“It was a Hail Mary and it didn’t work”

Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson and her Gimli Curling Club foursome captured a third straight Canadian women’s championship on Sunday, overcoming Krista McCarville’s Northern Ontario 9-6 in the final of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Einarson, supported by Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur had to overcome a determined comeback from the McCarville team, plus a small but vocal crowd in the Fort William Gardens madly cheering on the local heroines.

But as her team has done over the past three years, Einarson found a way to the winner’s circle.

Team Canada had to win three straight games in the Page playoffs after losing its first game in the Page seeding round.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” said Einarson. “To win once is hard, but to do it back-to-back-to-back is extremely hard. I’m so proud of my teammates, they’ve been unreal all week.”

The third national title lifts Einarson and her team into elite company, along with Team Nova Scotia’s Colleen Jones, Team Jennifer Jones of Manitoba and Saskatchewan’s Team Vera Pezer as other skips with at least three consecutive championships. Team Colleen Jones won four in a row during their brilliant career.

It was also the fourth Scotties win for Birchard. She previously won the 2018 Scotties with Jennifer Jones when she filled in for Kaitlyn Lawes who was off to the PyeongChang Olympics for mixed doubles.

Northern Ontario came back from an early 6-2 deficit and made Team Canada sweat until the end.

McCarville had shaved the Team Canada lead down to two, trailing 8-6 in the 10th, but with her final rock in her hand really had really nowhere to go with it in an attempt to score two. The button was locked up.

“It was not really the shot I was expecting to try to tie it,” said McCarville. “It was kind of the way that end went. It was a Hail Mary and it didn’t work.”

McCarville had the bye to the final after pulling off a stunning comeback in the Page 1 vs 2 matchup against New Brunswick veteran Andrea Crawford. Team NB had built a 7-3 but McCarville took three in the eighth end, Forced NB to one in the ninth, took two in the 10th for the tie and stole the extra end.

The Page 3 vs 4 game saw Einarson face Wild Card entry Tracy Fleury. In a matchup many expected to take place in the championship final—Crawford had beaten Einarson 8-6 with McCarville dumping Fleury 8-3—Einarson won out 11-6, then took out Crawford 8-4 in the semifinal.

“I wouldn’t say we met our expectations,” said Crawford, who was making her 10th appearance at the national shootout. “It was really disappointing the way we finished our (Page playoff) game. But we came out (Sunday) and did our best. But they played amazing.

“We had a hard time getting our multiples. But I’m definitely proud of my team for the way they played this week.”

It marks the first time in history that New Brunswick has won bronze at the Tournament of Hearts. The previous playoff appearance for the province came back in 1991.

McCarville had to fight off a comeback in the first playoff matchup against Nova Scotia’s Christina Black. The first-time nationals skip went down 9-1 early and closed to within 9-8 after the eighth end, but could get no closer. McCarville scored two in the ninth to close the deal at 11-8.

In the other opening-round playoff, New Brunswick eliminated skip Kerry Galusha’s Cinderella foursome from Northwest Territories with an 8-6 victory. Galusha defeated Mantioba’s Mackenzie Zacharias 8-6 in a tiebreaker.

Einarson went 11-1 during the week, winning her pool at 8-0 while Nova Scotia, NWT and Manitoba finished 5-3. Fleury, mostly skipped by regular third Selena Njegovan due to Fleury’s COVID-19 protocols, won her pool at 7-1 while New Brunswick finished 6-2 and Northern Ontario 5-3.

Team Einarson moves on to represent Canada at the 2022 women’s worlds in Prince George, B.C., March 19-27. That was the location of the 2020 worlds, which were cancelled due to the global pandemic just a day before the event was to start, where Einarson was poised to represent Canada for the first time.