Christina Black’s squad began the Canadian Curling Trials in Montana on a low note.

The team has the opportunity to represent Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics during the playdowns.

On Thursday afternoon, Black’s team from the Halifax Curling Club surprised Kerri Einarson with a 6-3 victory in the women’s semifinal, earning a spot in the final against Rachel Homan.

“I’m at a loss for words,” Black expressed. “It was amazing.”

Later that day, Matt Dunstone’s team from Winnipeg triumphed with a 9-5 win over Mike McEwen’s Saskatoon squad in the men’s semifinal. Dunstone will face Brad Jacobs’ Calgary-based team in the men’s final.

Black overcame a 3-3 tie by scoring three points in the ninth end and then ran Einarson out of rocks in the tenth.

Einarson, a four-time national champion from Gimli, Manitoba, faced pressure right from the beginning and struggled to create scoring opportunities.

“It just wasn’t our day, and we were outplayed,” Einarson remarked. “We missed a few shots and didn’t capitalize on the chances we had.”

The only Nova Scotia team in the eight-team competition, Black had previously suffered a 12-5 defeat to Einarson in the round-robin opener. Her situation seemed dire after an 8-2 loss to Homan that followed.

However, the 38-year-old skip rallied her five-player team to achieve four victories in the next five games, barely making it into the playoffs when Kaitlyn Lawes delivered her final shot to defeat Kayla Skrlik.

Once the playoffs commenced, Black and her teammates Jill Brothers, Karlee Everist, and Marlee Powers were sharp.

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They secured an early steal and limited Einarson to a single in the second end. Black achieved an impressive 90 percent accuracy overall, while blanks and singles set the stage for the critical ninth end.

Einarson’s vice, Val Sweeting, missed her first stone and was wide on her second attempt with a runback. When Einarson’s attempt at a triple takeout only removed one rock, Black responded with a draw for three points.

“Oh my gosh, this is incredible,” Black exclaimed. “We’re thrilled. We just wanted to play a great game, keep it close, engage the crowd, and stick to our game plan.”

For Black, currently ranked 21st, this moment is a bonus, especially with Jennifer Baxter on the front end of her team. The venue will resemble a home arena for Homan, a two-time Olympian who earned a bye to the final with a 6-1 record in the round-robin.

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The best-of-three series will commence on Friday at Scotiabank Centre.

“We are just fighters and we don’t have to be the top-ranked team to believe we can achieve this,” Brothers stated.

Throughout an emotional week in the Nova Scotia city, Black has felt the support of the local crowd following the passing of curling icon Colleen Jones on Tuesday.

After their last round-robin win, Black and her teammates received applause as they passed through a food court close to their hotel.

“Sometimes when I go to work, I have to come to the office [nearby] and stop there for my morning coffee,” Black shared. “No one claps for me then.

“So I was like, ‘This is crazy,'” she added with a chuckle.

The enthusiastic crowd of 6,856 cheered every time Black’s team made a play on Thursday. The players drew energy from the positive atmosphere, leaving Einarson’s team, which included Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, and lead Karlee Burgess, mostly on defense.

Einarson began the tournament with six straight victories but exited after suffering consecutive losses.

“For Shannon, Val, and Kerri, they’ve been playing together for such a long time, and this has been on their bucket list, just as it has for me, and I felt we were so close this week,” said Burgess, who joined the team nearly a year ago.

“I thought we had it. It’s a tough loss.”

In the evening match, McEwen scored a tap for two in the third end, but Dunstone responded in the fourth with an in-off for a pair.

Dunstone executed a double takeout for three points in the sixth end and added a deuce in the ninth to take an 8-5 lead. McEwen, who previously lost to Kevin Koe in the 2017 Trials final, conceded a steal in the tenth end to conclude the game.

“You don’t want to miss these chances, and we didn’t,” Dunstone remarked.

The women’s final matches will take place on Friday and Saturday afternoons, while the men’s finals are scheduled for the evenings on both days.

If necessary, third and deciding games will occur on Sunday.

The Winter Games are set to begin on February 4.