Einarson versus Cameron.

That’s how this today’s first women’s televised feature matchup at the PointsBet Invitational (3:30 p.m. ET, TSN)  is being marketed. Like any curling fours game, it’s listed as skip versus skip, of course.

But that’s not the real story. Today’s tale is about Einarson versus her former lead, Briane Harris.

Einarson and Harris – along with Val Sweeting and Shannon Birchard – won four consecutive Canadian women’s championship titles and a few Grand Slam crowns in recent years.

That was a big team, and they did a whole lot of winning.

It all came crashing down just before the start of the 2024 Scotties at this same PBI venue, the Markin MacPhail Centre at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.

Harris had earlier been randomly tested – as many players are these days – and the result revealed a positive for a banned substance. She was sent home and provisionally suspended for four years.

It was all anyone talked about at that Scotties (it even overshadowed the final STOH appearance for Manitoba skip Jennifer Jones) and for many weeks afterward.

Harris and her legal team eventually won their appeal, but due to the length of time it took to get the verdict, Team Einarson had moved on, first with a new lineup at the 2025 STOH, and then for reals.

Harris had revealed some close-held feelings to The Curling News as she resumed throwing stones and awaited her team’s decision.

She received support from many, including a champion from the 1970s whom she’d never met.

Time has passed and Harris now throws third stones for Kate Cameron’s Winnipeg crew, which includes Taylor McDonald and Mackenzie Elias at the front end.

Recent men’s fours retiree Derek Samagalski is the coach.

Team Cameron won their first game at the PBI yesterday by a wild 11-9 scoreline over Calgary’s Kayla Skrlik, while Team Einarson lost their first match 13-5 to BC’s Corryn Brown.

Will there be fireworks? Are fans expecting bad blood between Harris and her former mates, as many hoped during the post-breakup Jones/Overton-Clapham battles?

Heck, no. Fans won’t notice anything out of the ordinary. The players will behave professionally and after some pre-game and first-end hype, the TSN commentary crew probably won’t mention it again.

However, one of the curling world’s biggest sagas finally comes full circle.

Speaking of TSN… isn’t it time they just announced Joanne Courtney as the permanent replacement for the departed Cheryl Bernard?

Courtney – who spared for Einarson just over a year ago – has been TSN’s go-to since Bernard left. Doesn’t she – and TSN’s other female talent, Cathy Gauthier, for that matter – deserve better, with a formal confirmation?

Courtney may have declined such an offer, mind you, as she balances a growing family with her career in healthcare and recent forays into the world of triathlon.

If that’s the case, forget I said anything … and you go, grrrl.

One last thought on the PBI, the estranged cousin in the Season of Champions fam – they’ve changed some rules, again, and it’s no longer a single-knockout competition.

Which is a good move and long overdue, sorry not sorry.