Kerri Einarson

Kerri Einarson (/ˈeɪnərsən/; born October 3, 1987 as Kerri Flett) is a Canadian curler from Camp Morton, Manitoba in the Rural Municipality of Gimli.[2] Einarson is the reigning women's national champion in curling, skipping her team to victory at the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, she previously won silver in 2018. She has also won two provincial mixed curling championships in 2010 and 2013. Einarson won two Grand Slam of Curling events on the World Curling Tour, winning the 2016 Boost National and most recently the 2019 Players' Championship.

Kerri Einarson
Curler
Born
Kerri Flett

(1987-10-03) October 3, 1987
Selkirk, Manitoba[1]
Team
Curling clubGimli CC,
Gimli, MB
SkipKerri Einarson
ThirdVal Sweeting
SecondShannon Birchard
LeadBriane Meilleur
AlternateJennifer Clark-Rouire
Career
Member Association Manitoba
Hearts appearances3 (2016, 2018, 2020)
Top CTRS ranking1st (2019–20)
Grand Slam victories2 (2016 National, 2019 Players')
Medal record
Women's Curling
Representing  Manitoba
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
2020 Moose Jaw
Representing Team Wild Card
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
2018 Penticton

Career

Einarson won her first provincial mixed title in 2010, playing third for Dave Boehmer. The team represented Manitoba at the 2010 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, where they lost in the tiebreaker match. At the 2013 provincial mixed (played in 2012), Einarson played third for Terry McNamee and won her second provincial mixed title. This team played in the 2013 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, finishing with a 4–7 record.

Einarson has skipped her own team on the women's World Curling Tour since 2008, except for one season playing third for Jill Thurston in the 2011–12 curling season.[3] The following season, she finished second at the 2012 Atkins Curling Supplies Women's Classic.

Einarson scored a rare eight-ender in her first round robin game of the 2015 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts against Tiffany McLean. It was the first time a team scored an eight-ender in recorded Manitoba Scotties history.[4]

Einarson's first Tour event win as a skip was at the 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge, where she finished first in the tier 2 event and won a spot at the 2015 The Masters Grand Slam of Curling where she would lose to Val Sweeting in the semifinals. Einarson would make it to two more semifinals at Grand Slams that season. That year Einarson would also win her first provincial championship, qualifying her team of Selena Kaatz, Liz Fyfe and Kristin MacCuish to represent Manitoba at the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. There, she led her province to a 7-4 round robin record, qualifying the team to the playoffs. In the playoffs however, she would go on to lose both games, settling for fourth place.

The next season, Einarson won her first Grand Slam event, the 2016 Boost National. Her next tour event win was at the 2017 Icebreaker at The Granite. Two weeks later she won the 2017 GSOC Tour Challenge Tier 2 event. While she didn't win any more events that season, she made it to the finals in two Grand Slams, losing to Jennifer Jones at the 2017 Masters of Curling and to Rachel Homan at the 2018 Humpty's Champions Cup. Einarson's team had a disappointing showing at the 2017 Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials, where she lost in a tie breaker. However, her team amassed enough tour points over the season to play in the first ever Scotties Tournament of Hearts wildcard game against the higher ranked Chelsea Carey rink. Einarson beat Carey for the right to represent the new "Team Wildcard" at the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. There, she went on a roll, going 9–2 in round robin pool, to finish in a three-way tie for first. In the playoffs she lost to Jennifer Jones' team Manitoba in the 1 vs. 2 game, beat Nova Scotia in the semifinal, and then lost to Jones again in the final. Despite a successful season, the Einarson team would split up.

For the 2018-19 curling season, Einarson would form a new team of Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Meilleur, all former skips.[5] They began the season by winning four straight World Curling Tour events in three weeks: the 2018 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, the inaugural Morris SunSpiel, and the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic,[6] and in October they won the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Classic.[5] In December, the team lost in the finals of the 2018 Canada Cup and 2018 National. Their strong play during the early part of the season earned them enough points to put Einarson in the Wild Card game once again at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. However this time, she was not successful, losing to the lower ranked Casey Scheidegger rink. The team would rebound to have a strong finish at the end of the season, winning the 2019 Players' Championship and losing in the final of the 2019 Champions Cup.

