Kerri Einarson and her Manitoba rink are making it obvious.
They want to return to Prince George.
The two-time defending Scotties Tournament of Hearts champions are taking another run at the Canadian women’s curling title this week at the 2022 Scotties in Thunder Bay, Ont., and they’re off to a perfect start heading into today’s final draws.
The Scotties winner will represent Canada at the BKT Tires and OK Tire Women’s World Curling Championship in Prince George, March 19-27 at CN Centre.
Einarson was prepared to fulfill that role in March 2020 and had just arrived in Prince George with her teammates, along with the other teams, when the world championship tournament was cancelled the day before it was scheduled to begin when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 as global pandemic.
Einarson, from Gimli, Man., faces a tough test today when she puts her undefeated 7-0 record on the line in the last pool play draw this afternoon (4 p.m. start) against Mackenzie Zacharias and the current Manitoba champions from Altona. Zacharias is tied with Christina Black of Nova Scotia, each with 5-2 record in the B Pool, trailing Einarson.
There’s a two-way tie for first in the B Pool. Andrew Crawford of New Brunswick and Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul., Man., who entered the Scotties as Wild Card No. 1, each sport 6-1 records. Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay, are at 5-2 so far playing in front of a home crowd.
B.C. champion Mary-Anne Arsenault of Kelowna (2-5) is out of the running for a playoff spot. B.C. takes on Hailey Birnie of Yukon today at 4 p.m. PT.
Playoffs start Friday with a tiebreaker round at 6 a.m. and playoffs at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday’s playoff round are at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. The semifinal is set for Sunday at 9 a.m., with the final at 4 p.m.. Daily TV coverage is on TSN.
The 2022 world championship schedule for the 13-country event was released Thursday and Canada will open on Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m. against Italy. The Canadians also play Norway on opening day at 7 p.m. Then on Sunday, Mach 20, Canada plays Switzerland, the defending world champions, at 7 p.m.
The rest of Canada’s schedule is as follows:
Monday, March 21: Denmark 2 p.m.
Tuesday, March 22: Japan, 2 p.m.
Wednesday, March 23: Sweden, 9 a.m.; Scotland, 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 24: United States, 9 a.m.; Korea, 7 p.m.
Friday, March 25: Germany, 9 a.m.; Russia, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 26: Playoffs – Third versus sixth, fourth versus fifth, 1 p.m. Semifinals, 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 27: Bronze medal – 11 a.m.; gold medal – 4 p.m.
Tickets are available online www.curling.ca/2022worldwomen/tickets or at the CN Centre box office, or by calling 1-888-293-6613. All ticket packages are subject to standard ticket service fees.
