CurlingZone: Lineup Upheaval For Einarson

Another weekend and another lineup to shuffle for Gimli's Kerri Einarson. (photo: Michael Burns, Curling Canada)

After losing on Tuesday in their opening match against Italy's Stefania Constantini, 6-4, Einarson bounced by Wednesday with a 7-4 win over Delaney Strouse of Traverse City, Michigan in B-event bracket play.

The HearingLife Tour Challenge is the first Grand Slam of the season, with 16 women's and men's teams competing in a triple knockout bracket where two teams advance to the playoff through the A-event bracket, three through the B-event bracket and three more through the C-event bracket to form an 8-team single knockout championship.

style="width:15px;" src="https://www.curlingzone.com/images/video/stream20x20_playbutton.png" alt="Watch Curling!">WATCH Game 2: Einarson vs. Strouse

Einarson won the pre-game draw for hammer, using the advantage to score a single point in the first end.

Strouse, with Sarah Anderson, Sydney Mullaney and Anne O'Hara jumped out to an early lead, scoring two points in the second end and then stealing another in the third end.

Einarson came back with two points in the fourth end to get back to even, then after holding Strouse to a single point in the sixth end scored two in the seventh end to take a 5-4 lead into the game's final end.

Einarson added a steal of two more points to finish of a 7-4 victory.

Einarson plays next on Thursday at Noon Atlantic Time (10 am Central Time) against the winner of Winnipeg's Chelsea Carey and Sweden's Anna Hasselborg, with that game playing Wednesday evening.

As we all await the final decision on Briane Harris' status, Kerri Einarson and her team of Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Krysten Karwacki continue to push forward chasing the Olympic berth in 2026.

The four-time Scotties winner was on a roll and looking to defend their title for a fourth time when news came out that Briane Harris was ineligible to play, later releasing her own statement to explain the situation.

No official announcement has been made, but Harris appealed the positive test to the Court for Sport Arbitration in Switzerland and is now awaiting the final decision.

Einarson regrouped over the summer, adding Karwacki to the lineup full time after she had joined the team as fifth player through those Scotties triumphs and now thrust fully into the lineup.

Opening the season in Edmonton at the Saville Shootout, Einarson was noticeably short-handed, with Birchard out of the lineup, with it later reported she suffered a knee injury and would be missing the opening of the season.

Birchard was replaced by Edmonton's Laura Walker for the PointsBet Invitational, where Einarson lost the opening round game to the Canadian Junior champions skipped by Allyson MacNut of Nova Scotia.

With Walker unavailable to play the first Grand Slam of the season, Einarson added Dawn McEwen to the lineup at second for this week's competition in Charlottetown.

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