By Sport Nova Scotia Communications
This November the top eight women’s curling teams in Canada will be competing in Halifax for the chance to represent our country at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. And there is a chance that team could be made up of five Nova Scotians.
Team Black, which includes Christina Black (skip), Jill Brothers (third), Jenn Baxter (second), Karlee Everest (lead), Marlee Powers (fifth) and coaches Stuart and Carole MacLean, is the only Nova Scotian team competing in the Olympic trials, including the men’s and mixed competitions.
The fivesome formed last year with the goal of getting to the pre-trials, but little did they know they would surpass that goal all together. When it comes to making the Olympic trials, the top seven ranked teams make it straight to the competition, with the eighth spot being filled by the winner of the pre-trials tournament.
“It was kind of crazy, we had a ton of success early on, and were like, ‘whoa, we actually can just make the trials and then we did, so that was really cool,” says Karlee. It was after the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where they came third, that Team Black had enough points from their combined two-year seasons (2023-24 and 2024-25) to qualify for the trials.
To prepare for the upcoming tournament, Team Black has been spending countless hours on the ice.
“It’s an interesting season because you have the Olympic trials in November, and we’re not used to peaking at this time. So, it’s different for us in terms of how we’ve been preparing. I think we’re just kind of defaulting to what we know best and it’s just getting reps in. Between playing a ton of events and practicing as much as we can, that’s what we’re doing to be at our best and feel our best,” says Jenn.
The team also credit their coaches for all they do behind the scenes to get them ready for their games, especially planning out practices.
The trials are taking place at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre and the team is happy to have a hometown crowd that will feel like another team member.
“It’s going to seem like another part of our entourage that are there cheering us on and giving us all the positive vibes we need and a little push to keep going,” says Jenn.
But the road to the 2026 Olympic Winter Games didn’t start with qualifying for the trials. These athletes were once just beginners, starting their journeys at the Sydney Curling Club, the Mayflower in Halifax, the Liverpool Curling Club, the Bridgewater Curling Club and the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
“I watched curling on TV with my mom—mom’s a big sports fan—and I wanted to be like the people I saw on TV. I was like, ‘can little kids like me do that’”, says Christina on how she first became interested in curling.
Likewise, Karlee also became interested in curling by watching it on TV and with the maiden name of Jones she became obsessed with legendary Nova Scotian curler Colleen Jones.
Jenn and Marlee got into the sport because they had curlers in their families and Jill’s older sister tried curling on a whim and wanting to be like her, Jill did so too. Similarly, they each had moments where they knew curling would become a lifelong passion—from a first slide on the ice to a fire lit at the Canada Games.
And for young curlers across the province hoping to follow in this team’s footsteps, they have two pieces of advice.
“Have fun, practice lots and find people that you love to play with and that are also fun to play with,” says Christina, with Jenn adding, “take every experience as a learning experience, even if you’re losing, take it and learn it and move forward.”
