Gimli’s Kerri Einarson returned to the Calgary bubble just a couple of weeks after she won her second straight Canadian women’s curling crown. 

So, she is prepared go through all of the same COVID-19 restrictions that she followed during the Scotties Tournament of Hearts to compete in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship alongside multi-Brier champ Brad Gushue of Newfoundland. 

“It feels good to be back,” Einarson said from Calgary on the eve of opening day. “Basically, it’s like a second home to us.” 

Einarson returned home from the Scotties and self-isolated for two weeks. 

“It sucks that we had to quarantine and couldn’t celebrate too much,” she said. 

After competing in the Mixed Doubles, Einarson will once again return home, quarantine, then return to Calgary for two Grand Slam events, then the women’s world championship. 

Einarson has never played Mixed Doubles before. 

“It’s a different game and different pace, so it will be a learning curve for me,” she said. “Brad and I both skip, so we’ll be good with the strategy, just not the sweeping. But I’ve played (four-person) Mixed before and I’m OK with the sweeping.” 

Einarson’s whole squad is competing in the Mixed Doubles, including fifth Krysten Karwacki, who has teamed with Derek Samagalski (second for West. St. Paul’s Mike McEwen) to represent Manitoba. 

“We’re both really excited,” Karwacki said. “Last year, when we won Manitoba, we were pretty excited because it was the first time that we had ever played together. Then, the nationals got cancelled due to Covid, which we understood, but it was pretty disappointing.” 

After finding out that there would be a national Mixed Doubles championship, Einarson asked Karwacki to be her fifth at the Scotties. 

“I was definitely interested,” she said. “To go with a team like that and wear the Maple Leaf on my back was pretty special. I was really involved with the team, even though I was just the fifth.” 

Karwacki had thought her season was over after playing two cashspiels with Assiniboine Memorial’s Darcy Robertson in the fall. 

“So, to get good news within a few weeks in January was like going from zero to 60,” said Karwacki, who turns 30 on April 30, the first day of the women’s world championship. “And to curl in the Covid bubble is pretty special.” 

Einarson’s third, Val Sweeting, is curling with Marc Kennedy (third for Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs). Second Shannon Birchard is with Saskatchewan’s Catlin Schneider (third for Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch) and lead Brianne Meilleur is partnering with Mark Nichols, Gushue’s third. 

“We can’t practise together, but it will be good for us to be on the ice throwing,” Einarson said. 

BITERS: Kaitlyn Lawes, third for Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones, is playing with Connor Lawes (third for Ontario’s John Willsey), her nephew … Jocelyn Peterman, second for Jones, and Brad Gushue’s second, Brett Gallant, are the defending champs … Jones is also playing with her husband, Brent Laing (lead for Ontario’s John Epping) while Jones lead Lisa Weagle is playing with Epping. 

Jim Bender has more than 30 years experience as a sports reporter. He writes on a variety of sports for the Selkirk Settler Times.

Just four years ago, West St. Paul’s Reid Carruthers helped set up Canada’s Olympic gold medal in Mixed Doubles curling. 

Carruthers had teamed up with Joanne Courtney, then the second for Ontario’s Rachel Homan, to win the 2017 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship. Then, the pair was under pressure to earn enough points at the Worlds to ensure that Canada would have an entry into the Olympics. They did, leading the way for Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes and Ontario’s John Morris to win Olympic gold in that discipline. 

Carruthers is back in this year’s Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Championship in the Calgary bubble with a new partner, Selena Njegovan. 

“Joanne Courtney had her baby and was going to take a year off Mixed Doubles, so I asked Selena,” Carruthers said from Calgary, where he has remained since competing at the Brier as third for Mike McEwen. “Connor (Njegovan, her husband) had suggested it to me in the dressing room during one of the Slams. He said, ‘I can’t play with her, we’d fight too much.’ Connor is very intense on the ice.” 

Connor plays lead for Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson. 

“She’s a heck of a shooter and I’ve known her for years,” Carruthers said. “She’s even been an instructor at my curling camp. We tried to play in an event last year, but that got cancelled. Then, we signed up for one or two spiels in the fall, but they got cancelled (due to the pandemic), too. So, we’re going to be learning on the fly.” 

While Carruthers is well-versed in Mixed Doubles, Njegovan has never played it before. 

“It’s a tough field and we’re just gonna play as well as we can and see what happens,” said Njegovan, who was named to the second all-star team at the Scotties while at third for Chelsea Carey (subbing for East St. Paul’s Tracy Fleury). 

Almost half of the players in the 35-team field are either Manitobans or played for various four-person Manitoba teams. 

“It seems like we’re always playing Manitobans,” joked Njegovan, referring to the five ‘Toban teams at the Scotties. 

Njegovan returned home from the Scotties and isolated for two weeks, so she could not practice. 

Carruthers has remained in the Calgary bubble, still under all of the restrictions the curlers have had to follow. So, there was no sightseeing or getting out on the town. 

“I’ve just been sitting on my balcony getting sunshine, walking around the hotel parking lot and getting into chat rooms and Zooms,” he said. “I can’t wait to get back on the ice.” 

The championship started Thursday. 

BRIER REFLECTIONS: Carruthers said the Mike McEwen team just got off to a bad start. “It was a tough field and we weren’t sharp early,” he said. “Losing the first game put us in tough and a couple of breaks didn’t go our way. And we just didn’t play with as much confidence as we did at the last Brier.” 

BITERS: Tracy Fleury is planning to play in the first Grand Slam event to be played after the men’s world championship, Selena Njegovan said. Tracy’s husband will look after her baby, remaining in Sudbury. Chelsea Carey will skip the squad in the second Slam, Njegovan said … Joanne Courtney, by the way, is also competing in the Mixed Doubles, teaming up with Darren Moulding, third for Alberta Brier champion Brendan Bottcher (who’s also playing in it). 

Jim Bender has more than 30 years experience as a sports reporter. He writes on a variety of sports topics for the Selkirk Settler Times.