Team Krista McCarville will have boisterous crowds of supporters at the Scotties after the team claimed the Northern Ontario championship Sunday at the Port Arthur Curling Centre in Thunder Bay in dramatic fashion.

Team McCarville, the silver-medallist at the 2022 Scotties in Thunder Bay, which was held in a fan-free building during the pandemic, needed to score four in the 10th end to win 9-8 over Team Lauren Mann of Timmins Saturday night just to qualify for the playoffs; a loss would have eliminated the team.

Then on Sunday afternoon, Team McCarville trailed through six ends, but stole points in the seventh and eighth ends, and then McCarville drew to the four-foot for the winning point in the 10th for a 6-5 triumph over Team Emma Artichuk of Sudbury.

McCarville, vice-skip Andrea Kelly, second Ashley Sippala, lead Kendra Lilly, alternate Sarah Potts and coach Rick Lang will play their opening game at the 2025 Scotties Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. (all times Eastern) against Saskatchewan’s Team Nancy Martin (Saskatoon).

The full field and the two round-robin pools have now been set after eight provincial championships were decided this past weekend.

The event will feature 18 teams — Team Canada (defending champions Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa), three Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) qualifiers (Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., Team Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg, Team Selena Sturmay of Edmonton) and 14 provincial/territorial champions.

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, Feb. 21, at 1 p.m., with the winners going directly to the Page playoff 1-2 game, while the losers meet the third-place finishers in the pools Feb. 21 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, Feb. 22, 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 Feb. 22) in the semifinal.

The semifinal (Sunday, Feb. 23, 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 2025 LGT World Women’s Curling Championship March 15-23 in Uijeongbu, South Korea.

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, Rachel Homan (Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes, Rachel Brown; Ottawa)
• 4. Alberta-Sturmay, Selena Sturmay (Danielle Schmiemann, Dezaray Hawes, Paige Papley, Ted Appelman; Edmonton)
• *-5. Alberta-Skrlik, Kayla Skrlik (Geri-Lynn Ramsay [throws lead rocks], Margot Flemming, Ashton Skrlik, Crystal Rumberg, Shannon Kleibrink)
• 8. British Columbia, Corryn Brown (Erin Pincott, Sarah Koltun, Sam Fisher, Jim Cotter; Kamloops)
• 9. Northern Ontario, Krista McCarville (Andrea Kelly, Kendra Lilly, Ashley Sippala, Sarah Potts, Rick Lang; Thunder Bay)
• 12. Saskatchewan, Nancy Martin (Chaelynn Stewart, Kadriana Lott, Deanna Doig, Colleen Ackerman; Saskatoon)
• 13. New Brunswick, Melissa Adams (Jaclyn Crandall, Kayla Russell, Kendra Lister, Molli Ward, Alex Robichaud; Fredericton)
• 16. Prince Edward Island, Jane DiCarlo [throws third stones] (Veronica Mayne [throws fourth stones], Sabrina Smith, Whitney Jenkins, Kathy O’Rourke; Crapaud)
• 17. Nunavut, Julia Weagle (Sadie Pinksen, Leigh Gustafson, Alison Taylor, Colin Hodgson; Iqaluit)

Pool B

• 2. Manitoba-Einarson, Kerri Einarson (Val Sweeting, Karlee Burgess, Krysten Karwacki, Lauren Lenentine, Reid Carruthers; Gimli)
• 3. Manitoba-Lawes, Kaitlyn Lawes (Selena Njegovan, Jocelyn Peterman, Kristin Gordon, Becca Hebert, Connor Njegovan; Winnipeg)
• 6. Nova Scotia, Christina Black (Jill Brothers, Jennifer Baxter, Karlee Everist, Marlee Powers, Stuart MacLean)
• *-7. Manitoba-Cameron, Kate Cameron (Taylor McDonald, Brianna Cullen, Mackenzie Elias; Winnipeg)
• 10. Ontario, Danielle Inglis (Kira Brunton, Calissa Daly, Cassandra de Groot, Kimberly Tuck, Steve Acorn; Ottawa)
• 11. Quebec, Laurie St-Georges (Jamie Sinclair, Emily Riley, Lisa Weagle, François Roberge; Glenmore/Laval-sur-le-Lac/Dollard-Des Ormeaux/Laval)
• 14. Northwest Territories, Kerry Galusha (Megan Koehler, Sydney Galusha, Shona Barbour, Ella Skauge, Yellowknife)
• 15. Newfoundland & Labrador, Brooke Godsland (Erin Porter, Sarah McNeil Lamswood, Camille Burt, Kate Paterson, Cory Schuh; St. John’s)
• 18. Yukon, Bayly Scoffin (Kerry Foster, Raelyn Helston, Bailey Horte, Kimberly Tuor, Kevin Patterson; Whitehorse)

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 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts schedule, click here.