They battled for Canadian championship supremacy nine months ago in Thunder Bay, Ont., and while it’s very early in the proceedings, Team Rachel Homan and Team Kerri Einarson may be on another collision course at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, presented by Connect Hearing.
Ottawa’s Team Homan beat Team Einarson from Gimli, Man., in the final of the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts last February in Thunder Bay, and both teams opened the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials with emphatic victories at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
Einarson, backed up by vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Karlee Burgess, alternate Krysten Karwacki and coach Reid Carruthers certainly didn’t enter Saturday’s Trials curtain-raiser as a crowd favourite, taking on the local hopefuls from Halifax skipped by Christina Black.
But back-to-back big steals to open the game — two in the first end and four more in the second — were more than enough to mute the Team Black faithful and get an early surge of confidence in a rematch of the 2025 Scotties semifinal. Team Einarson rolled to a 12-5 victory.
“I was actually excited (to play Team Black in the opening draw),” said Einarson, who made it to a third-place playoff tiebreaker in her only previous Trials appearance, four years ago in Saskatoon. “You get them on (their) first game so they don’t get on a winning streak and the crowd behind them. Our plan was just to take the crowd out of it a little early, and we put a lot of pressure on them in the first half of the game. They’re a great team. We’ve had always really good battles with them. It was good to get off to a good start.”
Black wrecked on a guard with her last-rock hit-and-stick attempt for one in the first, and an end later overcurled again on a hit attempt, rolling out her shooter and leaving Team Einarson counting four.
Team Einarson would add steals of one in the sixth and three more in the seventh. Team Black cut the margin with four in the eight but offered handshakes to end the game.
After arriving early in the week and putting in two full days of practice, it was a relief for Team Einarson to finally throw stones in competition on Saturday.
“It was a long week,” said the skipper with a smile. “We’ve been here for the whole week and I was like, OK, are we playing yet? So it was finally good to be out on the ice and throwing some rocks, getting out those nerves. You’re always nervous before your first game and if you’re not nervous, you’re not ready. So I was excited to start and get off to a good game.”
Meanwhile, Homan, the two-time reigning Scotties and world women’s champion, was in a tight 1-1 game with Team Kate Cameron of St. Adolphe, Man., through two ends but broke it open with a draw for three in the third end, and stole four more in the fourth when Cameron was narrow of the broom on a hit for one and rolled out her shooter after wrecking.
Homan would add six more in the sixth with a double takeout, en route to a 16-5 triumph.
“I felt like we were learning the ice really well in practice and we came out strong,” said Homan, whose team is rounded out by vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and coach Heather Nedohin. “We were making really precise shots and happy to get an early lead. I think they struggled a little bit with the ice, so thankfully we didn’t have to make too many precise ones later in the game.”
In the other Saturday afternoon games, Team Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg stole a deuce in the third end and one in the ninth in a 7-4 triumph over Team Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C.; and Team Selena Sturmay of Edmonton stole two in the third and seventh ends in an 8-2 triumph over Team Kayla Skrlik of Calgary.
The 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials continue with the opening men’s draw Saturday at 7 p.m. (all times Atlantic).
Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials are available by CLICKING HERE.
TSN and RDS will provide coverage of the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.
For ticket information for the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, go to www.curling.ca/2025trials/tickets.
This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2025trials/nouvelles.
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