Four takeaways from 10 days of the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts
While there were the constants, there were also a few items that turned our heads and perhaps altered our impressions of the women’s curling scene
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The Scotties Tournament of Hearts came down to Sunday’s late winner-take-all championship draw between Canada’s Rachel Homan and Manitoba’s Kerri Einarson.
The 7-1 finale favouring Homan and her juggernaut squad from the Ottawa Curling Club capped what was another stellar week featuring the best of the best of the nation’s top female athletes in the sport.
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Four takeaways from 10 days of the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Back to video
And while there were the constants — those aspects of the finale that were all too obviously expected — there were also a few items that turned our heads and perhaps altered our impressions of the women’s curling scene.
Here are 4 takeaways from the 10 days of the Scotties …
1. They are who we thought they were
The favourite coming in was, undoubtedly, defending champion Homan.
With her 45-4 record ahead of the Scotties, any notions to the contrary just seemed silly.
So it came as no surprise that the superstar skip and her decorated Ottawa squad made it to Sunday’s late championship final — and won it.
And really, it’s similarly no shock Einarson was in that final, as well. After all, the Manitoba skip and her talented rink came in ranked second in Canada, behind only Homan, with Einarson and Sweeting sporting the unrivalled experience of having won the Scotties title — four years straight, in fact, from 2020-23 — just before Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes grabbed it last year in Calgary.
Only those skipped by legend Jennifer Jones — now retired — have been considered in the same elite class of Canadian women’s curling teams.
So as the 1-2 cream of the crop crews, the Homan-Einarson title tilt made a whole lot of sense.
2. The next wave
Homan and Einarson can’t forever be on top, can they?
We saw all week how there are the younger stars shining on the Canadian curling landscape, with 20-something skips Kayla Skrlik, Corryn Brown, Selena Sturmay and Laurie St-Georges — among others — continuing to make names for themselves in bids to win the Scotties.
Most are in line to make more visits to the event, which bodes well for the future of women’s curling in the country.
Indeed, that next wave is blossoming with talent, and with more and more trips to the national championship, they will only get better and better, eventually — unless the veterans simply somehow never stop bringing it — taking over the mantle from Homan and Einarson.
3. Paint it Black
Despite her solid resumé at the Scotties, Christina Black and her Nova Scotia group went into the week still a little under the radar.
But that won’t be the case in future championships, including the Olympic trials later this year. Not after they proved to be solid all week long and gave it a massive effort in trying to make themselves surprise winners.
The Halifax team — made better with the addition of experienced Jill Brothers at third — took Einarson to the brink in Sunday’s early semifinal. In fact, it came down to a measure in the 9-8 decision.
“Just a dramatic finish … as always,” Einarson told reporters, after her shooter hit and rolled further than she wanted it to in the 10th end to set up the measure.
“We got off to a good start in the game, getting that deuce (in the first end), and then the steal really helped (in two), and we just really kept the lead, but we knew we had to stay tough because they’re a really good team.”
The Manitoba crew also had deuces in the fourth and sixth ends but only counted one with hammer in the eighth to set up the nail-biter finish.
“We didn’t quit the whole game,” Black told reporters. “We had a slow start and kept grinding it out. We just kept taking the twos when we had the chance (in the third, fifth, seventh and ninth ends). It was like, ‘Guys, just keep it close. Get it tied into the 10th and make her throw her last shot,’ and we did. If (her last rock) had have curled a little more, we win.
“Every time you get to play a Kerri Einarson or a Rachel Homan, you learn a little bit more on just where you need to find those edges to get a little bit better.”
4. Adversity is only a word
Both Einarson and Black were both challenged by hurdles in the lead-up to Sunday’s semifinal.
For Black, it was a sad situation, when teammate Jenn Baxter’s father passed away during the Scotties. The news — revealed Sunday by TSN’s Bryan Mudryk — took Nova Scotia’s talented second out of Saturday’s 3-v-4 game, and Baxter also stayed away for Sunday’s semifinal.
Nonetheless, the Halifax Curling Club squad played its heart out under trying circumstances and nearly pulled out a trip to the final for Baxter and her family.
“Just tried to stay mindful and present in myself and just know I get to go curling — and how fun is that?” said Black, through tears. “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 I just wouldn’t break down not being able to play.
“I’m so proud of us for pulling through. Our hearts are just with Jenn and her family.”
For Einarson, it was a full-year obstacle, with changes to her rink’s front end forced upon her due to Briane Harris’ drug suspension — a debacle at the best of times — and Shannon Birchard’s frustrating knee injury.
The team repping the Gimli Curling Club only settled down in the days leading up to the Scotties, and even then, Einarson & Co. weren’t at their best early in the event, needing to dig themselves out of massive holes mid-week before righting themselves at the end.
Like Team Black, Team Einarson defined the term ‘gritty.’
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