By Jonathan Brazeau
VICTORIA — The Grand Slam of Curling title that got away from Kerri Einarson came back at the Co-op Invitational.
Rewind to last season's Grand Slam finale in Steinbach, Manitoba, where Einarson reached the Players' Championship women's final on home-province ice against Silvana Tirinzoni's Swiss squad.
Einarson trailed by two points entering the eighth end, but her Gimli club held the all-important hammer coming home.
With the crowd behind her, Einarson delivered a Hail Mary shot into the cluster of rocks in the house, but when the dust settled, it was only a single. Tirinzoni took her seventh and final Grand Slam title before retiring at the end of the season.
The Co-op Invitational kicked off the new Grand Slam season last week in Victoria, and Team Einarson's strongest supporters trekked from all over Canada to attend. The Victoria faithful also rallied around Team Einarson, as the reigning Scotties champions and world silver medallists were the only Canadians to qualify for the women's playoffs.
Einarson reached the final, the 18th of her career, and her team's experience in those big moments, delivering clutch shots when needed, helped power them past first-time Slam finalists Team Bo-bae Kang of South Korea 6-3.
"The girls swept their butts off all week," said Einarson, who captured her seventh Grand Slam title. "The ice was so fast, and it was hard to even throw it that slow and believe it. We just said, 'Give it to our sweepers. They'll get it there for us,' and we did that. We made a lot of clutch shots."
After Einarson, third Shannon Birchard, second Karlee Burgess and lead Jocelyn Peterman were presented with the trophy, their families took to the ice to celebrate with them.
"It's amazing having my parents here and a few other family members," Einarson said. "My auntie and uncle left yesterday, but it's always special to win with family here."
FIRST END: Einarson's aforementioned uncle is Greg McAulay, who won the Brier and world titles in 2000.
McAulay was also one of the Original 18 skips of the Grand Slam of Curling who chose not to enter provincial playdowns — thus giving up opportunities to compete in the Brier and world championship — to help the series get off the ground.
That means a lot to Einarson.
"He's been so supportive of my curling career from Day 1," Einarson said. "When he won the Brier back in 2000, I knew exactly this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to curl just like him. He's part of the Original 18.
"I believe he's going to be in Saskatoon for the 100th Brier, so maybe I'll come up there and spend some time with him while he's there."
SECOND END: Even though Einarson went through a roster overhaul during the off-season, her team essentially picked up where it left off.
After finishing runner-up in the Players' Championship, Einarson won her fifth Scotties Tournament of Hearts title and earned silver at the World Women's Curling Championship.
Just days later, Einarson parted ways with third Val Sweeting, alternate Krysten Karwacki and coach Reid Carruthers. Einarson added Jocelyn Peterman to play lead and handle vice skip duties, with Birchard and Burgess moving up to third and second, respectively.
Here's a breakdown of their record in big-time events on arena ice this calendar year.
| Event | Record |
| GSOC Players' Championship | 5-3 |
| Scotties Tournament of Hearts | 10-2 |
| World Women's Curling Championship | 11-3 |
| GSOC Co-op Invitational | 6-1 |
| Total | 32-9 (.780 PCT) |
The team has also played in three club tour events this season, with three quarterfinal finishes, but it's under the lights with fans in the stands and the TV cameras rolling when Einarson has shone brightest this year.
"It's definitely a confidence booster going forward into the Grand Slam season," Einarson said. "We played really well, and we have been playing well and pretty consistent throughout the start of our season, so we definitely want to carry that going forward."
THIRD END: Although it had been two years since Einarson's previous Grand Slam title win at the 2024 Tour Challenge, Birchard had been waiting even longer.
Birchard missed that event, and most of the 2024-25 season, due to a knee injury. Super spare Dawn McEwen filled in at second at the Grand Slam in Charlottetown.
"It's awesome," said Birchard, whose last Slam win with Einarson was at the 2022 Masters. "We had such a fun week out here and a beautiful place to curl. I mean, crowds were great today, and we knew we had them pretty much behind us the whole playoffs. We were the only Canadian team left, so we really felt that support. We came out firing today and ended up on top."
Birchard said earlier in the week that it hasn't been too different playing third after eight seasons at second with Einarson.
"I'm still sweeping, so I think there's maybe a little bit more weight in terms of importance on some of my shots and a few more must-makes if we're in trouble," she said. "Just really it's a focus thing, and it's been fun getting used to it."
FOURTH END: Both Burgess and Peterman captured their second Grand Slam titles, but their first with Einarson.
Burgess joined Team Einarson initially as an injury replacement for Birchard during the second half of 2024-25 before becoming their full-time lead the following season. She won the 2023 Tour Challenge with legendary skip Jennifer Jones.
