Defending champion Einarson wins opener at Hearts

Defending champ Kerri Einarson opened play in the curling bubble with a 7-3 win over wild-card entry Mackenzie Zacharias at the Canadian women’s curling championship on Friday night.

With cardboard fan cutouts occupying the first few rows at a spectator-free Markin MacPhail Centre, the preliminary round kicked off with a four-game schedule as elite domestic curling returned after a long absence.

Einarson won the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw, Sask., but did not play at the world women’s championship last March after it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only a handful of bonspiels were completed over the last year. A few provincial/territorial championships were played in recent weeks but many teams were invited to the Hearts by their respective associations.

In other Draw 1 games, Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories dropped an 8-7 decision to Krysta Burns of Northern Ontario. Wildcard entry Beth Peterson dumped Yukon's Laura Eby 10-2 and Alberta’s Laura Walker beat Nova Scotia's Jill Brothers 10-5.

The event will be the season debut for several players as travel restrictions, COVID-19 concerns and club closures have stymied the regular calendar.

Einarson’s Manitobabased team held the No. 1 spot in the country when the national ranking system was paused last season.

She was in full control against Zacharias, a 2020 world junior champion, who picked up the second of three wild-card entries in the expanded 18-team field.