Team Kerri Einarson headlines an 18-team field for the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Mississauga, Ont.
Curling Canada announced the field and pools on Monday for the national women's championship, Jan. 23-Feb. 1.
Einarson will call the shots for Team Canada after finishing second at last year's Scotties to Rachel Homan. The Ottawa skip will not go for a three-peat this year as she'll be preparing to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics next month in Italy.
Einarson, a Manitoba skip, won four national titles in a row before Homan captured the last two.
Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes got the third and final Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) spot after provincial qualifying wrapped up Sunday. A third CTRS spot opened when Einarson was bumped up to Team Canada. Alberta's Kayla Skrlik and Nova Scotia's Christina Black, the runner-up to Homan at the Olympic trials, are the other CTRS teams joining the provincial champs.
More than 20 players will see their first national Scotties action in Mississauga.
Teams will be divided into two pools of nine for round-robin play. The top three from each pool advance to the playoffs.
The playoff format will see the first-place team from Pool A meeting second from Pool B, and vice versa, in the first round of the playoffs. The winners go to the Page playoff 1-2 game, while the losers meet the third-place finishers in the pools. The winners of the latter games will advance to the Page playoff 3-4 game.
The Page 1-2 winner goes directly to the final, while the Page 3-4 winner faces the Page 1-2 loser in the semifinal to determine the other finalist.
Here are the pools, with the number representing seeding.
Pool A
1. Team Canada (Kerri Einarson)
4. Team B.C. (Taylor Reese-Hansen)
5. Team Manitoba-Lawes (Kaitlyn Lawes)
8. Team Ontario (Hailey Armstrong)
9. Team Saskatchewan (Jolene Campbell)
12. Team Nova Scotia-Stevens (Taylour Stevens)
13. Team Northwest Territories (Nicky Kaufman)
16. Team Quebec (Jolianne Fortin)
17. Team Yukon (Bayly Scoffin)
Pool B
2. Team Alberta-Skrlik (Kayla Skrlik)
3. Team Nova Scotia-Black (Christina Black)
6. Team Alberta (Selena Sturmay)
7. Team Manitoba (Beth Peterson)
10. Team Northern Ontario (Krista Scharf)
11. Team New Brunswick (Melodie Forsythe)
14. Team Prince Edward Island (Amanda Power)
15. Team Newfoundland and Labrador (Mackenzie Mitchell)
18. Team Nunavut (Julia Weagle)
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