By Jonathan Brazeau
STATELINE, Nev. — Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based club continue to find new and interesting ways to win against fellow Canadian teams.
Homan defeated Winnipeg’s Team Kaitlyn Lawes 8-3 Thursday night at the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe to extend her winning streak to 30 consecutive games against compatriots and 80-2 since the start of the 2023-24 season.
Despite what the dominant numbers say, it hasn’t always been easy. Homan caught a break in the third end, stealing two points when Lawes came up light and tight, and then took a bit of a gamble with a tricky shot in the seventh score a deuce.
Homan drove Lawes’s stone out the back as it clipped a rock outside the house that then bumped another Homan stone into the rings to score the two points. It's as crazy as it sounds.
Fortunately for Team Homan, the Tahoe Blue Event Center is on the Nevada side of the border, where such risks happen all the time.
“Yeah, getting two there was huge,” said Sarah Wilkes, who throws lead stones for Team Homan. “Going into that end, we kind of talked about what was ideal. Being forced was probably the least ideal out of all the situations. Definitely got a little lucky with the way we got the two, but it was a huge momentum swing for sure."
Lawes held the hammer coming home, trailing 6-3, and needed to make a Hail Mary shot on her last. This was one gamble that didn’t pay off, though, resulting in two more points for Homan.
“You know all of those teams are so good, and we honestly don't play them that much, but every time we do, we know it's going to be a battle,” Wilkes said. "Team Lawes played really well. We knew they were going to, but we knew we had to bring our A game to have a tight game with them."
Homan improved to 3-0 in the Grand Slam of Curling tournament and qualified for the playoffs with a game in hand.
“It's always nice to qualify for the playoffs in these,” Team Homan second Emma Miskew said. “They're not easy games, so we never take that for granted. We'll just try to go into tomorrow, learn a little bit more lines and then be ready for Saturday.”
Homan hasn’t lost to a Canadian opponent in over a year, with the Olympic trials looming large, starting just a little over two weeks away in Halifax. For now, the team is aiming for a third consecutive Grand Slam title and a record-extending 20th total for Homan.
“The intensity is the same no matter what team we're playing, but the format and the rules are so different between the two events that they're not really the same,” Miskew said. “We always want to win when we step on the ice, and they're a great team, so we want to be sharp. We'll want to be sharp at the trials, too.”
CURLING AT 6,200 FEET
Lake Tahoe is 6,285 feet above sea level, according to a stateline road sign, and the high altitude is definitely affecting the curlers, especially those who are sweeping.
“The first game was really hard,” Wilkes said. “I was hunched over a couple of times, and it still doesn't feel quite like normal, but it definitely makes it different, makes recovery harder.”
WHAT’S THE PLAYOFF SCENARIO?
Homan was one of six teams to secure spots for the quarterfinals at 3-0 on Thursday.
Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat also qualified in the evening draw with a 7-4 win over Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin.
It was almost a blowout right off the bat as Mouat looked to make a runback to potentially score five, but things went haywire and he had to settle for a single.
“We could have maybe just drawn for two in the first end, but you're feeling pretty confident you're taking that four or five-foot runback on and just missed it, which we've not missed a lot of them recently,” Team Mouat third Grant Hardie said. “So, settled ourselves back down and played another good game. Just didn't let it unsettle us too much.”
That moment brought Team Mouat back down to earth. Oddly enough, Mouat managed to steal a point in the second to go up 2-0 — as if karma was telling them they should have just drawn for two earlier.
Edin tied it up with a deuce in the third, but Mouat matched with a pair in the fourth. After the teams alternated singles in five and six, Edin was forced to another lone point in seven, and Mouat closed out the game with another deuce in eight.
“Yeah, we're rolling along quite nice at the moment,” said Hardie, whose team won an 11th Grand Slam title last month at the CO-OP Tour Challenge. “It's one of those games, you get hammer in the first end, you play a great first seven shots. You've got a runback and actually just made a bit of a mess of the line call and we missed the runback for five.
"We did really well to kind of settle ourselves down after that, kind of all stayed in control and made some great key shots and closed out the game in the end.”
Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs punched a playoff ticket after doubling up on Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte 6-3.
“It feels great to have the playoff spot locked up Thursday because we know tomorrow is going to be another tough game,” Team Jacobs second Brett Gallant said. “That was good. We got a real big break in the fourth end and we stole two. I mean, he rarely misses, so it was just a good break for us, and we played pretty strong from there.”
Whyte had won the previous three head-to-head encounters, including last season’s Masters final, but Jacobs never trailed this time.
“We've gotten off to a slow start the last two times we played against them,” Gallant said. “I think we gave up a three each time and they're a really tough team to come back against. We got the hammer to start, and we just kind of controlled the board. That was, I think, the main thing tonight was just we never had a deficit.”
Earlier Thursday, Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller was the first past the post with a 6-4 win over Canada’s Team Rylan Kleiter.
Canada’s Team Matt Dunstone also locked down a berth following a 7-4 victory over Switzerland’s Team Marco Hösli.
Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni was the first to clinch on the women’s side after defeating Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson 6-4.
OLYMPIC TRIALS ON THE MIND
Marc Kennedy has represented Canada on the international stage many times in his illustrious career — three Winter Olympics, five world championships, one Winter Universiade, and the recent Pan Continental Curling Championships — but the feeling of wearing the Maple Leaf on his back never gets old.
Kennedy, who throws third for Jacobs, said Wednesday it would be amazing to represent Canada once again this season at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina.
“I’ve had lots of opportunities to do it in my career, which is great, but I would love another opportunity,” said Kennedy, who captured Olympic gold in 2010. “There's nothing better than wearing the Maple Leaf. We've got to experience it with this group a couple times, so I know as a group we would just love to get back there, but there's a lot of shots and a lot of breaks that have to happen in the meantime, so we'll give it our best.
“I remember what Kevin Martin used to say about trying to get back to the Olympics is it's just so much fun when you're there. It would be great to get back and experience another fun one, but we'll see.”
First up, Team Jacobs will have to earn the right to represent Canada at the Olympic trials. The Calgary-based club is one of the front-runners as the reigning Brier champion and world championship bronze medallist.
Considering how close the trials are, the intensity level has already ramped up here in Tahoe.
“Everybody's trying to fine-tune, and I think you can feel it out there that everybody's a little bit tense and tight because they know what's coming in a couple weeks,” Kennedy said. “I think everybody wants to have a good performance here and play well, but those trials are definitely in the back of everybody's mind.
“Just try to stay in the moment, do the best you can, and just final touches, I guess, going into the Olympic trials, but it's definitely creeping up on us.”
SICK SHOTS OF THE DAY
Comeback complete.
Down 5-3 coming home, Kyle Waddell nailed a thin double to score the tying two points against John Epping.
That forced the shootout, where the Scottish skip pinned the draw for the 6-5 victory.
Anna Hasselborg pulled off a great raise double takeout in the sixth end to score two points and put Eun-ji Gim on the ropes with a four-point gap.
Kudos as well to Sofia Scharback and Agnes Knochenhauer for holding the line (let’s also give credit to Sara McManus on the call).
Hasselborg forced Gim to one in the seventh to bring out the handshakes in the 7-4 victory.
