2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts underway Friday in Mississauga, Ont.

A long-awaited opportunity will come to fruition Friday night when the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts kicks off with four games at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ont.

It will be the first time the Scotties has ever been staged in the GTA, and large crowds are expected all week, beginning with the opening draw at 7 p.m. (all times Eastern) Friday.

The first round of games will see Team Canada, four-time Canadian women’s champs Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., taking on the Yukon’s Team Bayly Scoffin (Whitehorse).

Additionally, four teams made up almost exclusively of Scotties rookies — Ontario’s Team Hailey Armstrong (Whitby), British Columbia’s Team Taylor Reese-Hansen (Victoria), Quebec’s Team Jolianne Fortin (Jonquière) and Nova Scotia’s Team Taylour Stevens (Halifax) — will be getting their first taste of the Scotties spotlight on Friday night.

It’s part of what should be a lively opening night of the 2026 Scotties, wrapped up by a free concert at the Patch featuring Canadian rockers The Trews.

In total, 27 players in the 18-team field are making their Scotties debuts in Mississauga.

The 2026 Scotties will mark a remarkable 45th year of partnership between Curling Canada and title sponsor Kruger Products, Canada’s leading paper manufacturer of Scotties®, Cashmere®, Purex®, SpongeTowels®, and Bonterra,  dating back to 1982 when Regina hosted the first Tournament of Hearts. Kruger Products’ corporate headquarters is just a 10-minute drive from the Paramount Fine Foods Centre.

The event will feature 18 teams — Team Canada, three Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) qualifiers (Team Kayla Skrlik of Calgary, Team Christina Black of Halifax and Team Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg) and 14 provincial/territorial champions.

Team Einarson has assumed the Team Canada position, taking the place of 2025 Scotties champs Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa, who will be playing for Canada at the Winter Olympics in Italy. Team Einarson won silver at the 2025 Scotties in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Team Lawes was the final CTRS qualifier after placing second to Team Beth Peterson of Winnipeg in the RME Women of the Rings Manitoba women’s curling championship earlier this month. Team Lawes was the highest-ranked team on the CTRS that hadn’t qualified for the Scotties upon the conclusion of provincial and territorial championships. Teams Black and Skrlik qualified based on their 2024-25 season CTRS ranking.

Teams will play a complete eight-game round robin within their pools. From there, the top three teams in each pool advance to the playoffs.

There will be no tiebreakers; if teams are tied for a playoff spot, head-to-head results will be the first tiebreaker, and if that doesn’t resolve the tie, Last-Shot Draw rankings will rank the teams — the same formula used at World Championship events and the Winter Olympics.

The playoff format will see the first-place team from Pool A meeting second place from Pool B, and vice versa, in the first round of the playoffs Friday, Jan. 30, at 1 p.m. The winners go directly to the Page playoff 1-2 game, while the losers meet the third-place finishers in the pools Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. The winners of those games will advance to the Page playoff 3-4 game.

The standard Page playoffs commence with the winner of the Page 1v2 game on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m., advancing directly to the final, and the loser playing the winner of the Page 3v4 game (scheduled for 1 p.m. on Jan. 31) in the semifinal. 

The semifinal (Sunday, Feb. 1, at 1 p.m.) winner takes on the winner of the Page 1v2 game in the final at 7 p.m. on Sunday. The winner will represent Canada at the 2026 BKT World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Pharmasave, March 14-22 in Calgary.

Here’s a look at how the two pools are set up:

(Teams listed according to overall seeding based on CTRS standings as of today, and listed in order of skip [player calling the shots], vice-skip [player holding the broom for the skip], second, lead, alternate, coach/High Performance Consultant)

* — denotes provincial champion for provinces with more than one team representing.

Pool A

• 1. Team Canada, Kerri Einarson (Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard, Karlee Burgess, Krysten Karwacki, Reid Carruthers; Gimli, Man.)
• 4. British Columbia, Taylor Reese-Hansen (Megan McGillivray, Kim Bonneau, Julianna Mackenzie, Todd Troyer; Victoria)
• 5. Manitoba-Lawes, Selena Njegovan (Kaitlyn Lawes [throws fourth rocks], Laura Walker, Kristin Gordon, Erin Pincott, Marcel Rocque; Winnipeg)
• 8. Ontario, Hailey Armstrong (Grace Lloyd, Michaela Robert, Rachel Steele, Lori Eddy, Stephen Robert; Whitby)
• 9. Saskatchewan, Jolene Campbell (Robyn Silvernagle, Rachel Big Eagle, Dayna Demmans, Callan Hamon, Ben Gamble; Regina)
• *-12. Nova Scotia-Stevens, Taylour Stevens (Maria Fitzgerald, Alison Umlah, Cate Fitzgerald, Kevin Ouellette; Halifax)
• 13. Northwest Territories, Nicky Kaufman (Sydney Galusha [throws second rocks], Megan Koehler, Ella Skauge, Brynn Chorostkowski, Kerry Galusha; Yellowknife)
• 16. Quebec, Jolianne Fortin (Mégane Fortin [throws lead rocks], Emy Lafrance, Megan Lafrance, Brandon Lafrance; Jonquière)
• 17. Yukon, Bayly Scoffin (Patty Wallingham [throws second rocks], Raelyn Helston, Bailey Horvey, Shelby Jensen, Carolyn McRorie; Whitehorse)

Pool B

• 2. Alberta-Skrlik, Kayla Skrlik (Geri-Lynn Ramsay [throws lead rocks], Margot Flemming, Ashton Skrlik, Crystal Rumberg, Shannon Kleibrink; Calgary)
• 3. Nova Scotia-Black, Christina Black (Jill Brothers, Jennifer Baxter, Karlee Everist, Marlee Powers, Stuart MacLean; Halifax)
• *-6. Alberta-Sturmay, Selena Sturmay (Danielle Schmiemann, Dezaray Hawes, Paige Papley, Ted Appelman; Edmonton)
• *-7. Manitoba-Peterson, Kelsey Calvert (Beth Peterson, Katherine Remillard, Melissa Gordon-Kurz, Jill Officer, Winnipeg)
• 10. Northern Ontario, Krista Scharf (Sarah Potts [throws lead rocks], Ashley Sippala, Kendra Lilly, Bella McCarville, Rick Lang; Thunder Bay)
• 11. New Brunswick, Mélodie Forsythe (Rebecca Watson, Carly Smith, Jenna Campbell, Melissa Adams; Fredericton)
• 14. Prince Edward Island, Amanda Power (Veronica Mayne, Emily Best, Sabrina Smith, Peter Gallant; Summerside)
• 15. Newfoundland and Labrador, Mackenzie Mitchell (Stacie Curtis [throws lead rocks], Jessica Wiseman, Kristina Adams, Geoff Cunningham; St. John’s)
• 18. Nunavut, Julia Weagle (Sadie Pinksen, Leigh Gustafson, Alison Taylor, Colin Hodgson; Iqaluit)

Note: Because some matchups featuring the pre-qualified teams were pre-set as part of ticket-marketing campaigns, the pools were adjusted based on the approved seeding methodology as worked on in collaboration with Curling Canada’s Athlete Council.

For the entire 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts schedule, click here.

Tickets are available online at curling.ca/tickets and in-person at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre box office during regular business hours. Phone inquiries can be made by calling 905-305-6000.

TSN/RDS, the official broadcast partners of Curling Canada’s Season of Champions, will provide complete coverage of the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the broadcast schedule.