STATELINE, Nev. — The hits keep coming for Rachel Homan and her Canadian club.
Homan claimed a record-extending 20th Grand Slam of Curling title after defeating Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni 7-4 during Sunday's final in the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe.
It was also the third consecutive Grand Slam women's final between the top two teams in the world rankings, with Homan winning all three.
The Ottawa-based club of Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes posted a perfect 7-0 record in the tournament to collect $42,000 from the prize purse.
"Yeah, it's an unbelievable feeling, especially winning a game that was a battle out there for both teams," Homan said. "It's just really fun to play such an amazing team, and being able to pull out the win is an awesome feeling."
The final was the lone loss of the week for Tirinzoni, fourth Alina Pätz, second Carole Howald and lead Selina Witschonke, as they cashed in $34,000. Tirinzoni holds an 18-3 record in the Grand Slam of Curling this season, losing only to Homan in the finals.
The Swiss squad held the hammer to start and was looking to avoid a repeat of last month's CO-OP Tour Challenge, where a hit and rollout in the first led to a huge steal of four points for Homan.
It almost looked like deja vu, with Homan sitting five stones in the house this time. Pätz drew to the button but overcooked it and gave up a steal of one.
Still, it was no four count, and Team Tirinzoni recovered quickly in the second. Pätz made it through a narrow port to hit and stick around for a deuce and take a 2-1 lead.
It was singles going steady through the following four ends, and Homan took control in the seventh with an incredible redirect on her first skip stone to roll in and remove Team Tirinzoni's shot rock to sit two. That set the table for Homan to connect on an open hit with her last to score a deuce and take a 5-4 lead.
Tirinzoni held the hammer coming home, but a few missed shots from her team — and with Homan sitting four stones — meant that scoring one and forcing a shootout was the best her club could hope for. Pätz's shooter didn't curl in enough, as Homan tacked on two more stolen points.
"I think we were just super confident in the ice, and even if they had hammer, we figured we knew the ice really well," Homan said. "We just knew we needed to keep making more and more shots as the game went on."
Earlier Sunday, Scotland's Team Bruce Mouat edged Canada's Team Matt Dunstone 7-6 in the men's final after winning the shootout by 0.3 centimetres.
UP NEXT
The Grand Slam of Curling returns to Saskatoon's Merlis Belsher Place for the HearingLife Canadian Open, Dec. 16-21. Tickets are now available at GSOCtickets.com.
