Canada Nets | Canada Defeats New Zealand!

Team Canada Einarson wins decisive All-Continental Championship

There's always a chance something scary will happen this Halloween, but Canadian team Kerry Einarson kept the ghosts at bay Tuesday morning in 2023 All-Continental Curling Championships.

The four-time defending Scotties Tournament of Hearts champions based in Gimli, Manitoba posted a 10-1 win over Jessica Smith's New Zealand team (1-3) at the British Curling Club in Kelowna, British Columbia.

With the win, Einarson, vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Brian Harris, alternate Don McEwen and national coaches Rene Sonnenberg and Viktor Kjell improved to 3-1.

The Canadians showed great precision throughout the morning, starting with a pre-match button to gain last-stone advantage in the first set, which set the tone as Einarson's team started the duel with a double and never looked back.

“We got off to a really good start, getting the hammer and scoring two points,” Einarsson said. “We put our stones well and controlled our speed, which helped us a lot, and we feel more comfortable on the ice.”

New Zealand scored their only run in the second inning, then Canada started to pull away with a double in the third inning, a steal in the fourth inning, three in the fifth inning and two in the sixth inning to end the game.

After a triple in the fifth inning, McEwen replaced Harris in his 2023 All-Continental Championship debut.

“It’s a pleasure to have her here,” Einarson said. “She’s a great backup for us and a great teammate. We’re lucky to have her, and it was nice to get her in the game and let her throw some rocks.”

It was McEwen's first time wearing a Team Canada uniform since the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, and his curling career has been on the back burner for most of the time since then.

“It’s been great,” McEwen said. “Getting the opportunity to come out here with these girls this week has been a great way to get out and play a little curling. It’s been a really fun week so far with these girls. They’ve been so kind in inviting me to be part of the team and I’m having a lot of fun.”

Team Canada will return to the ice Tuesday night for a Halloween summit duel at 7 p.m. (PT) against Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States (4-0).

In other women's matches Tuesday morning, the United States maintained its unbeaten record with a 10-2 win over Adriana Camarena's Mexico (1-3); Satsuki Fujisawa's Japan (4-0) kept up the pace with a 10-1 win over Chinese Taipei captain Cynthia Lu's team (0-4); and Eunji Kim's South Korea team (3-1) beat Jennifer Westhagen's Australia team (0-4) 9-2.

Brad Gushue's Canadian men's team in Saint John, NL, is 2-1 and will play Tuesday at 2 p.m. against Japan's Riku Yanagisawa (3-0).

Live results, standings and statistics for the 2023 All-Continental Curling Championship are available at the following link: Click here.

TSN will broadcast select Canadian matches live from the 2023 All-Continental Curling Championship. click here To view the full TSN schedule.

Other matches are streamed live online on World Curling TV. click here for more details.

Ticket information for the 2023 All-Continental Curling Championships is available at the following link: Click here.