Team Einarson had two playoff finishes at the first two Slams of the 2019–20 season, losing to Anna Hasselborg in the quarterfinal of the Masters and once again to Hasselborg in the final of the Tour Challenge. The team did not have the same success at the Canada Cup as they did in 2018, finishing with a 2–4 record. However, at the 2020 Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts, her team succeeded. They finished the round robin and championship round with a 7–1 record which qualified them for the final. In the final, Einarson defeated Jennifer Jones to win her second Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Team Einarson represented Manitoba at the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they continued their success. They finished first in the round robin with a 9–2 record and then won the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game, qualifying them for the final. Einarson would win her first Canadian Championship with a draw to the button for an 8–7 win against Rachel Homan.[7] For her strong play through the week of the Scotties she was named the MVP of the tournament and was awarded the second team all-star as skip.[8] The team was set to represent Canada at the 2020 World Women's Curling Championship before the event got cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9][10] The Scotties would be their last event of the season as both the Players' Championship and the Champions Cup Grand Slam events were also cancelled due to the pandemic.[11]

Personal life

Einarson is employed as a rehabilitation assistant at Betel Home Foundation,[12] a personal care home.[13] She is married to Kyle Einarson and has two children.[2] Einarson's brother Kyle Flett was also a competitive curler, reaching the Manitoba junior men's provincial final against Daley Peters in 2005.[14] In 2006 he died in a tragic snowmobile accident and Einarson still wears a necklace with a photo of the two of them today.[14]

Grand Slam record
Key
C Champion
F Lost in Final
SF Lost in Semifinal
QF Lost in Quarterfinals
R16 Lost in the round of 16
Q Did not advance to playoffs
T2 Played in Tier 2 event
DNP Did not participate in event
N/A Not a Grand Slam event that season
Event 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
Masters N/A N/A N/A DNP DNP DNP SF Q F Q QF
Tour Challenge N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A T2 Q T2 SF F
The National N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A Q C Q F Q
Canadian Open N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A DNP DNP Q Q Q QF
Players' Q DNP DNP DNP DNP DNP SF DNP SF C N/A
Champions Cup N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A SF Q F F N/A

Former events
Event 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14
Colonial Square N/A N/A N/A Q Q
Autumn Gold SF Q Q DNP DNP
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries Q Q Q DNP DNP
Sobeys Slam N/A Q N/A N/A N/A

Teams
Season Skip Third Second Lead
2007–08[15] Kerri FlettJasmine BrackenTheresa CannonJillian Sandison
2008–09[16] Kerri FlettLiz PetersTamara BauknechtSarah Wazney
2009–10[17] Kerri FlettJanice BlairSusan BalejaAlison Harvey
2010–11 Kerri EinarsonJanice BlairSusan BalejaAlison Harvey
2011–12 Jill ThurstonKerri EinarsonKendra GeorgesSarah Wazney
2012–13 Kerri EinarsonSara van WelleghamLiz FyfeKrysten Karwacki
2013–14 Kerri EinarsonSelena KaatzLiz FyfeKristin MacCuish
2014–15 Kerri EinarsonSelena KaatzLiz FyfeKristin MacCuish
2015–16 Kerri EinarsonSelena KaatzLiz FyfeKristin MacCuish
2016–17 Kerri EinarsonSelena KaatzLiz FyfeKristin MacCuish
2017–18 Kerri EinarsonSelena KaatzLiz FyfeKristin MacCuish
2018–19 Kerri EinarsonVal SweetingShannon BirchardBriane Meilleur
2019–20 Kerri EinarsonVal SweetingShannon BirchardBriane Meilleur

References
  1. 2017 Home Hardware RTTR Media Guide
  2. "MOOSE IS LOOSE! Northern Ontario is coming on strong at Scotties" (PDF). Scotties Tournament of Hearts. February 24, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved 2017-01-29.
  3. Bender, Jim (14 November 2012). "Gimli's Kerri Einarson on her way to Canadian Mixed Championship". Winnipeg Sun. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
  4. "Einarson scores first eight ender in Scotties history". Winnipeg Free Press. January 21, 2015. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
  5. Spencer, Donna (9 October 2018). "Canadian women's rink proving 4 skips as good — or better — than 1". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
  6. "WCT Recap: Team Einarson keeps rolling with third win of season - TSN.ca". TSN. 2018-09-24. Retrieved 2018-10-05.
  7. Donna Spencer (February 23, 2020). "Kerri Einarson wins Canadian women's curling championship". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press.
  8. Ted Wyman (February 24, 2020). "Manitoba's Einarson caps stellar performance with first Scotties championship". Winnipeg Sun.
  9. The Canadian Press (March 12, 2020). "World Women's Curling Championship Cancelled". The Sports Network. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  10. "World Women's Curling Championship 2020 cancelled in Prince George, Canada". World Curling Federation. March 12, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  11. "GSOC cancels remaining events of 2019–20 season". Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam of Curling. March 13, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  12. 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Media Guide: Team Wild Card I
  13. Paul Friesen (April 8, 2020). "Cancelled worlds only one of challenges for Einarson". Winnipeg Sun. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  14. Melissa Martin (February 13, 2016). "The two necklaces". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  15. "Scotties Teams: Teams that qualified for the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts". Gimli Curling Club. Archived from the original on January 27, 2008.
  16. Regina Leader-Post, 5 Sept 2008, pg C7, "14th annual CUETS Schmirler Charity Curling Classic, Participating teams"
  17. "Kerri Einarson Past Teams". Curlingzone. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
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