Team Homan wins Battle Royale

Team Homan stays unbeaten in classic battle against Jones

What happens when an immovable force meets an irresistible object?

Something’s got to give, right?

And, of course, it did Tuesday evening at the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts when Team Manitoba-Jones and Team Ontario-Homan, both unbeaten, clashed at the WinSport Event Centre in Calgary.

Score this one for Team Homan in this classic battle between two fierce rivals.

“You know it’s going to be a battle right to the end. It’s going to be weird to not have her at the Scotties, she’s (Jones) aways such a fierce competitor,” said Homan (5-0, Ottawa), who eked out a tight 7-5 win over Team Jones (4-1, Winnipeg/Altona) in the top billing matchup of the night.

Jones, a six-time national champion, announced before the event that this would be her last Scotties.

The win boosted Homan and Co — vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachel Brown, and coach Don Bartlett — into first place in the nine-team Pool B, and almost assured them a playoff position. The top three teams in both the A and B pools move on to the playoffs on the weekend.

It also marked Miskew’s 100th Scotties win.

Team Jones, of course, is still in good shape as the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the way to the playoffs heats up.

Quietly, and making a major move up the standings has been Team British Columbia-Grandy (5-1, Vancouver), skipped by Clancy Grandy, making her second straight appearance at the Scotties. Grandy guided her West Coasters to a crushing 13-4 win over Team Yukon (0-5, Whitehorse) skipped by Bayly Scoffin.

Grandy made it to the playoffs last year in Kamloops, B.C., but was knocked out in the first round.

“Happy with our start, just trying to learn the ice every time we go out there and get better each game,” said Grandy. “Last year we made playoffs and that was definitely a step for us, being our first Scotties. Kind of a new ballgame in the national championship so we gained a lot of experience from that.” 

Team Grandy plays a big game Wednesday against Team Homan, with a lot on the line.

“To be honest it’s just any other round-robin game,” said Grandy. “You can drop one, you can win one, at the end of the day it’s all going to come down to records and potent shootout so we’re just taking each game as it comes. If we can get that win tomorrow and feel comfortable, then great, but it’s really no different than any other game.”

Also hanging around in bid for a playoff spot is Team Manitoba-Cameron (3-2, Winnipeg) skipped by Kate Cameron. The Manitoba team out of the Granite Club stayed in the hunt after a 9-5 win over Northwest Territories (1-4, Yellowknife), skipped by Kerry Galusha.

In the other Pool B game Tuesday, Team New Brunswick (2-4, Fredericton), skipped by Melissa Adams, shaded Team Ontario (2-4, Ottawa) skipped by Danielle Inglis, 9-8.

The Jones-Homan matchup was exactly what fans came to expect — a close, well-curled and tactical game with few self-inflicted wounds. There was give-and take and no team led by more than one after eight ends.

The game boiled down to — as usual — a few shots. Jones went for a difficult double for three in the ninth, just missed it, and gave up a steal of one, handing Homan a 7-5 lead.

Homan then made two great shots in the 10th, culminating with a superb double with her last to run the Manitobans out of rocks.

“Tired? No, buzzing, on a high to finish like that,” said Homan.

Zacharias had high praise for Homan.

“She is Rachel Homan and you know she’s going to make those shots if you leave them for her,” she said. “You shake your head a little but you have to know she’s going to make it so we have to be a bit better.”

Team Nova Scotia (2-3, Halifax), skipped by Heather Smith, had the Pool B bye.

The 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts continues with a draws Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (all times Mountain).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

Broadcast coverage for viewers outside of Canada is available on TSN’s YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/@TSN_Sports.

For ticket information for the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, go to www.curling.ca/2024scotties/tickets/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2024scotties/nouvelles/?lang=fr