Team Corryn Brown boasts unblemished 2-0 record at 2025 PointsBet Invitational

Team Corryn Brown put the 2025 PointsBet Invitational women’s field on notice with a commanding 13-5 win Wednesday evening over four-time Canadian women’s champion Team Kerri Einarson (0-1; Gimli, Man.) at the WinSport Event in Calgary.

It’s a notable win for Team Brown, who not only pocket $2,500 for its efforts (each round-robin victory earns that amount for the winning team), but also mark a first-ever victory over the Einarson team in six attempts.

The Kamloops, B.C., collective, rounded out by vice-skip Erin Pincott, second Sarah Koltun, lead Samantha Fisher and coach Jim Cotter, opened its PBI campaign earlier Wednesday by downing Team Selena Sturmay (0-1; Edmonton) 8-4.

The prospect of a two-game day in a four-game round-robin format, especially early in the season, may intimidate some teams, but Brown welcomed the challenge with open arms.

“That was the dream scenario,” said Brown of her team’s two-win effort. “Quick turn-around between (games), but we’re super happy with how we played out there. Sometimes it’s nice to carry that momentum into the next game. I’m glad we were able to ride that.”

Winning curling games comes rather naturally when your offence can produce 13 total points in a single game. Team Brown scored early and often, leaping out to a 4-0 lead after just four ends.

It wasn’t always roses, however. Team Einarson responded in kind with a score of four of its own in the fourth end to knot the contest. Team Brown took the set-back in stride and immediately set up big end of its own, scoring four, and reclaiming the four-point lead.

It’s as close as Team Einarson would get as Team Brown continued to pile on, sealing the win in only eight ends.

“We forced them into some tough shots,” said Brown. “Curling is pretty easy when you’re playing the easy ones and they’re playing the tough ones.  Obviously, they came back in the fourth end there, but our bounce-back in five was the game changer. You know they’re going to keep pushing, so for us to get that lead back, that was huge for us.”

Brown also credited Fisher for getting ends rolling in the right direction for the team.

“I think Sam had a really great game. She put her rocks in amazing spots and we kind of had them always chasing based on that. We owe that to Sam.”

While Brown has made it clear that her team’s aspirations are fixed squarely on winning the upcoming Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, presented by Connect Hearing, set for Nov. 22-30 at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, winning the 2025 PointsBet Invitational, along with the $35,000 top prize, would be a welcome addition along the way.

“It’s just a part of the journey,” said Brown. “We want to be winning every event we play, and we’re really treating this as a test event for the trials. I think if we have a lot of success here, we can hopefully recreate that at the Trials.”

In other Wednesday night women’s games, two-time reigning Canadian and world champs Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa held off Winnipeg’s Team Beth Peterson 8-6; and stolen deuces in the third and seventh ends propelled Winnipeg’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes to an 8-3 win over Team Christina Black of Halifax.

In men’s action, Team Kevin Koe prevailed in the battle of hometown hopefuls, knocking off Team Brad Jacobs 6-5 thanks to a 10th-end deuce in an all-Calgary clash, while Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen raced to a 10-4 win over Team Sam Mooibroek of Whitby, Ont.

The 2025 PointsBet Invitational continues with draws Thursday at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (all times MT).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 PointsBet Invitational are available by CLICKING HERE.

TSN and RDS will provide coverage of the 2025 PointsBet Invitational. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 PointsBet Invitational, go to www.curling.ca/2025pointsbetinvitational/tickets/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2025pointsbetinvitational/nouvelles/