Einarson rink rockets up rankings

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This article was published 24/04/2019 (2684 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Judge not what Kerri Einarson’s team did in two opportunities to qualify for the national Scotties championship as the defining moments of its competitive curling season.

The criteria in gauging success for the Gimli-based foursome goes far beyond the Manitoba and Canadian women’s championships.

Ranked 18th on the World Curling Tour to begin the 2018-19 season, Einarson and her stacked lineup of former skips — three-time Alberta winner Val Sweeting at third and talented Winnipeggers Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur on the front end — ascended to No. 3 in the world, behind only Ottawa’s Rachel Homan and Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, as of this week.

When you capture five tour event titles and qualify for three other event finals, the ranking points tend to build up in a big way.

“We’ve reflected on where we started and how we’ve worked our way up, and that’s a big accomplishment for us. It’s amazing. We’re truly blessed with how everything has worked out for us, and we’re really excited for the future,” Einarson said Wednesday from Saskatoon.

The squad is competing in an elite 15-team international field this week at the Champions Cup, the final Grand Slam of Curling tour event of the season.

The Manitobans slide in with plenty of confidence after winning their first Slam crown together less than two weeks ago in Toronto, edging Hasselborg 5-4 in an extra end in the final of the Players Championship.

Any chatter about whether a team loaded with ability and leadership could coexist, assume new roles and thrive has been silenced.

“The success we had this year was big for us. We went in with open minds and weren’t exactly sure how it would go. But everyone has taken on new roles and is doing an amazing job. I’m really proud of my teammates. It was a challenge for them,” Einarson said.

“Shannon and Briane have put in so much hard work on and off the ice to get into the shape they’ve needed for the sweeping and judging (rock weight). I’m so impressed with how hard they’ve worked. There’s been moments of adjustment for me and Val, but we’re really clicking and becoming a very strong back end, and having a really strong relationship with each other.”

The team won four events before Christmas: the Stu Sells Tankard in Oakville, Ont.; the Autumn Gold Classic in Calgary; the Morris SunSpiel; and the Mother Club (Winnipeg) Fall Classic. Einarson lost the final of the Canad Inns Classic in Portage la Prairie and then settled for being second at the Canada Cup in Estevan, Sask., in early December and the Slam tour’s Boost National in Conception Bay South, N.L., just a week later.

The Slam defeat stung. However, the real hurt was still to come. Playing in front of friends and family in her Interlake community, Einarson lost the Manitoba women’s final to Tracy Fleury, whose team included three of Einarson’s former teammates.

Making matters worse, they had a second crack at qualifying for the Canadian championship after flying all the way to Sydney, N.S., only to lose 7-6 in 10 ends to Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., in the “win-and-in” Scotties wild-card game.

“Close game, but it just didn’t go our way. That was really deflating,” Einarson said. “We knew we’d lose some big games this season, and you just have to park them and move forward.”

Indeed, with no long Scotties week and no chance for a shot at the worlds, the team was left with a six-week break from competition to reflect on the season and prepare for the Players Championship. Einarson even flew to Edmonton to practise with Sweeting and go over strategy.

The start at Ryerson University’s Mattamy Athletic Centre the second week of April was anything but smooth, as the team struggled to a 1-3 start and appeared all but out of it. But Einarson managed to post a huge win over Scheidegger — redemption, of sorts — in their final round-robin game and squeaked into the playoffs.

Wins over Fleury and Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle set up a collision with Hasselborg, and they narrowly got past the 2018 Olympic women’s champion.

“We finally won that Slam, finally got over that hump, so that was huge for us,” Einarson said. “That’s the highlight, for sure.”

So, it’s full steam ahead on the journey to qualify for the 2021 Roar of the Rings Canadian Olympic Trials in Saskatoon. This is not a one-and-done scenario, by any means.

“No plans at all to change. We’re going with what we have, and just keep working hard,” Einarson said.

And they’re not done, yet.

Einarson will head to Russia at the end of May as the only Canadian entry in the eight-team Arctic Cup, a big-money bonspiel in Dudinka, one of the world’s northernmost towns, deep within the Arctic Circle.

“We are super excited to be asked to play in it. It’s going to be quite an experience. Three of us have never been anywhere overseas like that. Val has been to Japan before, but I haven’t played anywhere outside of Canada,” Einarson said. “When we got this invite maybe a month ago, we jumped all over it.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell