'Buzz of the building' fuels curlers at Scotties Tournament of Hearts final in Thunder Bay, Ont.

It was an evening with moments of celebration, tension and concern.

The final game in the 2022 Scotties Tournament of Hearts on Sunday night had Krista McCarville's rink representing Team Northern Ontario playing Team Canada, skipped by Kerri Einarson. 

McCarville was the crowd favourite, as the rink is based out of Thunder Bay, Ont., where the 2022 competition was held.

Einarson, whose rink is from Manitoba, ultimately prevailed, taking her third consecutive Scotties in a game that came down to the last rock.

Round-robin play was done without crowds in the stands of the Fort William Gardens, but when the playoffs began, Curling Canada announced that volunteers and select junior curlers would be able to take part in the action.

When the McCarville rink started its playoff run, it coincided with fans being in the stands.

"It's pretty uplifting when you make a good shot and you have a lot of cheers, especially when you have people that you know yelling your name, and things like that. It's pretty uplifting," McCarville said after her game against Nova Scotia on Friday afternoon, when she beat Christina Black's rink 11-8.

Fans had signs, and many were wearing northern Ontario curling jerseys as well as foam curling rocks on their heads while others wore their official Scotties Tournament of Hearts jackets.

The final game was loud — and also silent — often going between the two at a moment's notice.

The first rock thrown by Team Northern Ontario came after a hush fell over the about 400 spectators.

Throughout the game, moose calls, a signature of the northern Ontario rinks, were heard. Many in the stands called out to the players by name to offer encouragement or praise after a shot. Cowbells and hand clappers also raised the noise level in the partially filled Gardens.

Team New Brunswick was among those in the stands, and fans called out to them after they were defeated just hours earlier by Team Canada.

A key shot in the eighth end, where McCarville picked up two points, resulted in the crowd leaping to its feet, after a few tense minutes of measuring stones.

Curling Canada umpires had to measure three stones to see which were closest, allowing northern Ontario to score its second point.