A seasoned, smarter Einarson

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This article was published 14/02/2020 (2262 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — The first time Kerri Einarson wore the buffalo on her back, it was 2016. For as long as she could remember, she’d wanted so badly to get out of Manitoba, and that year, in Grande Prairie, Alta., stepping out onto the national ice felt like a dream. 

She comported herself well in her rookie national appearance, but at the time could not quite compete against the sport’s elite: she went 7-4 in the round robin and could battle no further than the 3-vs-4 Page playoff game. Today, the image of her after that loss lingers: she had hoped for so much more. 

Times have changed. Four years after her Scotties debut, Einarson, 32, is a different player. The fire in her shots is still there, the penchant for making dazzling hits, but the years have seasoned her. She’s made waves in the grand slams. Stormed to the 2018 Scotties final. Settled in now with her second-year team. 

“I grew as (I went),” Einarson says, chatting after practice Friday morning at Mosaic Place. “Get all this experience, and play in these big games, it gets easier as you play in more and more of them. I think that will help going forward, and just being relaxed and staying calm.” 

Now her foursome, which includes third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Brianne Meilleur, is gunning to show Canada what they can do. A lot of eyes will be watching: they come into the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw as the No. 1 seed. 

It was certainly earned. More than any other regional winner, they walked through fire to earn be here, having to get past both Tracy Fleury and Jennifer Jones in the battle of Manitoba. Indeed, the provincial final versus Jones was an emotional roller coaster, one of the wildest championship games in memory.  

That was less than two weeks ago, though it already feels like forever. In the interim, the team rested and looked to resettle themselves after the playdowns: it was a “really big hurdle” for them, Birchard says, and they know the week in Moose Jaw only represents a whole other mountain. 

If they play the way they can, this could well be their week to see the summit. The first time they came to a Scotties as a team was last year, in the wild-card game, where they lost to Alberta’s Casey Scheidegger. They’re glad not to be playing that do-or-die match again, Birchard and Einarson both say, with a laugh. 

Over the year since, they’ve fine-tuned how to work together. Birchard, who came to her first Scotties with Jones in 2018 as a replacement for Olympic-bound Jones vice Kaitlyn Lawes, has learned some things about her current skip

“Kerri is so soft-natured,” Birchard says. “I think a lot of people think she comes off as hard, maybe because of not showing a lot of emotion in games or on television. But she’s so sweet and kind, and she’s such a player. She can make those huge shots when needed… we have a ton of trust in her throwing ability.” 

Einarson will start her Scotties at 7:30 p.m. CST Saturday with a match against Quebec’s Noémie Verreault.  

The favourites

While Einarson is the number one seed, she’ll have her hands full staying on top once the rocks start roaring: the competition at the 2020 Scotties is steep. 

Among the most promising competitors: three-time Canadian champion Rachel Homan, who is here for the seventh time with her Ontario rink. Also back in the mix is defending champion Chelsea Carey, who will be gunning to claim her own third maple leaf jacket. 

Then there is one of the Scotties almost perennial dark horses, Northern Ontario champ Krista McCarville. 

Now making her seventh national appearance, McCarville, a teacher, opts not to play as much during the season as some of the other top teams. As a result, she’s always seeded lower than the threat that she poses: a regular playoff contender and 2016 finalist, she has plenty of chops to knock off the higher seeds. 

“I grew as (I went). Get all this experience, and play in these big games, it gets easier as you play in more and more of them. I think that will help going forward, and just being relaxed and staying calm.”
– Kerri Einarson

The Rookies

When teams are on the ice, fans and media alike tend to revel in the sense of rivalries. 

But if there’s one little detail that shows the more nuanced heart of curling relationships off the sheet, it’s this: after seizing her first Alberta jacket in an emotional provincial final, skip Laura Walker turned around and chose her final opponent, Kelsey Rocque, to come to Moose Jaw as the team’s fifth. 

“It was a super easy decision for us,” says Walker of Rocque, a former teammate. “Both Taylor (McDonald, second) and I had played with Kelsey before, and we knew the type of person she is. We knew she would be willing to totally do whatever we needed her to do in the moment, and we knew how versatile she is.” 

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Though this is Walker’s debut Scotties, she does come with some experience: Manitoba-based third Kate Cameron, who came to nationals in 2017 and ’18 with skip Michelle Englot. That’s key not when it comes to stuff on the ice, but how to manage everything around it at Scotties, such as promotional events or photo shoots. 

“We’re not necessarily an underdog, but having three girls who haven’t been here before, it’s kind of fun,” Cameron says. “That’s been kind of fun as the person that’s been here before, whereas before Michelle could tell me in and out what we do each day and how long it takes, so that’s been fun.

“These girls are excited, and I think it kind of fires me up because they haven’t been here, and they’ve been working just as hard as anyone to get here.”

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca 

Melissa Martin
Reporter-at-large

Melissa Martin reports and opines for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Every piece of reporting Melissa produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.