Team Canada, again!

Einarson continues dominance over McCarville at Scotties

At this stage of her curling career, Kerri Einarson has been able to showcase her prowess against Krista McCarville.

The two skips have faced off against each other several times at the Canadian Women’s Curling Championship and the end results have been consistent.

Einarson was 4-1 against the Thunder Bay skip at the Hearts coming into action on Saturday evening.

It was the same story when the two came to blows again in Draw 3 at the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary in an early clash of curling stars. 

And after the 2 1/2-hour drama had ended at the WinSport Event Centre, it was Einarson’s Team Canada (2-0, Gimli) that made another definitive statement with a 7-4 victory over McCarville’s Team Northern Ontario (1-1, Thunder Bay) in Pool A action. 

As in: “We’re the defending champs, baby, and as hungry as ever.” 

 It was the latest renewal of their rivalry. Einarson won the Canadian title in 2021 with a 9-6 win over McCarville in the final, and beat her again last year in the semifinal, 7-5, on her way to a fourth consecutive title. 

It’s still early at the Scotties, and the two may meet later, but for now Einarson has bragging rights — again. 

“We always have really good battles against her, close games all the time,” said Einarson. “They’re a great team. We put pressure on them a little earlier and kept the lead.” 

Einarson, looking for a record-breaking fifth consecutive Canadian title, knew she had no soft touch against McCarville, playing in her 11th Scotties but still looking for her first title. McCarville is as dangerous as they come in Canadian women’s curling. 

But once more, the Thunder Bay teacher was the source of her own demise. She can lament about her fate, but was particularly annoyed with the second end when she pulled up short of the rings with her final shot, presenting Team Einarson a steal of three to open the scoring. 

It was your classic ‘uh-oh’ moment, especially coming against the defending champs. 

Team Northern Ontario fought back, and were behind only 5-4 after seven, but Einarson scored one in eight and stole one in the ninth when McCarville ticked a guard with her final takeout attempt. 

“Obviously we need to play a little better than we did tonight,” said McCarville. “We struggled with the ice, we struggled picking up on that. We need to pick up on that quicker, and they did and I think that was the difference. It changes every day so you want to learn it faster than they do, that’s key. 

“We seem to fight back really well. We’re a team that doesn’t give up. We just need to play a little more sharp.” 

Einarson, backed by vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Krysten Karwacki and coached by Reid Carruthers, wasn’t her sharpest, but was just a little bit better. 

“It was a good test,” she said. “We were a little shaky out there. It wasn’t as pretty as we would like but that’s how it goes sometimes.”  

Meanwhile, Team Alberta (2-0, Edmonton), skipped by Selena Sturmay, sent the boisterous crowd streaming to the Patch in a happy mood after its dominant 8-3 win over skip Jane DiCarlo’s Team Prince Edward (0-2, Crapaud). 

The Albertans got off to a terrific start by upsetting powerful Team Manitoba – Lawes in Friday night’s opening draw, and now have the wind in their sails. 

In the other Pool A games, 2013 Canadian Under-21 champ Corryn Brown and her Team British Columbia-Brown (1-1, Kamloops) bounced back from an opening-draw loss to post a 12-4 win over Team Newfoundland & Labrador (0-1, St. John’s) skipped by Stacie Curtis, and skip Skylar Ackerman’s Team Saskatchewan (2-0, Saskatoon) roared back from a 4-0 deficit after the first end to upend Team Manitoba-Lawes (0-2, Winnipeg), skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes. 

Team Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges (0-1, Glenmore & Laval-sur-le-Lac) had the bye. 

The 18 Scotties teams are split into two pools of nine, and will play a complete eight-game round robin. The top three teams in each pool advance to the playoffs where it will be further reduced to a Final Four and a Page playoff system. 

 The final goes Sunday, Feb. 23. 

The 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues with draws today at 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. (all times Mountain). 

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/. 

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule. 

Broadcast coverage for viewers outside of Canada is available on TSN’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/@TSN_Sports. 

For ticket information for the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, go to www.curling.ca/2024scotties/tickets/. 

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2024scotties/nouvelles/?lang=fr