With the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials quickly approaching, TSN.ca will profile one men’s team and one women’s team each day before the first rocks fly on Nov. 22 at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax.
Team Kerri Einarson
Lineup
Skip: Kerri Einarson (Age 38)
Third/Vice-Skip: Val Sweeting (38)
Second: Shannon Birchard (31)
Lead: Karlee Burgess (27)
Alternate: Krysten Karwacki (34)
Coach: Reid Carruthers
Curling Club: Gimli Curling Club
2025-26 Season
Events: 5 Record: 15-10 World Ranking: 9th
Highlights: Team Einarson won the season-opening Saville Shootout with a 7-0 record, defeating South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim in the final, 7-0.
How They Qualified
Qualified as they highest ranked unqualified team on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) following the 2023-24 season.
Trials Schedule
Nov. 22 – Christina Black
Nov. 23 – Kate Cameron, Corryn Brown
Nov. 24 – Kaitlyn Lawes
Nov. 25 – Selena Sturmay, Kayla Skrlik
Nov. 26 – Rachel Homan
Expert Analysis from TSN’s Cathy Gauthier
Team Einarson will have a successful week at the Canadian Curling Trials if...
“Kerri gets draw weight early in the week and if the new team dynamic hits the ground running.”
Team Story
Team Kerri Einarson is probably in the best position to upset Rachel Homan and her juggernaut rink at the Canadian Curling Trials.
After all, they’re the only Canadian team to down The Homan Empire since the start of the 2023-24 season, beating them on two occasions, including the Tour Challenge final in October 2024.
Einarson also defeated Homan in the 2020 and 2021 Scotties Tournament of Hearts finals, the first two of her four straight Canadian women’s curling titles.
Taking a single game from Homan is tough enough, winning two out of three in a Trials final might be a different story.
Einarson dropped her lone matchup against Homan this season, 9-3 in the quarterfinal of the Tour Challenge, and has lost her last six matchups with the Ottawa skip.
But that’s why they play the games.
They’ll play each other in the round-robin finale in Halifax, a matchup that could very well determine who gets the bye to the best-of-three final.
Following a season of lineup turmoil, including an injury to Shannon Birchard and the suspension to Briane Harris, the rink from Gimli, Man., has played with a stable foursome in 2025-26, highlighted by Karlee Burgess at lead on a permanent basis.
They’ve had some decent results as well, highlighted by a 7-0 showing at the season-opening Saville Shootout in Edmonton back in early September. Team Einarson also went 3-1 at the PointsBet Invitational in Calgary.
Against Trials teams this season, Team Einarson own a 6-2 record.
Einarson, 38, got her first taste of Olympic Trials curling in 2021 when her foursome, including current teammates Val Sweeting and Birchard, posted a 4-4 record before dropping a second tiebreaker to Team Krista McCarville in an extra end to miss the playoffs.
Team Einarson will be Team Homan’s biggest threat in Halifax and the likely final between these two talented skips will be must-see TV.
