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Frank Gunn \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
Team Canada skip Kerri Einarson said Monday it would mean the world to her Gimli-based club to win the World Women\u2019s Curling Championship this month in Calgary.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see them finally come out on top at the Brier was just so awesome to see,\u201d said Team Einarson second Shannon Birchard in a video call with reporters on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got a lot of Manitoba pride and we know there\u2019s lots of talent here in the province so to have us both on top this year is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
While this may be new for Dunstone, it\u2019s been a familiar sight over the years to see Einarson, Birchard and third Val Sweeting climb to the top of the Canadian curling mountain. The upcoming World Women\u2019s Curling Championship in Calgary (March 14-22) will be their fourth appearance at the event.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing is to try to not put so much pressure on ourselves. We headed into those past worlds and it felt like the weight of the world on our shoulders at times,\u201d said Birchard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we just need to come in with a lot of confidence and know that we can lean on our experience this coming week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lead Karlee Burgess \u2014 who joined the team midway through the 2024-25 campaign \u2014 will be making her worlds debut.<\/p>\n
She\u2019ll be one of the many fresh faces in the 13-team field with Xenia Schwaller (Switzerland), Isabella Wrana (Sweden), Delaney Strouse (United States), Fay Henderson (Scotland), Torild Bjoernstad (Norway) and Helen Williams (Australia) also being first timers.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also a list of regulars to watch out for in Stefania Constantini (Italy), Fujisawa Satsuki (Japan), Wang Rui (China), and Gim Eun-ji (Korea). Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg of Sweden and silver medalist Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland will not be in Calgary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re one of the oldest teams in the field, which is kind of strange to say. A bit of a new guard coming in with some of the teams,\u201d said Birchard.<\/p>\n
The last time the world championship was held in Calgary was 2021 when it was played in a bubble without fans owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Einarson missed out on the podium that time, but rebounded to win bronze in 2022 (Prince George, B.C.) and again in 2023 (Sandviken, Sweden).<\/p>\n
Einarson is no stranger to everything that comes with representing the Maple Leaf on Canadian soil.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, that Maple Leaf can be heavy, that\u2019s for sure. We always thought the Buffalo was heavy, but the Maple Leaf is even heavier. You try to not put so much pressure on yourself or even think about that, but it\u2019s hard,\u201d said Einarson.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be out there for ourselves and teammates, and not so much everything else. That\u2019s what makes us perform well. At the end of the day, I\u2019m still Kerri Einarson and going out there to play a game that I love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada is the reigning, back-to-back champions with Ottawa\u2019s Rachel Homan bringing home gold the last two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeam Homan has really set the bar there the last couple of times,\u201d Sweeting said. \u201cWe\u2019d love to keep that gold in Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Einarson, a five-time Scotties champion, can keep the streak going, it would be a huge boost to what is already a Hall of Fame resum\u00e9.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s definitely what we want to do. I love this team, we\u2019ve done so much over the years, we\u2019ve been through so much with each other and it would definitely mean the world to us,\u201d said Einarson.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\tThe Warm-Up<\/p>\n
Winnipeg Jets Game Days<\/p>\n
On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop.<\/p>\n
\t\t\tSign up for The Warm-Up<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t Einarson, Sweeting and Birchard have played the last eight seasons together \u2014 a rarity in today\u2019s curling landscape. With this being the end of the quad, you never know what\u2019s going to happen after the week in Calgary.<\/p>\n \u201cI haven\u2019t allowed myself to think about that too much just yet. We just want to focus on this event and see what happens afterwards,\u201d said Einarson.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s difficult when you still have worlds left to play and other teams are forming and making changes and stuff. We just kind of got to put that aside for now and just focus on ourselves and what we need to do as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n Einarson and company open the event Saturday at 3 p.m. CT against Sweden.<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/taylorallen<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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