Grand-slam curling season starts up with target on Canadian champ Einarson's back

Kerri Einarson and her teammates don’t need anyone to point out the target.

It’s practically painted on the backs of their jacket.

The Manitoba skip and her Gimli team enter the 2026-27 Grand Slam of Curling season — and this week’s Co-op Invitational in Victoria, B.C. — as the defending event queens and Canadian champions, carrying both the confidence of another Scotties title and the weekly nuisance of knowing opponents save their sharpest rocks for her.

“Obviously, there’s always a target on our backs,” Einarson said. “And definitely we know every single game we have to play really well because teams seem to bring their best games against us.”

Einarson’s team has started well on the curling campaign despite changing three throwing positions.

Shannon Birchard has moved from second to third, Karlee Burgess from lead to second, and newcomer Jocelyn Peterman is throwing lead stones and handling vice-skip duties. Einarson remains at skip, the one familiar label on a shuffled deck.

“Yeah, I think we’ve had a really good start to our season so far, qualifying for playoffs in all the events,” said 39-year-old Einarson.

“Everyone’s playing kind of different positions other than myself, so it’s just a bit of a learning curve and figuring things out,” continued Einarson. “But our chemistry seems really good. And our communication — it seems to be flowing nicely.”
The early-season goal isn’t complicated.

Especially since the squad has endured a major change, with Peterman joining the team after longtime vice-skip/third Val Sweeting left the championship crew in the off-season. Peterman is in to line-call for decorated skip Einarson, as well as throw lead rocks.

“It’s just trying to figure each other out,” Einarson said. “Jocelyn and I figuring out our positions and like line-calling and things like communication — and I think it’s going really well.”

The absence of Sweeting, of course, makes it a challenge.

Einarson’s third for eight seasons and a partner in five Canadian championships. Sweeting brought deep strategic knowledge and a quiet confidence that steadied the team on and off the ice. She’s now throwing third for Kayla MacMillan’s Victoria-based rink, setting up an unavoidable reunion at the forthcoming Co-op Invitational.

That relationship won’t disappear because the uniforms changed. Neither will Einarson’s standard. She’s a five-time Canadian champion, a 2026 world silver medallist and a six-time Grand Slam winner.

So the foursome isn’t starting from scratch. It’s simply rebuilding around a skip who knows how expensive one soft end can become against top opposition.

“It’s definitely strange without Val,” added Einarson. “Obviously, we had eight amazing years together, and you never forget your teammates and what they did for you in the game on and off the ice. So … yeah … it’s definitely hard, and it’s going to be hard when we play each other. It’s always difficult playing your former teammates.

“But … yeah … that’s curling.”

What is the Grand Slam schedule?
The Curling Group’s Grand Slam of Curling opens its 2026-27 season Oct. 13-18 at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria.

The event formerly known as the Tour Challenge has a new name, revised format, 32 teams and enough quirks to make a blank end a strategic gamble.

Whart is the tour schedule for the season?
GSOC Invitational: Oct. 13-18, Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre, Victoria.
GSOC Masters: Nov. 3-8, Co-op Place, Medicine Hat, Alta.
GSOC National: Nov. 17-22, Centre 200, Sydney, N.S.
GSOC Open: Dec. 1-6, Fort William Gardens, Thunder Bay, Ont.
GSOC Players’ Cup: Dec. 15-20, Slush Puppie Place, Kingston, Ont.

What teams are in the Co-op Invitational?
Women
• Pool A: Rachel Homan, Isabella Wranå, Miku Nihira, Yuina Miura.
• Pool B: Anna Hasselborg, Satsuki Fujisawa, Madeleine Dupont, Giulia Zardini Lacedelli.
• Pool C: Xenia Schwaller, Alina Pätz, Taylor Reese-Hansen, Kyeong-ae Kang.
• Pool D: Kerri Einarson, Eun-ji Gim, Kayla MacMillan, Miyu Ueno.
Men
• Pool A: Bruce Mouat, Magnus Ramsfjell, Kyle Waddell, Philipp Hösli.
• Pool B: Brad Jacobs, Oskar Eriksson, Brendan Bottcher, Orrin Carson.
• Pool C: Matt Dunstone, Danny Casper, Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, Takumi Maeda.
• Pool D: Yannick Schwaller, Team Hardie, Kevin Koe, John Epping.

