CALGARY — Briane Harris isn’t eligible to play here at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts — and for reasons very few people know — but that doesn’t mean the lead isn’t contributing to her team’s bid for a record and historic fifth straight title.
“As of now she’s here, she’s spending time with the team,” Team Canada coach Reid Carruthers told Sportsnet just after they sewed up their final win in round-robin play to finish at 7-1. “I’ve been giving her some jobs that she can help with the team when she’s not on the ice.”
Carruthers hesitates even to outline those jobs. He doesn’t want to say too much, which is how skip Kerri Einarson and her teammates are approaching any questions they’re asked about Harris. “I don’t want to get into, well …” Carruthers said, of those jobs he’s given the team’s long-time lead. “Maybe some scouting. She’s a brilliant mind.”
The 31-year-old Harris is a brilliant lead, too, named a second-team all-star at the Scotties last year, and a first-team all-star in 2022, the woman who threw the first two rocks for this team that won the Scotties for four straight years.
Now Harris is at the centre of a national mystery of sorts, as everyone’s wondering why she can’t play.
Just hours before Team Canada — Einarson the skip, third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard and Harris at lead — were set to play their opener at the Scotties, Curling Canada announced that they had “been made aware that Briane Harris of Team Canada is ineligible to compete in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. No further information is available at this time.” In stepped alternate Krysten Karwacki to play lead for Team Canada.
And everybody’s been tight-lipped about why ever since.
Carruthers said his phone has been busy with incoming texts about what happened, but he’s providing no answers.
“It’s an in-house thing with the team, I’m not able to — even to my friends, family, it’s, as of right now, we’re not making any statements on it,” he said.
“It’s a very tight circle,” he added, that knows the reason Harris is ineligible. “We’ve been very tight-lipped about it, and we’re going to keep it that way.”
That’s working well so far for this Manitoba-based foursome out of the Gimli Curling Club. They’ve locked up the No. 2 playoff spot in their pool, set to open playoffs on Friday.
Through 16 draws, Karwacki is curling at 88 per cent, good for third overall among leads in the field.
“She’s amazing,” a grinning Einarson said, after her team’s seventh win. “She’s a great thrower, played against her for many years and we had her as our fifth. I knew she’d be a great fit for this team and she’s fit right in.”
Karwacki normally plays lead on a team out of Saskatchewan, and they narrowly missed winning provincials, which would’ve ruled her out as Team Canada’s alternate, since she would’ve been out here playing in Saskatchewan green.
“I wasn’t quite sure,” Einarson said, of who they would’ve called on if Karwacki wasn’t available.
They’re no doubt feeling lucky she was. It’s Karwacki who runs Team Einarson’s social media, so they know her well on and off the ice.
“She’s a great player and to be in her shoes, like she’s just super excited to be here in either role she was fulfilling,” Einarson said. “She’s been amazing and a great teammate.”
Every day here Einarson is asked about her team’s bid to win a record fifth straight Scotties title. And the skip is also asked a question nobody expects an answer to, an explanation on what happened to Harris.
“Don’t have any,” Einarson said on Thursday, with a laugh.
Carruthers adds there isn’t any timeline on if or when — if ever — the reason Harris is ineligible will ever be revealed. It could remain a mystery.
“It’s been tough — it was unexpected for us,” Carruthers said. “We’ve handled the adversity really well. Everyone’s been working well on and off the ice and we’ve really banded together as a team and we’re focused on just trying to win the curling event now.”
To do that for a fifth straight time — a feat no team has ever accomplished — is something Carruthers, a one-time Brier champion, can’t even articulate.
“I don’t think there’s enough sentences you could string together to describe it, especially with everything that’s been going on,” he said. “I’m not trying to think about that and the five, that’s obviously a crazy feat. For us, being successful this week is more than being successful on the ice.
“There’s some adversity we’ve faced, and I feel like right now we’re doing really well.”
Asked to grade that adversity on a scale of 1-10, Carruthers wouldn’t give a number. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and said: “It’s up there.”
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