MEDICINE HAT, Alta. — Canada's Team Rachel Homan is in the win column at the P&H Masters.
Homan drew level at 1-1 with a 7-5 victory over Japan's Team Satsuki Fujisawa in Draw 7 Wednesday.
The season's second event of the Grand Slam of Curling presented by Molson Canadian circuit is also Team Homan's second event of the season as the Olympic bronze medallists opted for a slower start to the new quadrennial.
"We're trending upward," said Emma Miskew, who throws second stones for the Ottawa-based club. "It was obviously a different start to the year for us this year versus other years. We felt like we needed a longer break just to be ready to go this season, but it's harder to come back onto the ice when everyone's been playing for seven events.
"We're trying to remind ourselves that we just need to stay patient and it'll come. We're definitely trending in the right direction. We knew Fujisawa was going to give us a tough game, but we stayed tough, made a lot of good shots and were able to pull out the win there."
Fujisawa (1-1, three points) opened with the hammer, but Homan applied pressure early. Homan stole one in the first as Fujisawa faced three counters and hit the one she could see but failed to outcount one of the other rocks. With four Homan stones in the house in the second, Fujisawa drew for the tying single.
The record 20-time Grand Slam champ Homan hit for two points in the third, but she stuffed a double attempt in the fourth, allowing Fujisawa to draw for three and take a 4-3 lead heading into the break.
Homan pulled back ahead 6-4 with a narrow hit-and-stick for three in the sixth.
"Yeah, that was tough," Miskew said. "I mean, definitely had to squeak that top one to get the three. If we rolled anywhere high, it was two, so that was a big point and a really great line call, well thrown, and well swept."
The seventh end almost swung the momentum pendulum. Fujisawa could have made a nose hit for two points to tie it, but she attempted a tricky cross-house double for a potential four points. The two-time Olympic medallist hit the first but rolled over the top of the second and only scored a single.
"That kind of came out of nowhere for us," Miskew said. "It was looking like we had a lot of pressure on them up to the end of third rocks, and then Rachel had just a couple of rocks that surprised us by running straighter. She made a first great shot, and yeah, it was a bit shocking. We were like, 'We didn't deserve this,' but yeah, we'll take it."
With the hammer coming home, Homan drew to secure the win.
Alternate Rachelle Brown is in the lineup this week, with lead Sarah Wilkes out due to an injury. Miskew said Brown has been great coming off the bench on short notice.
"She's an integral part of our team, and we're really lucky to have her, especially for being able to play, too," Miskew said. "She does so much more than just stand by to play. She’s a big part of our team and almost acts as a coach. So hopping on the ice for her feels pretty natural, given the fact that she hasn't competed in a really long time, but she just hopped right back out there. She's been awesome, so it's great."
Wilkes is also around to help the team where she can.
"We're a team. We're all going to support wherever we can with whatever is needed at the time, but it's great that Rachelle was already planning to come to this event and we're like, ‘OK, you’ve got to get your shoes on now,'" Miskew said.
Pätz pushes past Gray-Withers
Alina Pätz and her Swiss squad also bounced back Wednesday with a 7-4 win over Canada’s Team Selina Gray-Withers.
Tied 4-all coming home, Pätz just had to pick out Gray-Withers’s shot rock to tack three points on the board.
Pätz, who earned silver Sunday at the European Curling Championships in Czechia, fell 8-6 to Canada’s Team Taylor Reese-Hansen to kick off the tournament Tuesday.
“It feels great,” Pätz said. “We struggled with the ice yesterday and still jet lagged yesterday, so we felt much better today. I think that showed our performance.”
Patz added that her teammates are still pretty tired from the tight turnaround between events, but they’re feeling much better today.
“We arrived here Monday night at 9 p.m., went straight to practice after like almost 24 hours of travel. I don't blame my team about the performance yesterday,” she said. “Even myself, I was super tired, but we definitely feel better today.”
Gray-Withers holds a 1-1 record as well, but has two points from a shootout win over Switzerland's Team Xenia Schwaller.
Schwaller's shot of the day
Although it happened early in the morning, we felt pretty confident declaring Schwaller's game-winner against Japan's Team Mina Kobayashi as the shot of the day.
Trailing by two coming home, Schwaller walked it off by redirecting off one of her own stones from the wings and rolling in to take out Kobayashi's shot rock to score four points and win 6-4.
