Ottawa’s Rachel Homan secured her spot in the women’s final, and Calgary’s Brad Jacobs advanced in the men’s competition, while Brad Gushue from St. John’s was knocked out after a crucial miss at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials.
Homan narrowly defeated Kerri Einarson from Gimli, Manitoba, with a score of 7-6 on Wednesday, claiming the top spot in the women’s round-robin phase.
Both teams finished the preliminary round with 6-1 records, but Homan secured a direct route to the best-of-three final by winning the head-to-head match.
“Our aim at the start of the week was to reach the final,” said Homan. “The competition is fierce, and we had to give our all today to make it to the final. I’m extremely proud of the team for their determination.”
Jacobs earned his spot in the final earlier in the day by defeating Matt Dunstone from Winnipeg 6-2.
The 2014 Olympic champion topped the men’s standings with a 6-1 record after also defeating and eliminating 2006 gold medalist Gushue in the final round-robin game on Wednesday evening.
Gushue, who is in his last competitive season, lost 6-3 to Jacobs in a tense finish. Needing a win to stay in the competition, the veteran skip missed his final throw with the opportunity to score three points with the hammer while trailing 5-3 in the 10th end.
As a result, Gushue missed out on the Canadian Trials playoffs for the first time in his career.
“He’s a formidable opponent and has been for much of the last decade,” Jacobs commented. “Whenever you have a chance to eliminate such a strong team, you have to seize that opportunity. We performed exceptionally well today, and I believe it sets us up nicely for the finals.”
Gushue tied with Dunstone at 4-3, but Dunstone advanced by winning their head-to-head matchup earlier in the round-robin phase.
Dunstone will face Mike McEwen from Saskatoon (5-2) in the men’s semifinal on Thursday night. McEwen, who defeated Gushue 9-7 earlier in the day, also triumphed over Dunstone 9-5 in the evening session.
Black, on the other hand, managed to score three points in the 10th end for a 10-6 win over Kate Cameron from St. Adolphe, Manitoba, finishing tied for third place at 4-2 with Kaitlyn Lawes from Winnipeg and Selena Sturmay from Edmonton. Black progressed to the semifinal due to having the best cumulative ranking in the last stone draw competition among the three teams.
The last stone draw is a pre-game contest where two players from each team deliver a stone to the center of the house. The team closest to the center gains the hammer for the match.
Black mentioned a new “curling god” seemed to be favoring her, referring to Colleen Jones. The legendary curler and longtime broadcaster from Halifax passed away at age 65 on Tuesday after being diagnosed with cancer in 2023.
“We knew we had to give it our all today — win our game and hope for the best,” Black stated. “We believed there is a new curling god watching over us now, and as they say, you always pray to the curling gods.”
“We have the best one supporting us now, doing everything possible, and we will give it our all just like she would. She’s a fighter, never gives up — throughout her career, her life, so we feel confident we can do this.”
The champions of the men’s and women’s events will receive a direct bye to the respective best-of-three final, while the second and third-placed teams will compete in a knockout semifinal.
The winners of the tournament will represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy.