An Olympic trip continues to elude Einarson Gimli team toppled by Halifax’s Black in curling trial semis By: Taylor Allen Posted: 5:45 PM CST Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025

HALIFAX — Kerri Einarson has always taken care of business against Christina Black.

Entering Thursday’s semifinal at the 2025 Canadian Curling Trials, the skip from Gimli had won all eight of their meetings dating back to 2022 — including a commanding 12-5 victory in the last weekend’s opening draw — and had outscored the Halifax product 73-35 in that stretch.

But this time, with the stakes higher than ever, history did not repeat itself.

Black, playing in her own backyard with thousands of fans inside the Scotiabank Centre cheering her on, upset second-ranked Einarson 6-3.

The 21st-ranked Black will now meet world No. 1 and heavy favourite Rachel Homan in a best-of-three final that begins Friday at 11 a.m. CT.

A trip to the Olympics continues to elude Einarson, a four-time Scotties winner.

“We had to find out how to finally beat her and finally, we beat her,” said Black.

“It’s a great monkey off our back.”

“It just wasn’t meant to be and, unfortunately, we got outplayed.”

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Karlee Burgess couldn’t get anything going on Thursday. The game was tied 3-3 in the ninth when misfires by Sweeting and Einarson opened the door to Black hitting a draw to score three.

Black was the best curler on the ice at 90 per cent. Einarson finished the game at 75 per cent.

“It definitely sucks. You work so hard towards this, and this is something you dream of doing and it’s hard,” said Einarson.

“It just wasn’t meant to be and, unfortunately, we got outplayed. We just missed a few shots here and there and didn’t capitalize on any opportunities that we were given.”

Team Einarson started the week 6-0 before losing the round-robin finale against Homan in a game that would’ve earned them the No. 1-seed and a bye to the final.

“We had such a great week and to just kind of fall short the last two days is definitely a heartbreaker for us,” said second Shannon Birchard.

“We gave our all out there and, I mean, their team played amazing today. They really capitalized when they had opportunities. Christina played great. She made some really clutch draws, and they got us this time. It’s time to regroup and refocus on the rest of the season and the Scotties.”

Burgess, who grew up down the road in Truro, N.S., was fighting back tears while speaking to reporters after the game. She joined Einarson midway through last season.

“We felt really confident and we felt that maybe it was our week, and we just didn’t play our best today and they had an unreal game,” said Burgess.

“For Shannon, Val and Kerri, they’ve been playing together for so long and this has been on their bucket list, and same for me. I thought we were just so close this week. I thought we had it. A tough one, but again, they’ve been playing great. It’s going to be a great battle between (Black and Homan).”

No one could’ve predicted Black rising to the occasion like she has. She placed third at last year’s Scotties but has mostly struggled this season by missing the playoffs in four out of six events. Prior to this week, they were 0-4 against teams who had qualified for the trials.

“Other people wouldn’t have seen it coming. They’d look at our results and think, ‘Oh, they’re not doing good.’ But we were never worried because we were playing in these tougher events trying to get experience and everything to play here and be ready for this,” said Black, 38.

“Huge believer in the curling gods and destiny and just having that on your side, it’s incredible.”

“That was a different start to the season than we ever had. We’ve never been on the road like that playing in these big tournaments. We also play better when there’s some pressure on us. So, last year, we did so good in all the spiels because we needed to get all the points we could to get to this event.”

The 2005 Canadian Curling Trials took place in the same building and Nova Scotia’s own Colleen Jones came up short. Jones died on Tuesday at the age of 65, and Black believes the curling legend might just be looking over her team.

“Huge believer in the curling gods and destiny and just having that on your side, it’s incredible,” said Black. “We’re here in Halifax, 20 years ago they weren’t able to get it done at home, and we’re just gonna try and get it done.”

Black went 4-3 in the round robin to create a three-way tie with Kaitlyn Lawes and Selena Sturmay for the final playoff spot, but the local hero got the edge thanks to owning the best Last Stone Draw ranking. After the standings were settled, Black walked through a nearby food court to get to her hotel and a bunch of fans erupted in applause to congratulate her.

“When I work, sometimes I have to come down to the office, and I go (to that food court) to get my coffee in the morning and no one’s clapping for me then, so I was like, ‘This is wild,’” said Black, a remote compliance officer at Scotiabank.

With two more wins, she won’t be paying for coffee any time soon. It won’t be easy, though. Beating Homan once feels like an insurmountable task, never mind twice.

“We’ve got nothing to lose. We don’t have the pressure on us,” said Black.

“It’s a great feeling to be in and a great position to be in.”

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