Team Canada’s Einarson repeats as champion

The first time Kerri Einarson and her teammates got a chance to wear Team Canada colours, they liked it so much they didn't want to give it up.

Einarson successfully defended her Scotties Tournament of Hearts crown Sunday night with an impressive 9-7 win over Ontario's Rachel Homan in the gold medal game at the Markin Macphail Arena in Calgary.

“We just really wanted to embrace being Team Canada,” Einarson said. “And it was our first chance of getting to do it so we just has a lot of laughs and enjoyed ourselves out there.”

Einarson, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Briane Meilleur didn't get a chance to represent Canada after winning the Scotties in 2020, because the world women's championship was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they wore the Maple Leaf at the Scotties this week and did the emblem proud.

The foursome, from Gimli, Man., went 10-2 in the round-robin, beat Alberta's Laura Walker 9-3 in the semifinal on Sunday afternoon and then beat Homan for the second straight year in the final.

It was Homan's third straight loss in the final, equalling her total of three Scotties wins. Her last win came in 2017.

The 2021 women's world curling championship has also been cancelled — it was supposed to be held in Switzerland — so it's not clear when Einarson will finally get her chance to represent the country, but there's no denying that her foursome is the best in Canada for two years running.

Einarson became the first skip to win back-to-back titles since Homan did it in 2013 and 2014.

“It means the absolute world to be able to repeat,” Einarson said. “It's something that's very hard to do and hasn't been done since 2014 so to do it again, playing against all these amazing teams ... we had to fight really hard and I'm just so proud and honoured to be able to wear the Maple Leaf again.”