Peterman claimed her first title with Chelsea Carey at the 2018 Canadian Open. She reached two finals during her tenure with Jones and also finished runner-up in the 2023 Tour Challenge playing with Kaitlyn Lawes.
She's now 1-for-1 in Grand Slams with Einarson. No pressure keeping that stat at 100 per cent.
"It's amazing," Peterman said. "It's just been a great week. Obviously we're gelling, and it's just really fun to come out with a win today."
FIFTH END: While Einarson has won multiple Grand Slam and Scotties titles, it was Peterman's experience in other areas — including representing Canada twice in the Olympic Winter Games, once each in women's fours and mixed doubles — that appealed to her.
"She's been doing great," Einarson said earlier in the week. "... She's played mixed doubles and calling line, and she's a great shooter. She's been to the Olympics twice. We knew she'd be a great fit for this team, and we've been doing well this season."
Although Peterman skipped in juniors, winning the Canadian title in 2012, holding the broom as a vice skip is new for her as well. She said the team has been super supportive as she adjusts to the new dual role.
"The girls are just so good," Peterman said. "I feel privileged to be a part of the team. They're just so close on everything, and it's a lot of fun to be a part of."
Fun fact: Peterman defeated Birchard in the 2012 Canadian junior women's final.
SIXTH END: There's always something with Yannick Schwaller's team, aka Curling Baby's dad's team.
On the eve of the 2025 Canadian Open men's final, second Sven Michel spent the night in the hospital with kidney stones. Michel still played, helping the Swiss squad capture its first Grand Slam title.
This time, it was Schwaller, who got stung by a wasp on his foot.
Despite the extra adversity, Team Schwaller persevered. Schwaller captured the Co-op Invitational men's title with a 7-3 victory over Norway's Team Magnus Ramsfjell.
"Every week something happens," fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel said with a sigh. "Maybe it's a good distraction to release the pressure. I don't know. I guess we would prefer to not have those things, but yeah, you’ve got to deal with them."
(Sidebar: Somebody please tape Schwarz-van Berkel and lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin in bubble wrap in case they're next.)
Considering the result, though, maybe it's a good omen in a roundabout way?
"I guess it's OK," Schwaller said. "Maybe it's a good sign when somebody has a light injury, but we can still play. I don’t know.
"Our coach Håvard (Vad Petersson) said to our alternate at the Olympics last year, he said to Kim, my brother, 'Be f-----g ready because with this team it can be all day something. Every day, all day.'"
SEVENTH END: Schwaller had to wait until year four of the previous quadrennial to win his first Grand Slam title.
His team came close earlier in the Olympic cycle, losing to Kevin Koe in the 2023 Players' Championship on the last shot of the game with time running out — basically, Schwaller got Koe'd — and falling to Bruce Mouat in an extra end during the 2025 Players' Championship final.
Schwaller was thrilled to check that box in the very first Grand Slam of the new quad.
"It's amazing. To have gotten rid of that feeling of winning one in the cycle, it's fantastic," said Schwaller, whose team is ranked No. 1 in the world. "We just had a ton of fun this whole week. We were playing golf. We were enjoying Victoria. At the same time, we were very structured about what we were doing professionally on ice, so everything came together so nicely.
"We were able to find another gear in the playoffs, which was important to get us here."
EIGHTH END: When Schwaller won the 2025 Canadian Open, Ramsfjell was right there celebrating with him on the ice, as the Norwegian team captured the Tier 2 title two sheets over.
Little did they know they'd end up battling for bronze two months later at the Olympic Winter Games in Milano Cortina. Schwaller won 9-1 to claim the final podium place. (Style points went to Ramsfjell, who ended the match with a spin-a-rama.)
"They're so nice guys. I can't say anything bad about them, and they're a good team right now," Schwaller said. "I'm quite sure we're going to see more of them."
As if he hasn't seen enough of Ramsfjell already. The two skips first faced each other 10 years ago at the world juniors, amid an amazing field that also featured Matt Dunstone, Bruce Mouat, Korey Dropkin and Rasmus Wranå as skips for their countries.
"It's been on my mind for a bit," Ramsfjell said. "That world juniors had a lot of stacked teams. We had Dunstone, Mouat, Korey Dropkin and yeah, Rasmus was playing. So, for sure we've been thinking about that before.
"Maybe we all knew Yannick was going to be great. It was up to us to get here after him, I feel like."
Perhaps playing against each other constantly has raised the bar and pushed them all to greatness.
"It's fun to play each other again and see each other's careers unfold," Schwaller said. "I have, with no one, a bad relationship and we're friendly and sometimes friends, so that's cool."
He added: "I played Bruce how many times in the playoffs at championships and then Grand Slams? Then Korey all the time in mixed doubles, and Rasmus and Magnus, of course, and Matty. It's fun."
