Black upsets Einarson in women’s semi at curling Trials, Dunstone wins men’s semi

HALIFAX – Christina Black’s team started the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials with a whimper. 

The rink has a chance to end the playdowns as Canada’s representatives at the Milan Cortina Olympics. 

Black’s team from the local Halifax Curling Club stunned Kerri Einarson 6-3 in the women’s semifinal Thursday afternoon to advance to the women’s final against Rachel Homan.

“I don’t really have any words,” Black said. “It was awesome.”

Matt Dunstone’s Winnipeg-based side posted a 9-5 win over Mike McEwen’s Saskatoon team in the men’s later semifinal. Dunstone will play the Calgary-based rink skipped by Brad Jacobs in the men’s final. 

Black broke a 3-3 tie by scoring three points in the ninth end before running Einarson out of rocks in the 10th. 

Einarson, a four-time national champion from Gimli, Man., was under pressure from the start of the game and had difficulty generating offence. 

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

The lone Nova Scotia side in the eight-team field, Black dropped a 12-5 decision to Einarson in the round-robin opener. Things looked more grim after the 8-2 loss to Homan that followed. 

But the 38-year-old skip rebounded by guiding her five-player side to four wins over the next five games, squeaking into the playoffs when Kaitlyn Lawes made her final shot to beat Kayla Skrlik. 

Once there, Black and teammates Jill Brothers, Karlee Everist and Marlee Powers were on point. 

They picked up an early steal and forced Einarson to a single in the second. Black led all players by throwing 90 per cent overall as blanks and singles set up the decisive ninth end. 

Einarson vice Val Sweeting flashed her first stone and was wide with a runback on her second. When Einarson’s attempt at a triple-takeout removed just a single rock, Black followed with a draw for three.

“Oh my goodness, this is unbelievable,” Black said. “We’re so happy. We just wanted to go out there and play a great game and keep it close, keep the crowd involved and just do our thing.” 

It’s all gravy now for the 21st-ranked Black, whose side also includes Jennifer Baxter on the front end. The host venue will feel like a road rink for Homan, a two-time Olympian who earned a bye to the final with a 6-1 round-robin record. 

The best-of-three showdown starts Friday at Scotiabank Centre. 

“We’re just grinders and we don’t need to be the top-ranked team to believe that we can do it,” Brothers said.

Black has felt the love from the home crowd throughout an emotional week in the Nova Scotia city after the death of curling legend Colleen Jones on Tuesday. 

After their final round-robin victory, Black and her teammates were greeted with a round of applause as they walked through a food court near their hotel.

“When I work sometimes I have to come down to the office (nearby) and I go there to get my coffee in the morning,” Black said. “No one is clapping for me then. 

“So I was like, ‘This is wild,'” she added with a laugh.

The partisan crowd of 6,856 roared every time Black’s side made a shot on Thursday. The players fed off the positive energy and left Einarson’s foursome of Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Karlee Burgess playing defence more often than not.

Einarson opened the competition with six straight victories before bowing out after back-to-back losses.

“For Shannon, Val and Kerri, they’ve been playing together for so long and this has been on their bucket list, same for mine, and I thought we were just so close this week,” said Burgess, who joined the team almost a year ago. 

“I thought we had it. So, a tough one.”

In the evening game, McEwen made a tap for two in the third end but Dunstone answered in the fourth with an in-off for a pair. 

Dunstone made a double takeout for three points in the sixth end and tacked on a deuce in the ninth for an 8-5 lead. McEwen, who lost to Kevin Koe in the 2017 Trials final, gave up a steal in the 10th to end it.

“You don’t want to pass up on these opportunities and we didn’t,” Dunstone said. 

The women’s final games will be played Friday and Saturday afternoon and the men’s final games in the evening both days.

If necessary, third and deciding games are Sunday.

The Winter Games will begin Feb. 4.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2025.