Kerri Einarson couldn’t ask for a better start to the new quadrennial with her new-look team.
The Manitoba-based rink defeated Korea’s Team Kang 6-3 to win the Co-op Invitational, the first of five stops for the Grand Slam of Curling this season.
“It feels amazing,” Einarson said in an interview with CBC Sports after the game. “I've got such great teammates, and you know they played so well all week, and I had to make some big ones when they counted, but they made it easy for me.”
It’s the seventh GSOC title for the Canadian skip — first since the opening Grand Slam event in 2024-25 — while it’s the fifth for her third Shannon Birchard. For Karlee Burgess and Jocelyn Peterman, second and lead on the team, it’s each their second.
Einarson was outstanding during the game. She made shots in the second and sixth ends that really sucked the life out of Team Kang. But it was a shot to close the fourth end that really turned the tide for Team Einarson.
Tied 2-2, Einarson missed a hit-and-roll into the button while bumping Kang’s shot rock with her first stone, which, if made, would’ve left her sitting two. But she more than made up for it with her second throw, as she made a sweet angled raise through a port directly onto the button to spill Kang’s rock and score two.
“I knew I was going to have to play that since I missed my first, and yeah, I was already eyeing it up even before I threw it, so I felt very confident,” she said.
Overall, Einarson ended up with an ace percentage of 87 per cent for the game, including 100 per cent on draws. She also finished plus-29 in the edge stat — the telltale sign she was seeing the game on a different level.
The ace percentage is how a curler is performing during the match — each shot is graded out of five and only fours and fives are considered made. Field percentage takes into account what every player from the GSOC Tour would shoot on average if they were playing the same type of shots.
The edge stat shows how much better or worse a curler is performing against the field.
It’s the first title for the new Canadian powerhouse team after only playing three events before the first Slam of the season.
Peterman fits so well with Einarson
Even though this was their fourth event as a new team, it’s not supposed to look that good.
Usually when a new player slots into a lineup, it takes time before a real connection is formed. But there is just something different about Peterman joining Einarson.
Peterman, who was on Team Lawes for the full quadrennial in the last Olympic cycle, joined the team to throw lead stones while also holding the broom for Einarson’s skip rocks after the team announced early in the off-season they had parted ways with third Val Sweeting after eight years.
The partnership between the skip and the person holding the broom is so crucial to the success of a team, and that’s the area where Peterman's impact was felt the most during Sunday’s final.
Einarson gets credit for making the shots in the second, fourth and sixth, but she wouldn’t have gotten the job done without Peterman calling the line. She has a sense of control while being in the house that helps her stay calm and execute on the communication with Burgess and Birchard to nail the big shots.
Burgess, Birchard put on a sweeping clinic
If you want to learn how to sweep, just watch highlights of Burgess and Birchard.
They’re two of the best sweepers in the world, period. For the women’s game, they might be the best. The crazy part though? They both look better than last year.
Burgess especially. Last season she was using the hopping technique to create maximum downforce on the broom while trying to carve the rock, but you could tell it was a work in progress.
Now it seems she’s mastered it. The technique, best used when trying to create curl for the stone, uses the broom on a sharp diagonal so Burgess can get the most curl out of each brush stroke while creating the most pressure she possibly can.
It may look silly to some, but the more Burgess and Birchard beat other women’s teams by pure sweeping power, the more other players follow suit in the future.
It’s something Einarson doesn’t take for granted.
“They’re very hard-working girls and you know, you can tell they’re just sweeping their butts off out there,” Einarson said in her interview with CBC Sports after the win.
The next stop on the Slam Tour is the GSOC Masters, happening Nov. 3-8 in Medicine Hat, Alta.
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