A capsule look at the teams competing in the 2025 Canadian women’s curling championship Feb. 14-23 in Thunder Bay, Ont. Teams’ seeds (in brackets) via Curling Canada’s Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS). Team members listed third to alternate:
POOL A
Rachel Homan — Defending champion (1)
Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes, Rachel Brown.
Heavy favourite for Hearts repeat with a 45-4 record this season, including Grand Slam victories in the Kioti National and Canadian Co-op Open. Ottawa Curling Club foursome is also reigning world champion. Former archrival Jennifer Jones will join the team as coach in Thunder Bay.
Selena Sturmay — Alberta (4)
Danielle Schmiemann, Dezaray Hawes, Paige Papley.
Chelsea Carey’s team disbanding catapulted Sturmay into a pre-qualified berth for Thunder Bay and her team thus bypassed the provincial championship. Sturmay reached the 2024 Hearts final four in Calgary before bowing out to Manitoba’s Kate Cameron in the Page playoff between third and fourth seeds. Coached by Ted Appleman.
Kayla Skrlik — Alberta champion (5)
Geri-Lynn Ramsay, Margot Flemming, Ashton Skrlik, Crystal Rumberg.
Skrlik skipped Alberta to a 4-4 record two years ago in Kamloops, B.C. Flemming, who played in four previous Hearts with Northwest Territories’ Kerry Galusha, replaces the departed Brittany Tran in Skrlik’s lineup. Coached by Shannon Kleibrink.
Corryn Brown — B.C. champion (8)
Erin Pincott, Sarah Koltun, Sam Fisher, Kristen Ryan.
Brown returns to Hearts after going 6-6 in 2020 and 4-4 in both 2021 and 2024. Koltun will play in her eighth Hearts after previous appearances under the Yukon and N.W.T. flags. Brown told local Kamloops radio station CFJC that she will be six months pregnant in Thunder Bay. Coached by Jim Cotter.
Krista McCarville — Northern Ontario champion (9)
Andrea Kelly, Kendra Lilly, Ashley Sippala, Sarah Potts.
McCarville’s team was a finalist the last time the Hearts was held in her hometown of Thunder Bay in 2022. Her foursome fell 9-6 to Kerri Einarson. Veteran New Brunswick curler Andrea Kelly has since joined the rink at third. They don’t travel as much as top teams, but boast a lot of Hearts experience through the lineup. Coached by Rick Lang.
Nancy Martin — Saskatchewan champion (12)
Chaelynn Stewart, Kadriana Lott, Deanna Doig, Colleen Ackerman.
Martin and Stewart made their Hearts debuts in 2021 playing for their current coach Sherry Anderson. Martin is twice a national mixed doubles runner-up. Lott is a Hearts rookie, but she’s coming off a Canadian mixed doubles title with husband Colton in 2024.
Melissa Adams — New Brunswick champion (13)
Jaclyn Crandall, Kayla Russell, Kendra Lister, Molli Ward.
Adams won a world junior women’s championship in Thunder Bay in 1998 when her team went 9-2 and beat Japan in the final. She brings the same Hearts lineup that went 2-6 in Calgary last year. Coached by Alex Robichaud.
Jane DiCarlo — Prince Edward Island provincial champion (16)
Veronica Mayne, Sabrina Smith, Whitney Jenkins, Jenny White.
DiCarlo throws third stones and Mayne fourth on a team of that went 0-8 in its debut last year in Calgary. Coached by Kathy O’Rourke, who skipped P.E.I. to runner-up in 2010.
Julia Weagle — Nunvaut (declared) (17)
Sadie Pinksen, Leigh Gustafson, Alison Taylor.
Julia Weagle is the sister of Canadian and world champion Lisa Weagle, who was formerly Homan’s lead. Nunavut returns to the field after sitting out 2024. A television series shot in Iqaluit’s curling rink supplanted territorial championship. Coached by Colin Hodgson.
POOL B
Kerri Einarson — Manitoba (2)
Val Sweeting, Karlee Burgess, Krysten Karwacki, Lauren Lenentine.
Four-time champion Einarson’s lineup was a revolving door this season because of second Shannon Birchard’s knee injury and the wait for a ruling on lead Briane Harris’s doping infraction. Harris was deemed not at fault, but Einarson had already locked in her Thunder Bay roster, which includes former Chelsea Carey teammates Burgess at second and Lenentine at alternate. Coached by Reid Carruthers.
Kaitlyn Lawes — Manitoba (3).
Selena Njegovan, Jocelyn Peterman, Kristin Gordon, Becca Hebert.
Like Einarson, Lawes gained early entry based on her team’s ranking at the conclusion of the 2023-24 season. Lawes is a national, world and Olympic champion playing third for Jennifer Jones, but has skipped her own teams the last two years. Peterman and husband Brett Gallant won the Olympic mixed doubles curling trials in January. Coached by Connor Njegovan.
Christina Black — Nova Scotia champion (6)
Jill Brothers, Jennifer Baxter, Karlee Everist, Marlee Powers.
Reached the final four two years ago in Kamloops, B.C., by upsetting Homan in a playoff game. Black’s laser draws drew gasps from spectators. Recruited former rival Jill Brothers as vice for this season. Coached by Stuart MacLean.
Kate Cameron — Manitoba champion (7)
Taylor McDonald, Brianna Cullen, Mackenzie Elias.
Cameron makes her eighth appearance, but second as skip after reaching the semifinal last year in Calgary. McDonald couldn’t participate in 2024 due to pregnancy. Recruited two-time Canadian university champion Cullen with the departure of Meghan Walter. Coached by Glenn Howard.
Danielle Inglis — Ontario champion (10)
Kira Brunton, Calissa Daly, Cassandra de Groot, Kimberly Tuck.
Inglis, Curling Canada’s co-ordinator of social media and web content, is off the job a second straight year because she’s busy skipping Ontario again. Her team went 3-5 in 2024. Inglis won five in a row to close out the provincial women’s championship. Coached by Steve Acorn.
Laurie St-George — Quebec (11)
Jamie Sinclair, Emily Riley, Lisa Weagle.
St-George skips Quebec for the fifth time in her career. Brought Homan’s former lead Lisa Weagle back to team curling this season after the departure of Kelly Middaugh. Sinclair is a former U.S. national champion. Coached by Francis Roberge.
Kerry Galusha — Northwest Territories champion (14)
Megan Koehler, Sydney Galusha, Shona Barbour, Ella Skauge.
Galusha’s 18th “official” trip to the Hearts (Curling Canada doesn’t recognize the play-in years) ranks second only to Colleen Jones (21). Galusha’s lineup includes 15-year-old daughter Sydney as her vice throwing second rocks. Coached by Amber Holland.
Brooke Godsland — Newfoundland and Labrador champion (15).
Erin Porter, Sarah McNeil-Lamswood, Camille Burt, Kate Paterson.
Godsland was an alternate in 2021 and McNeil-Lamswood is a Hearts rookie, but Porter and Burt are seasoned with five and two previous appearances respectively. Burt played lead last year for Stacie Curtis, whose two wins in Calgary included one over Alberta’s Sturmay. Coached by Cory Schuh.
Bayly Scoffin — Yukon champion (18)
Kerry Foster, Raelyn Helston, Bailey Horte, Kimberly Tuor.
Scoffin and Helston curl collegiately in Calgary for SAIT. Scoffin siblings skip Yukon in both the Hearts and Brier a second straight year as Thomas will represent the territory in Kelowna, B.C., in March. Coached by Kevin Patterson.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 13, 2025.
Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press