Einarson confident heading into national Scotties Tournament of Hearts

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This article was published 19/01/2024 (981 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Kerri Einarson isn’t concerned even though the numbers suggest her fearsome foursome out of the Gimli Curling Club are having a bit of a down year thus far.

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, and lead Briane Harris are 24-16 in 2023-24 to give themselves a .600 win percentage.

That’s certainly nothing to scoff at.

If you look at their past three seasons, however, defending four-time Scotties Tournament of Heart champions won nearly 70 per cent of their games with a 176-76 record.

“Well, it’s kind of hard to go off of that when we don’t really play a whole lot of events. We’ve really only played one other event outside of the slams,” said Einarson in a phone interview.

“So, I don’t really look too much into that and I don’t believe in those kinds of stats.”

Fair argument.

They made the final of the PointsBet Invitational on Oct. 1, which they lost to Rachel Homan — who’s ranked No. 1 in the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS).

Einarson also has semi-finals appearances at the HearingLife Tour Challenge, Pan-Continental Championships, and WFG Masters.

They’ve come close, but Einarson, who’s No. 3 in the CTRS behind Jennifer Jones, is still searching for a first-place finish.

Homan has been on a tear this season with an impressive mark of 33-5 while Jones is 32-19.

“It doesn’t really matter, to be honest. We’ve qualified in every event we’ve played in and we’ve made it to the semis and we’ve had really good games in those semis and just came up a little bit short against some really good teams,” said Einarson.

“We’re getting ourselves into good spots, and last year, we won one slam.”

They might win one this year, too. Einarson outlasted Jones 5-4 on Friday to improve to 4-0 at the Co-op Canadian Open in Red Deer, Alta., and earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Jones, who dropped to 2-2, had a chance to draw for a pair in the eighth to tie the contest but her shot came up heavy. The top eight teams in the field of 16 advance to Saturday’s playoffs.

Fellow Manitobans Jolene Campbell (0-4) and Kate Cameron (0-3 heading into Friday night) didn’t make the cut. Jones and former teammate Kaitlyn Lawes (1-2 before meeting Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg late last night) still had a chance to sneak in depending on how the final draw shook out.

This is Einarson’s last competition before women’s curling nationals in Calgary at the WinSport Event Centre (Feb. 16-25).

“I feel like at this event we’re firing on all four cylinders. Everyone’s playing really well and we are getting good confidence going into the Scotties so it’s been really great so far,” said Einarson.

The story at the Scotties will be Einarson having a chance at history as no one has ever won it five times in a row. Colleen Jones (2001-04) is the only other team to win four straight.

“We’re motivated to defend our title and to get back onto the world stage. I know we have so much more to prove on that world stage,” said Einarson.

“It’s definitely not going to be easy, everyone’s going to be gunning for us, but we know what that is like and what that feels like.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31