Einarson falls short of perfect Homan in final

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This article was published 23/02/2025 (400 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Rachel Homan was perfect.

On a night when two of the biggest stars in curling were both vying for their fifth national championship, it was the skip from Ottawa who proved unstoppable, firing at a flawless 100 per cent efficiency as her team defeated Gimli’s Kerri Einarson 6-1 in Sunday’s gold medal final at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont.

It’s the second Canadian crown in a row for Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes. They will wear the Maple Leaf at the world curling championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea (March 15-23).

“There’s no feeling“, said Homan, who sits alone in second for most national titles as a skip behind Jennifer Jones and Colleen Jones, who both have six wins.

“I’m just so proud of my team. This week, it was so tough. We battled through a lot of games and Einarson’s team just played phenomenal.

“We needed 100 per cent to beat them.”

It was the 22nd win in a row for Homan at the Tournament of Hearts and the triumph brought her record to 122-11 over the last two seasons. In fact, Team Einarson is the only Canadian squad over that stretch to beat her, which came in the final of a Grand Slam event in October.

“Rachel was just unreal today,” said Fleury. “I don’t think she missed anything and she made some really key shots when we needed her to. Yeah, she was just unreal.”

“She’s definitely feeling it,” added Miskew. “I think that having a game on that sheet yesterday and knowing what the lines are going to do, as soon as she can see what’s going to happen there, she’s just on fire.”

The loss marked a disappointing end to an otherwise remarkable run for Team Einarson, which was playing in its second event together and looked anything but a shoo-in to make the playoffs through the first few days. The Manitobans — including third Val Sweeting, second Karlee Burgess and lead Krysten Karwacki — dropped to 2-2 before rattling off five wins in a row.

They lost to Homan in Saturday’s 1-2 page playoff but rebounded against Christina Black of Nova Scotia in the semi-final earlier on Sunday, winning 9-8.

“Definitely disappointing, but I’m super proud of my team,” said Einarson. “We’ve been through a lot over the last year, and it’s basically our first major event together as a team and it’s pretty amazing to be able to play one of the world’s best that have been together for many, many years.”

Like their meeting earlier in the playoffs, Einarson struggled to generate points against the world No. 1.

The earliest indication of what the night might hold came in the third end as Homan executed a run-back double-takeout on her first shot and then fired a sensational angled double-takeout with her second, which forced Einarson into a blank end.

Homan held a 2-1 advantage through five ends. She never had the hammer in the second half of the contest.

In the seventh frame, Einarson had to draw against two stones, one of which sat on the centreline at the top of the four foot. She couldn’t pull off the delicate shot, her rock sliding by the button to give Homan a steal of one.

In the eighth, Einarson tried to rub off a rock in the eight-foot and roll to shot stone but came up well short, conceding a steal of two. The final nail came in the ninth when the Manitoban, needing a deuce to keep her hopes alive, was inaccurate on a double-takeout attempt and gave up another single.

“I definitely want some shots back, and I got caught in some paths where it just wasn’t up to speed and I thought I threw it close,” said Einarson.

It also marked the third consecutive loss in the final for Burgess, who lost in 2023 and 2024 with Jennifer Jones. Burgess, who played most of the season at third for Chelsea Carey, joined Einarson in January in what was a perfect fit for both sides.

Einarson was without regular second Shannon Birchard for the rest of the year, owing to a knee injury, while Burgess was interested in a more competitive team.

Burgess fired at an 85 per cent clip in the final contest and showcased her elite brushing skills.

“It’s huge. We’re only playing with 50 per cent of our team right now and I’m just so proud of Krysten, she’s been filling in great, and bringing on Karlee, they’ve just been outstanding teammates,” said Einarson.

“We just stuck together. We had a challenging week and we just dug deep every single game and battled back from huge battles.”

Team Black plays through heartache

Jennifer Baxter, who plays second for Black, left Saturday’s 3-4 page playoff after one end due to a family emergency. It was later announced that her father, Blair, died.

Blair attended some of his daughter’s games at the Tournament of Hearts. He was said to be a big supporter of Baxter and her team.

Alternate Marlee Powers entered the game and played admirably in Baxter’s absence, as Black defeated Alberta’s Kayla Skrlik to advance to the semi-finals. Team Black tried its best to not think about the tragedy and focus on the task at hand on Sunday, but their hearts were understandably heavy.

“Just tried to stay mindful and present, myself, and just know I get to go curling, and how fun is that?” Black said after falling to Einarson.

She began to tear up.

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else— sorry, I can’t even think about it, so I haven’t been able to think about it so that I wouldn’t just break down and not be able to play,” she said.

“I’m so proud of us for pulling through and our hearts are just with Jenn and her family.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca