Christina Blake staged an ‘unbelievable’ Olympic curling trials final

HALIFAX — Christina Black, the Jill Brothers, Marley Powers and Carly Everest finished shaking hands, and immediately, the Nova Scotia team ran to each other on sheet B and jumped and hugged and screamed while the nearly full crowd cheered along with them.

On home ice Thursday afternoon, Halifax’s own Team Black defeated Canada’s No. 2 team Enerson at the Scotiabank Center to earn a berth in the finals of the country’s best-of-three Olympic trials, facing world No. 1 Rachel Homan.

“Oh my God, it’s unbelievable,” a smiling Blake said after her team’s 6-3 victory, pumping her shoulders up and down with excitement, minutes after she fired her final shot, ending the game and celebrating by pumping her fist and pointing to the crowd with tears in her eyes.

What a victory that was, sports fans. A chess match of guards, singles and forced draws until the ninth end, when world number 27 team Black opened it, led by their captain, who scored a brilliant game-best 90%.

“We just want to go out there and play a great game and keep it close, keep the crowd involved and just do our job and stay calm, and we did that all day and be patient,” Black said, laughing. “So we won, that’s great!”

They actually persevered and waited until nine, capitalizing on some of Team Inerson’s memories. Third wheel Sweeting missed a couple of takeouts, and Brothers buttoned flat in the draw which put the pressure on captain Kerry Enerson.

“I played to come around the icy side of the really wide ice, and the sweeper told me what to throw and I said, ‘What?'” the brothers said, when it was over. “So that’s what I threw and it went in there and, you know, they still had that running back — and that’s their specialty. They’re very good at running back. Every time I play him, he throws me out, so I’m hoping he does all of that. So when we got a little lucky on some of those misses, and me putting it in there and Tina was in a great place to come in.”

Einerson had a tough shot for three with his last, but only one team got rid of Blackstone, allowing Black to draw for his last three and a 6-3 lead heading into the end of the final.

“It’s crazy,” Einerson said, after spending time with family, including his twin daughters, before leaving the ice. “You work so hard for it, and it’s something you dream of doing. And it’s hard, but it just wasn’t meant to be, and unfortunately we got out. We just missed a few shots here and there and didn’t take advantage of any opportunities we were given, and yeah, really unfortunate.”

A four-time Scottish champion, Einerson, 38, has never won an Olympic Trials final.

Einerson, Sweet and sophomore Shannon Burchard have been playing together for a long time, and lead Carly Briggs was in tears after the game thinking about her teammates, how it was on their bucket list and on her. “I really wanted to put it out there for the girls,” said Burgess, 27, apologizing for her tears several times, pausing to catch her breath to get the words out.

“We felt really confident and realized maybe it was our week and we didn’t play our best game today, and they had an unreal game.

Team Black, bronze medalists at the Scotties earlier this year, are now two wins away from Milano Cortina 2026.

On the way is Team Homan, and Rachel Homan, Tracy Florey, Emma Mischow and Sarah Wilkes were all watching the semi-finals from the ice surface as it ended. Once that was done and the festivities were over, Team Homan took to the ice and did squats and stretches before their afternoon practice.

Team Black, meanwhile, was still celebrating and kicking the ice.

“I think it could be a big win — maybe,” said the 38-year-old Blake, as far as his career goes. “I mean, in the grand scheme of things, to finally win a big game against that team, because they’re so good. That’s a big win.”

And it comes just two days after Nova Scotia lost a legend in Colleen Jones, who Blake idolized as she came through the game.

“Special,” the brothers said through tears. “I’ve been curling for a long time and four years ago, I said to my husband, ‘Should I play? Should I keep chasing this dream?’

He told her she should do what she wanted, and she did. “So I tried a few different things and then I found myself with Christina,” Brothers said. “We worked it out very quickly last year and we just believe in each other.”

Before she addressed the media, Brothers hugged Caro and told her, “I’m proud of you.” again.

This trial semi-final marked Team Black’s first victory over Team Enerson. But that didn’t seem like an upset for the Nova Scotia squad, which is ranked ninth in Canada, according to the World Curling Rankings. “No,” said the brothers. “We know we can beat anyone.”

Asked how they would defeat the reigning world champion, Brothers laughed before giving his answer.

“You just go with confidence and you play great. That’s all you can do,” said the third. “They’re an incredible team. They’ve played at every level you can imagine. So we just have to go out and play like we did today and maybe better.”

Team Black is playing with house money on home ice in a best-of-3 with an Olympic berth on the line, against the No. 1 team in the world. A team from Nova Scotia has never represented Canada in curling at the Olympics.

“We’re just so excited that we get to play in front of this crowd more — it’s a lot of fun,” Blake said. “We’re living the dream right now.”