Nova Scotia’s Christina Black back in Scotties Tournament of Hearts

CTYnews halifax /By The Canadian Press

Christina Black returns to the Canadian women’s curling championship after winning Nova Scotia’s women’s final Sunday.

Black defeated Mackenzie Mitchell 6-4 in Halifax. Her team will represent the province in February’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Black, Jill Brothers, Jenn Baxter and Karlee Everest out of the Halifax Curling Club were ranked fourth among women’s teams in Curling Canada’s Canadian Team Rankings System on Sunday.

Black upset current world champion Rachel Homan to reach the final four of the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops, B.C. Black’s team was eliminated by eventual champion Kerri Einarson in the Page three-four playoff game there.

Black lost to Heather Smith in the 2024 provincial final.

The 18-team field for the Feb. 14-23 national women’s championship began to take shape Sunday with the crowning of some provincial and territorial champions.

Laurie St-Georges earned a fifth trip to the Hearts with a 9-2 victory over Emilia Gagne in Quebec’s final Sunday. St-Georges went 4-4 last year in Calgary.

Kerry Galusha will skip Northwest Territories a 17th time, which ties her with Jennifer Jones in appearances second only to Colleen Jones’ 21. Galusha’s daughter Sydney will make her debut in Thunder Bay playing second for her mother.

Galusha clinched a best-of-five territorial final series Sunday with a 12-0 blanking of Betti Delorey in the fourth game of the series.

Melissa Adams sewed up New Brunswick women’s crown Saturday with an 8-6 win over Justine Comeau. Adams will skip New Brunswick a second straight year and for the third time in her career.

Homan was already bound for Thunder Bay’s Hearts as defending champion.

Einarson, Alberta’s Selena Sturmay and Manitoba’s Kaitlyn Lawes pre-qualified for the Hearts based on their ranking at the end of the 2023-24 season.

Sturmay gained a pre-qualified berth earlier this month when Chelsea Carey’s team could not retain at least three of four players from last season.

Bayly Scoffin took Yukon’s women’s title last week with a 7-4 win over Patty Wallingham. She went 1-7 in her Hearts debut last year in Calgary.

Nunavut declared its women’s team in December. The territory returns to the national championship after a hiatus in 2024 when Iqaluit’s curling rink was closed to be the set of a television show.

Julia Weagle, sister of three-time Hearts champion Lisa, will skip Nunavut in Thunder Bay.

B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Northern Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador will crown their women’s champions Jan. 26.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 19, 2025.

The Canadian Press