9-3 win over the Northwest Territories (3-5; Yellowknife) in skip Kerry Galusha’s Scotties swan-song, her team has taken what it learned last year and built off it this year,

“It was becoming more familiar with the environment, the pressure, the crowds, everything, and just learning,” she said. “We’re a team who really learns from every single thing, and that really allowed us to come out here firing this week.”

And now, the job becomes that much more cut and dry.

“Win,” said Inglis with a smile. “Win — go out there and win. We’re just going to continue to build off of what we’ve learned here and bring that into the playoffs.”

In the other Thursday night game, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Brooke Godsland (1-7; St. John’s) hit the win column with an 11-6 win over the Yukon’s Team Bayly Scoffin (1-7; Whitehorse).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, go to www.curling.ca/2025scotties/tickets/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2025scotties/nouvelles/?lang=fr