The 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts ended with a dramatic finish at Mississauga's Paramount Fine Foods Centre on Sunday night, as Team Canada's Kerri Einarson stole a point in an extra end to beat Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes 4-3 for the Canadian women's curling championship.

A crowd of 4,008 watched the final, the last game of a 10-day event that the City of Mississauga noted was the first Scotties ever held in the Greater Toronto Area.

A late comeback

Einarson's rink from Gimli, Man., trailed by one in the 10th end. Needing a long angle-raise takeout to tie, Einarson clipped a red stone sitting above the house and drove it into Manitoba's counter on the button, scoring one to force an extra end, Curling Canada reported.

In the extra end, Canada slipped a stone behind the centre guard, leaving Lawes a thin double-raise attempt with her final rock. She made contact but could not push the Canadian stone far enough, and Canada took the steal and the title.

I just thought, do this for your teammates, Kerri, they need you here, and we’ll take this to an extra and go from there.

— Kerri Einarson, skip, Team Canada

Einarson plays with third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Karlee Burgess and alternate Krysten Karwacki. Reid Carruthers coaches the team.

Records and firsts

The win gave Birchard her sixth Scotties title, tying the record shared by Jennifer Jones, Colleen Jones and Jill Officer. It was the fifth title for both Einarson and Sweeting. For Burgess, it was a first championship after she had finished second in each of the three previous finals.

To be among legends of the sport, people I’ve looked up to my whole life, is just unbelievable.

— Shannon Birchard, second, Team Canada

The path to the trophy was a bumpy one. Lawes had beaten Einarson 9-4 in the round robin and 10-2 in Saturday's Page 1-2 playoff game. Canada answered on Sunday afternoon with a 12-5 semifinal win over Alberta's Selena Sturmay of Edmonton.

Ontario had a share of the week's honours as well. Ontario second Michaela Robert was named to the first all-star team, while Alberta's Kayla Skrlik received the Marj Mitchell Sportsmanship Award, chosen by a vote of the players.

Next stop, Calgary

With the win, Team Einarson will represent Canada at the 2026 world women's curling championship, March 14 to 22 at the WinSport Event Centre in Calgary.

For Mississauga, hosting the national championship was part of a broader pitch. In the lead-up to the Winter Games in Italy, the city promoted itself as a winter sporting hub, pointing to the Scotties as a highlight of a busy January in its arenas and public spaces.