Minus longtime lead, Einarson opens bid for 5-peat at Scotties with win over St-Georges

Kerri Einarson opened her bid for a record fifth straight Canadian women's curling championship with a victory, but minus lead Briane Harris whose absence went unexplained.

Neither the skip nor Curling Canada provided an explanation Friday on why Harris was abruptly deemed "ineligible" to compete at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary.

After cruising to an 8-2 win over Quebec's Laurie St-Georges, and with Krysten Karwacki playing lead, the skip refused to answer questions about Harris's absence.

"Sorry, I'm not at liberty to talk about that right now at this moment," Einarson said.

When asked why a woman who has been a teammate for five years was suddenly ineligible, the skip said "Sorry, I'm not going to discuss anything further than that."

Curling Canada said in a statement earlier Friday it had "been made aware" that Harris was ineligible to compete in the Tournament of Hearts. A reason was not provided and the national sporting organization said no further comment would be forthcoming.

"Our statement that we released is all we are able to share at this time," Curling Canada chief executive officer Nolan Thiessen said in an email. "If there is more information to share at later time we will, but we will make no further comment at this time."

Harris travelled to Calgary with the Gimli Curling Club team from Manitoba. They attended a Calgary Flames game the night before Friday's opening draw.

"It's been emotional, but we're getting through it and we're tough," Einarson said. "We've faced adversity in the last five, six years together, so we can pull through."

The 31-year-old Harris has been an integral piece of Einarson's four consecutive Hearts crowns, which is tied for the most with Colleen Jones.

Harris was