THUNDER BAY – Krista McCarville’s dream of winning a Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship on home ice will have to wait a few years.
The Northern Ontario skip was unable to stop Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada freight train on Sunday night, dropping a 9-6 decision the in the championship game at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at Fort William Gardens.
For Einarson, it was a third straight national women’s curling title. For McCarville, it was her second runner-up finish in the past six years, coming on the heels of a 2016 defeat in the Scotties final to Alberta’s Chelsea Carey.
McCarville, who trailed 6-2 at the break, had a shot to win it on her final rock in the 10th, but couldn’t execute a tricky run-back shot, leaving Einarson’s stone buried on the button.
"Unfortunately we didn't make a few key ones that we needed, but that's curling. Kudos to them, they played really well," said McCarville, who won the last matchup between the two teams, a 4-3 decision at the Olympic Trials in Saskatoon this past November.
"You don't know when you're ever going to get back here, to get to the final."
Einarson, will represent the country at the world championships next month in Prince George, B.C. She said when she found out the worlds were back in Prince George, after the 2020 event there was cancelled, she said he was going to do everything she could to get back.
"It feels absolutely amazing. To win once is really hard. To it three times, back-to-back-to-back is extremely hard," said Einarson, one of three skips to three-peat at the Scotties, following in the footsteps of Colleen Jones and Jennifer Jones.
The Gimli, Man. skip said her team knew the game would likely go down to the wire, it always seems to happen, Einarson said.
"To be honest, the last few years have been pretty dramatic. "They're an unreal team and they make a ton of shots."
