Strictly speaking, it was superior shot-making that propelled Team Christina Black of Halifax to the third and final playoff spot at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, presented by Connect Hearing.
But maybe there has been a little divine influence at play — no more so than on a dramatic Wednesday afternoon at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax that saw Black, vice-skip Jill Brothers, front-enders Jenn Baxter, Karlee Everist and Marlee Powers, and coach Stuart MacLean nail down a berth in Thursday’s 1 p.m. (all times Atlantic) semifinal against Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man.
The curling community — indeed, the entire country — was in a state of mourning on Tuesday with the announcement of the passing of Halifax curling legend Colleen Jones, and, suggested Black, Jones may have been doing her best from her new home to make sure Halifax has a team to cheer for in the playoffs.
“We came into today and we knew we had to do everything we could do — win our game, and hope things worked out,” said Black, who needed not only a 10-6 victory over Team Kate Cameron (1-6; St. Adolphe, Man.) but also a combination of other results to slide into the final. three. “But we also knew there’s this new curling god up there, and you always say you pray to the curling gods. Well, we have the best one up there now, who’s on our side. She’s doing everything she can, and we’ll just go and leave it all out there like she would. She’s a fighter, she doesn’t give up — her whole career, her whole life, so, we’re like, we can do this.”
Yes, indeed, they can. The win over Team Cameron, and a Team Kaitlyn Lawes (4-3; Winnipeg) 9-6 last-rock victory over Team Kayla Skrlik (2-5; Calgary) in the final game on the ice set off a wild celebration among the Team Black faithful.
“We won, and then it’s like, oh my God, now we need Kaitlyn to win,” said Black, who was on pins and needles along with more than 4,600 fans as Lawes settled in to throw a last-rock raise takeout for the win. “Like please, oh my gosh, please; I could barely watch, I just had to hold my breath. I literally jumped for joy (when Lawes made the shot) . . .we all did. I screamed, it’s so much emotion, but the whole game we had to keep it together, and not think ahead, and not look at the other sheets, and just keep ourselves in our moment the whole time.”
Team Black, Team Lawes and Team Selena Sturmay all finished with 4-3 round-robin records, but the tiebreaker nod went to the Haligonians, setting the stage for Thursday’s semifinal against Team Einarson.
Almost lost in the shuffle was that two-time reigning Canadian and world champs Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa locked up first place and a bye to the best-of-three final that begins Friday afternoon.
Homan, backed up by vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and coach Heather Nedohin handed Team Einarson its first loss in a highly anticipated showdown, prevailing 7-6, with a stolen deuce in the eighth end essentially deciding the game. Both teams finished with 6-1 records, but Team Homan’s head-to-head win clinched first place.
“That was our goal at the beginning of the week,” said Homan. “The field is so tough that we needed everything today to make it to that final and I’m really proud of the girls for battling through. (It’s) huge; there’s no other way to say it. It’s a big game for us to get into the final and get a bit of rest tomorrow, get on the ice for a bit and then more of the same looking forward to the weekend.”
The other game on the ice had Team Sturmay closing out the round robin with a 9-4 victory over Team Corryn Brown (1-6; Kamloops, B.C.).
Every game on the ice had playoff implications, and Black couldn’t help but sneak peeks at other sheets.
“Oh, you always look,” she admitted. “I’m a curling fan, so I like to watch some of the other games. If you’re out there, and you’re skipping, and the other team’s taking some time for something, you have to take those little moments to look around, see what’s going on on the other sheets.
“But,” she added with a smile, “I never really worried about it, I just had this belief that it was all going to work out for us.”
Meanwhile, men’s round-robin action will conclude later Wednesday with the final round-robin draw set for 7 p.m. Team Brad Jacobs of Calgary has already clinched first place and a bye to the best-of-three men’s final.
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This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2025trials/nouvelles.
