Homan, Einarson gain shorter road to Scotties Tournament of Hearts final

The shortest road to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final pits the team that wants to retain the Canadian women's curling crown against a skip that wants to re-take it.

Defending champion Rachel Homan and Manitoba's Kerri Einarson won Friday playoff games to advance to the Page playoff between the top two seeds Saturday in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Saturday's victor gets an express ticket to Sunday's championship game at the Fort William Gardens, while the loser must come through a semifinal to gain a rematch.

While it's a non-elimination game, it's nevertheless a women's curling heavyweight bout and one that offers a smoother path to a championship.

"It's nice to have that second life. We've got to win two more games," Homan said. "However that happens, that's our focus, is just staying in the moment, trying to learn and get better every end."

The team that takes the Page one-two game has won the final 62 per cent of the time, or 18 out of 29 times since the Page format was introduced.

Homan has skipped teams to four Canadian titles and Einarson teams rattled off four straight from 2020 to 2023. Einarson defeated Homan in the 2020 and 2021 finals.

But Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes not only stayed unbeaten in Thunder Bay with Friday's 10-5 win over Nova Scotia's Christina Black, the reigning world champions from the Ottawa Curling Club have dominated domestic and international women's curling for almost two seasons with a combined record of 121-11.

Einarson's team was the only Canadian rink to beat Homan's this season, which was in the final of the Grand Slam HearingLife Tour Challenge in October.

"Put some pressure on them. It looks like they're struggling a little bit tonight, so maybe