Three days of playoffs still to come

[With files from Curling Canada]

The final six teams are ready for the Scotties playoffs.

It all kicks off Friday at 1:00 p.m. (all times Eastern) at the Canadian women’s curling championship with the Page 1 vs 2 qualifiers.

Pool A winner and reigning national and world champions Team Canada, skipped by Rachel Homan, will take their 8-0 record into battle against Pool B runner-up Christina Black of Nova Scotia (6-2).

At the same time, Pool B leader Kerri Einarson of Manitoba (6-2), who won the title three years ago at Fort William Gardens, battles Pool A finalist Kayla Skrlik (6-2) of Alberta.

The winners of those two games will move directly to Saturday’s 7:00 p.m. Page 1 vs 2 playoff, from which the winner will move into Sunday’s gold-medal final at (7:00 p.m.) and the loser drop to the semifinal, Sunday at 1:00 p.m.

The losers of Friday’s 1:00 p.m. games get a second shot to reach the Page playoffs; they’ll drop into the Page 3 vs. 4 qualifiers against the two third-place finishers in pool play—B.C.’s Corry Brown and Ontario’s Danielle Inglis (both 6-2).

The winners of the Page 3 vs. 4 qualifiers will meet in the Page 3 vs. 4 playoff Saturday at 1:00 p.m., with the winner going into Sunday’s semifinal and the loser eliminated.

“It definitely hasn’t been easy, we haven’t made it easy on ourselves,” said Einarson, who has won four games in a row after her 2-2 start in Thunder Bay.

“We put our backs against the wall, and when that happens, that brings out the best in us, and I think we’re trending in the right direction. I think we’re getting hot at the right time.”

In Thursday night’s pool finale, Team Einarson—with Val Sweeting, Karlee Burgess and Kristyn Karwacki—scored three in the last end to defeat provincial rival Kaitlyn Lawes (4-4).

Christina Black’s foursome had to grind out a tight win over Manitoba’s Kate Cameron (4-4), picking up a crucial steal of one in the ninth end.

It’s the second trip to the playoffs for the Nova Scotia champions, who made the Page 3 vs 4 playoff two years ago in Kamloops before losing out to Einarson’s then-Team Canada.

Inglis is a new playoff face coming out of Pool B after her squad missed last year’s playoffs in Calgary.

She turned out to be the final STOH opponent for Territories skip Kerry Galusha on Thursday night. The veteran is retiring from high-performance competition after 173 career Scotties games, and she got to play her final Tournament of Hearts with her daughter on the team.

Nancy Martin of Saskatchewan went 5-3 in her first STOH appearance, while 2024 playoff team Selena Sturmay of Alberta finished at 4-4. Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville also went 4-4 for the second STOH in a row.

In addition to the Lawes and Cameron foursomes, Pool B also-rans included Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges who, despite making an early run for glory, missed the playoffs at 5-3.