Excited Canadian skip Einarson opens ‘louder’ world championship with 7-5 win over Sweden

Team Canada skip Kerri Einarson contemplates her rocks during play against Sweden at the World Women’s Curling Championship in Calgary, Saturday, March 14, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

CALGARY — Canadian skip Kerri Einarson looked up Saturday and saw real people, instead of cardboard cut-outs, in the stands at Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre. She heard the roar of the crowd instead of the sound of flushing toilets piercing the silence.

The change in sights and sounds — compared to her team’s experience at the 2021 women’s world curling championship in Calgary — made the opening match even sweeter as Canada beat Sweden 7-5 in the opening draw at the BKT Women’s World Curling Championship.

“You didn’t hear toilets flushing,” Einarson said of the difference between then and now. “It was challenging times then, but it’s nice to be back playing at the worlds and with fans.

“I get goosebumps every time as soon as they start cheering. It doesn’t matter for what shot. It’s just a pretty special moment.”

Einarson, vice Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and lead Karlee Burgess, of Manitoba’s Gimli Curling Club, gave the crowd of 2,701 plenty to cheer about with a convincing victory over a Swedish foursome skipped by Isabella Wrana.

Curling with her brother last month in mixed doubles at the Milan Cortina Winter Games, Wrana made 97 per cent of her shots in a 6-5 victory over the United States in the gold-medal game.

On Saturday, Wrana struggled, making just 64 per cent of her shots in the loss to Canada.

“They played really well,” Wrana said. “We started off pretty good, and then I had some difficulties in the middle there, and that’s when they took their chances.”

Sweden scored a deuce in the first end and held Canada to a single point in the second. But Canada stole one in the third to tie the game. The teams exchanged singles in the fourth and fifth ends, and the scoreboard read 3-3 at the fifth-end break.

“We didn’t start off that great, but we battled back,” Burgess said. “So we regrouped after the fifth end. Ultimately, we just said, ‘Stay patient,’ because we all kind of knew that we weren’t playing to our best.”

On her final shot of the sixth end, Wrana stared down three Canadian rocks in the house. She managed to vanquish one Canadian stone but two remained, giving Canada a steal of two and a lead they would not relinquish.

“We just stayed patient,” Burgess said. “We got some good shots in the last half and some good team sweeps.

“I have the Maple Leaf on my back, and the crowd was behind us the whole way. So yeah, it’s pretty special and pretty amazing. To be honest, I feel very lucky to have this opportunity.”

This is the first women’s world championship for the 27-year-old Burgess. And due to February’s Olympic Games pushing the Scotties Tournament of Hearts earlier in the calendar, Burgess had to wait more than a month for the world championship to begin.

“We came here on Tuesday,” Burgess said. “We practised, practised, practised. It’s finally here. So I was just super excited to get going.”

Wrana and her team practised in Calgary for the past week. She said the curling rinks in Stockholm are packed after Sweden won gold in both mixed doubles and women’s curling in Italy.

“It’s been crazy with people renting a sheet, trying the sport,” she said. “So it’s been tricky to find the practice times.”

Earlier this month, Einarson served as a coach for her twin daughters Khloe and Karmyn and their team at the Manitoba Games in Thompson, Man. The twins are 12 and lost in the bronze-medal game.

“A lot of the teams were 14, 15 years old, and they were beating them,” Einarson said. “They want to follow in my footsteps.”

But this weekend, the twins are cheering on their mom as she chases her first world women’s title.

“I’m always looking up at my girls, and they’re always smiling at me and giving me thumbs up,” Einarson said with a grin. “So it’s pretty amazing. “They absolutely love it, mostly because they probably get to miss school.”

BROOM BITS: Einarson is back on the ice Saturday night for a game against Delaney Strouse and her crew from the United States.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 14, 2026.

Vicki Hall, The Canadian Press