Hometown favourite Team Black reaches final at Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials

It was Black Thursday at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, presented by Connect Hearing, and if the Halifax fans have any say in the matter, it will be an even Blacker Friday and beyond.

Team Christina Black of Halifax charged into the women’s final series on Thursday afternoon, scoring a huge three in the ninth end in a 6-3 victory over Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man.

With the victory, Black, vice-skip Jill Brothers, front-enders Marlee Powers, Karlee Everist and Jenn Baxter, and coach Stuart MacLean advance to a best-of-three showdown with two-time reigning Canadian and World champions Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa. The winning team will be nominated to the Canadian Olympic Committee to represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics.

“Oh my goodness, this is unbelievable,” marvelled Black, who had never defeated an Einarson-skipped team prior to Thursday. “We’re so happy. We just wanted to go out there and play a great game and keep it close, keep the crowd involved and just do our thing and stay calm and we did that the whole day.”

The best-of-three final kicks off Friday at 1 p.m. (all times Atlantic). Game 2 is Saturday at 1 p.m., and Game 3, if necessary, will be Sunday at 1 p.m.

The frosty conditions at the Scotiabank Centre presented challenges, but both teams did magnificent jobs of readying the ice and adjusting weights and deliveries to compensate, producing an entertaining game.

It was Team Black that jumped out early, stealing a single in the first end after Black’s draw to the back four-foot.

behind cover; Einarson tried to draw on top of it for the single but was slightly heavy, giving the Nova Scotians the steal.

An end later, Einarson was forced to hit for a single, and that started the pattern — Team Black took singles in the fourth and sixth ends, Team Einarson replied with ones in the fifth and seventh ends, leaving the teams deadlocked 3-3.

After a blanked eighth end, the tide finally turned in the ninth. Team Einarson vice-skip Val Sweeting missed on a takeout, and Brothers made a wonderful draw behind cover to sit two and turn up the pressure. Eventually, Einarson was left with a tough triple takeout on her last, and could only remove one, leaving Black with a draw for three that rattled the rafters of the nearly 50-year-old Scotiabank Centre with the ensuing roar of the crowd.

“It definitely sucks,” said Einarson. “You work so hard towards this and this is something that you dream of doing and it’s hard. But, you know, it just wasn’t meant to be and unfortunately we got outplayed. We just missed a few shots here and there and didn’t capitalize on any opportunities we were given; yeah, really unfortunate.”

For Team Black, the magical ride to the final continues, and the team is soaking up all of the Halifax love.

“All week long — even those first two games when we were losing, they were still supporting us and cheering for us to just score a point,” said Black with a smile. “Last night we won our game, and we walked through the Scotia Square food court, where our hotel is and they erupted in applause. When I work, sometimes I have to come down to the office and I go there to get my coffee in the morning. No one’s clapping for me then. I was like, ‘This is wild.’ ”

Next up: Team Homan, who prevailed 8-2 in their round-robin battle last Sunday morning, and has won six straight against Team Black.

“Oh, they’re just incredible, we just have to go out there and play like that and we’ll be able to give them a good game,” said Black. “We have nothing to lose,” said Black. “We don’t have the pressure on us. It’s just a great feeling to be in, and we’re going to go out there and give it our all.

“We’re just so excited; we get to play more in front of this crowd. It’s so fun. We’re living the dream right now.”

The men’s semifinal between Team Mike McEwen (5-2) of Saskatoon and Team Matt Dunstone (4-3) of Winnipeg is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m.

The winner will advance to the men’s best-of-three final that begins Friday at 7:30 p.m., with Game 2 Saturday at 7 p.m. and Game 3, if necessary, Sunday at 7 p.m.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials are available by CLICKING HERE.

TSN and RDS will provide coverage of the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, go to www.curling.ca/2025trials/tickets.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2025trials/nouvelles.