Canadian women claim curling title at international tournament in Victoria

Canada’s Team Einarson showed up in a big way at the international curling event at Victoria’s Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre over the weekend.

The Grand Slam of Curling’s Co-Op Invitational was a week-long affair at the arena, with games taking up the majority of each day from October 12th to 14th.

Representing Gimli, Manitoba, Team Einarson  made up of skip Kerri Einarson,  Jocelyn Peterman, Karlee Burgess and Shannon Birchard made Canada proud on Sunday against South Korea’s Team Kang, closing them out 6-3 in the final.

The event was stacked with some of the best curlers in the world, including Canada’s Team Homan, currently ranked at number one in the women’s World Curling Team Rankings.

Unfortunately, Homan’s squad ended the tournament in the group stage, going 1-3 in their four games after taking a longer-than-usual break over the summer following their bronze medal finish at the Milan Olympics earlier this year.

Other Canadian women’s teams at the event included Victoria locals Team MacMillan and Team Reese-Hansen, who, despite some good showings against the best in the world, also dropped out in the group stage.

Team Einarson carried the way for Canadian women at the event with a performance that was admirable, ending the group stage with three wins and one loss and beating another South Korean squad, Team Gim, in the event’s semi-finals on Saturday before going on to win the final on Sunday.

The men’s side of the bracket at the event also included some of the world’s most talented squads, and the Canadian men ended their tournament in the semi-final with a nail-biting 6-5 loss against Switzerland’s Team Schwaller.

The Canadian Olympic gold medalists can’t be too disappointed with their performance, with Team Schwaller coming into the tournament ranked second in the world and the Canadians ranked third.

The Swiss team eventually went on to win it all, beating Norway’s Team Ramsfjell 7-3 in the final on Sunday evening.

Did you watch the event on TV or at the arena? What did you think of Canada’s performance? Let us know in the comments below!