Unbeaten Kaitlyn Lawes advances to Scotties final with blowout win over Kerri Einarson

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — Kaitlyn Lawes has won pretty much every major curling title in her career, but somehow she hasn’t played in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final in 11 years.

The long wait ends Sunday when Lawes leads her unbeaten Manitoba team to the national women’s curling championship game after a convincing victory Saturday against the most decorated skip in the field.

Team Lawes crushed Team Canada’s Kerri Einarson 10-2 in an all-Manitoba Page 1-2 game, giving the Winnipeg-born veteran her 100th career win in Scotties play.

"Been a while,” Lawes said of the gap between national finals. “Scotties is tough. It's always been tough for the entirety of the bonspiel. It's the best curling in Canada, the top teams here. Really, really just thrilled to have this opportunity.”

Lawes, Selena Njegovan, second Laura Walker and lead Kristin Gordon will await the winner of Saturday’s semifinal between Team Einarson and Team Selena Sturmay. The Alberta rink downed Nova Scotia’s Team Christina Black 8-4 in the Page 3-4 game earlier Saturday.

The Lawes rink made a lineup switch this season, with Njegovan now skipping and Lawes throwing fourth rocks. Walker, an alternate at times for the rink the past several years, jumped up to second for the Scotties with Jocelyn Peterman heading to the Olympics to represent Canada in mixed doubles. Gordon, meanwhile, has remained at lead.

Lawes and Co. were a combined one game over .500 the past three Scotties, but have caught fire this week, going 10-0 so far. They’ve hit their stride after eking out the third and final Canadian Team Ranking System spot in the 18-team field after losing to Beth Peterson in the Manitoba final.

“We’ve been close so much and sometimes in curling, you're on the wrong side of the inch,” Njegovan said. “It just seemed like everything clicked this week. All the hard work we've put in just kind of came together. It's been kind of a magical run so far.”

The run has included Lawes outscoring four-time Scotties champion Einarson 19-6 in two games after entering the week with a 4-11 record in the provincial rivalry.

“Confidence is super high,” Njegovan said.

Lawes took charge early Saturday after Njegovan and Walker both got through tight ports for hits. Lawes was left with a draw for four on last rock, and she was money.

Einarson never mounted a real comeback bid, shaking hands after eight.

"We’ve been in this position before,” said Einarson, who gave a big smile while doing a fist pump in the seventh when she made a hit for one in a game that was out of reach.

“We've done this lots. We're just going to come out strong tomorrow and put this one behind us.”

Lawes was last in the Scotties final in 2015 as a third for the Jennifer Jones rink, her lone national women’s title. She won Olympic gold with Jones in 2014 and a world championship with the legendary skip in 2018 after Lawes missed the Scotties that year while she was capturing Olympic mixed-doubles gold with John Morris.

Many teams break up when they don’t see immediate success, but the Lawes squad has persevered.

"It would be a dream come true,” Lawes, fighting back tears, said when asked what it would be like to win a Scotties crown with her current squad.

“This team has been through a lot. Sorry, I'm going to get emotional. This team has been through a lot over these last four years, becoming moms together, and I feel like we've been really close and just haven't been able to find the success. But we've hung in there. I feel that's huge for a team to be able to stick through those tough times. We've really supported each other in those moments. Just so proud.”

The winner of Sunday’s final will represent Canada at the world women’s championship in Calgary in March.

Two-time reigning Scotties champion Rachel Homan is not in the field as the Ottawa native is preparing to skip her team as Canada’s entry at the Winter Olympics.