Bluenose nailbiter!

Nova Scotia hangs on to steal crucial victory at 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts

Up 7-3 through four ends, the last place Nova Scotia skip Christina Black may have expected to be in the 10th end was watching her opposite number throwing a shot for the victory.

But that’s exactly what played out Tuesday night at the Fort William Gardens — Black could only cross her fingers and hope as she watched Northwest Territories skip Kerry Galusha attempting a runback takeout for the victory with her final shot of a simply wild game at the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

The shot missed — barely — and Black, vice-skip Jill Brothers, second Jen Baxter, lead Karlee Everist, alternate Marlee Powers and coach Stuart MacLean eked out an 11-10 win to move into a tie for first place in Pool B with Ontario’s Team Danielle Inglis (Ottawa) at 4-1.

It was, suffice it to say, a nervy 20 seconds or so for Black as Galusha took her shot at the win.

“Oh yeah,” said Black with a laugh. “I think I almost threw up a little bit.”

Fortunately for her team — and the ice crew — she held it in and the Bluenosers are firmly in the hunt for a playoff position after a game that Black described, accurately, as “crazy.”

“It was up and down — we’d have a really good end, and then all of a sudden an end where, I don’t know how but all of a sudden, they’re just going to get a pile (of points) and we’re like, what is going on here?” said Black. “But they just kept freezing to everything and made us pay any time a rock was on the tee line. They played with nothing to lose, right? They were just fearless, just drawing to everything and nailing them.”

Nova Scotia took that 7-3 lead by scoring four in the fourth end, but the Territories (2-3) rallied with three in the fifth, and then stole three in the eighth to go up 9-8. Nova Scotia was forced to a single in the ninth, setting the stage for the 10th-end drama.

“I was just happy we stuck together,” said Black. “It was like, OK girls, that was crazy, but let’s find a way to win this game. And we did. You need to be able to steal and win close games and get some luck on your side. And yeah, that was a really important win for us. More routine wins will be nice, but our next three games are really tough, so I don’t expect any routine ones. It’s going be a big battle to the end.”

Indeed it will, but the Haligonians have proved they have the grit to get through some tricky situations, and it was proven again on Tuesday night.

“We’re resilient,” said Black. “We don’t give up and we support each other the whole time, no matter what’s going on. We’ve won a couple games like that where maybe we had to steal the win or come from behind. So we know we can win multiple ways.

“We don’t quit. We’re Nova Scotian. We don’t quit.”

It wasn’t the only Tuesday night comeback, though. Manitoba’s Team Kerri Einarson (Gimli) snapped a two-game losing streak by rallying from a 7-2 deficit through five ends to beat Kate Cameron’s Manitoba champs from Winnipeg 10-9, cracking a deuce in the 10th for the victory. The result left both teams with 3-2 records.

The third Manitoba entry in the field, skipped by Kaitlyn Lawes (Winnipeg) shook things up Tuesday night with third Selena Njegovan taking over shot-calling duties (Lawes still threw last rocks). It paid off with an 11-4 win over the Yukon’s Team Bayly Scoffin (1-4; Whitehorse), a result that evened the Team Lawes record at 3-3.

In the other game, Québec’s Team Laurie St-Georges (4-2; Laval-sur-le-Lac) stayed in playoff contention by dismantling Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Brooke Godsland (0-6; St. John’s).

Ontario’s Team Inglis had the bye on Tuesday night.

The 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues Wednesday with draws at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times Eastern).

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.