What is the format?
• Sixteen teams in each division are split into four pools of four.
• Every rink plays three games within its pool and one crossover opponent determined by pre-event rankings. The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals. Tiebreakers are played if needed.
• Teams can blank only one end. Blank another and the hammer transfers to the opponent for the following end.
• Round-robin and tiebreaker games have no extra ends. Ties are decided by a shootout.
• A regulation win is worth three points, a shootout win two, a shootout loss one and a regulation loss zero.
• The defending champions are Kerri Einarson and Bruce Mouat.

What is the schedule?
• Round-robin draws Tuesday and Wednesday start at 11:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. Thursday’s schedule is 11 a.m., 2:30 a.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET. Friday returns to 11:30 a.m., 3 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET.
• Saturday starts with tiebreakers at 8 a.m., women’s quarterfinals at noon, men’s quarters at 4 p.m. and semifinals for both divisions at 7:30 p.m.
• Sunday’s women’s final starts at noon, with the men’s final at 4 p.m.

How did the teams qualify?
• The Invitational has 12 open-invitation teams per division as selected by the GSOC competition committee.
• Four additional teams earned places through the satellite events series replacing the Tier 2 challenge. Women’s satellite qualifiers are Zardini Lacedelli, Ueno, Kang and Miura. Carson, Epping, Maeda and Hösli claimed four men’s satellite berths. Satellite winners qualify for the first four Slams. If the winner is in, the berth passes to the highest eligible finisher.
• Slam and satellite points determine the 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams invited to December’s Players’ Cup.

How can I watch?
Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ carry three draws daily Tuesday through Friday before Sportsnet and CBC split weekend playoffs. Morning games and tiebreakers stream on Rock Channel. ESPN+ has United States coverage, while DAZN carries international broadcasts.

How did Einarson do at the Autumn Gold Curling Classic?
Before taking the arena ice in Victoria, Einarson’s rebuilt lineup got a stress test at the Autumn Gold Curling Classic in Okotoks.

The Oct. 8-11 women’s event featured a 32-team triple-knockout field and a $45,000 purse.

Einarson herself reached Sunday’s quarterfinals, where Selena Sturmay ended her run with a 10-6 victory.

Sturmay took the scenic route to the trophy. Her Edmonton rink started 2-2, dropped into the C-event and then won five straight elimination games. After beating Einarson, Sturmay handled world champion Xenia Schwaller 6-2 in the semifinal and defeated defending champ South Korea’s Eun-ji Gim 7-3 in the final.

The championship paid $11,000. And even better than the oversized cheque, the win delivered Sturmay a berth in November’s GSOC Masters in Medicine Hat. Gim received the runner-up finish and more than $7,000 after entering as the four-time defending Autumn Gold champion.

For Einarson, a quarterfinal exit wasn’t the ending she wanted, but it supplied some info a reworked team needs before stepping out under the grand-slam lights.

Especially since the lineup has been oh-so shuffled for the new Olympic quadrennial.
Birchard is playing third for the first time in her career.

“And second’s a new position for Karlee, too,” Einarson said. “So … yeah … definitely a mix of different positions and challenges, and which is always exciting in the game. You want to try to own your craft and be the best at your position, and yeah, that’s what we’re going to be working towards.”

Every event gives them more experience from which to draw.

The Autumn Gold gave them enough games to qualify, a playoff test against a team that was rolling and another reminder that October doesn’t hand out grace periods.

“Every spiel that we go into, it’s like a learning curve,” Einarson said. “And we just want to get better and better each event and build consistency. And the (Autumn Gold) event has a lot of great teams thatl challenge you. The ice conditions (were) a little challenging too, which is good.

“It makes you have to be a little more precise, so the events we’ve played definitely will help us going forward.”

Forward means Victoria, where the schedule wastes no time testing the rebuilt lineup. Einarson, who received an invitation to the Co-op Invitational, opens against Japan’s Miku Nihira on Tuesday, then meets Miyu Ueno on Wednesday. Thursday brings the reunion that is Einarson against Sweeting (10 p.m. ET). The round robin closes Friday against South Korea’s Gim.
That Thursday game will attract the sentimental attention.

But it’s still all about winning for everyone involved, including Einarson.

“We just wanted to take one game at a time going into the slams,” added Einarson. “Every team is good, but that’s like every team in every spiel that we play. You have to play your best against everyone. So it’s definitely exciting.

“And being in the arena setting, we definitely love that. So … yeah … we’re definitely just looking forward to being back on the slam ice and enjoying the atmosphere.”

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