Canada cruises!

Defending champs reach 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts gold-medal game

Wins have been piling up with metronomic efficiency for Rachel Homan’s Team Canada crew from Ottawa at the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

But there’s only one win that has been prioritized by Homan, vice-skip Tracy Homan, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and coach Jennifer Jones in the quest for back-to-back Canadian championships.

And they’ll get the chance to secure that win, and all the rewards that come with it, Sunday night at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont., as Team Canada plays in the gold-medal game of the 2025 Scotties.

Team Canada clinched its trip to the final, and made it 21 straight Scotties games without a loss (including last year’s unbeaten run in Calgary en route to gold) by defeating Manitoba’s Team Kerri Einarson (Gimli) 8-4 in the Page 1-2 playoff.

A win Sunday night against the winner of the semifinal between Team Manitoba-Einarson and Nova Scotia’s Team Christina Black (Halifax) would make it 22 and tie the record Homan already holds for consecutive Scotties wins. She and Miskew combined to set that record by going unbeaten in 2014 (13-0), winning their final five the year before and first four in 2015.

But the streak barely registers on the priority list for Homan, who moments after the game was still feeling the glow of another stellar performance in front of an appreciative sellout crowd.

“I mean, these moments are tough, they’re a grind,” said Homan. “You’re playing the best teams in Canada, and we know we need to bring our best. It’s exciting for us to rise to the occasion, to the challenge, and thankfully tonight it was enough, and I think we’re going to need a little bit more tomorrow.”

Einarson, backed up by vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Karlee Burgess, lead Krysten Karwacki, alternate Lauren Lenentine and coach Reid Carruthers, hung tough through five ends. They forced Team Canada to a single in the second, gave up a steal of one in the third, and then tied it with two in the fifth.

But in the sixth Homan made, arguably, her finest shot of the 2025 Scotties, a wonderfully precise short in-off through an oh-so-skinny port that elicited a first pump from Homan upon its completion.

“I mean, I’ve got the best sweepers, and an unreal line caller — we know how to make those, and in big moments, you know, we go for it,” said Homan of the decision to attempt the shot. “It was all sweepers on a lot of our shots today, and, you know, some great throws, some great line calls, and just a team effort.”

An end later, Team Homan kept applying the pressure and Einarson attempted, and missed, an angle-raise takeout resulting in a steal of two for Team Canada.

If the sixth-end shot was perhaps Homan’s best of this event, her ninth-end hammer-stone control-weight angle-double-raise bump to score two was her second best, and it was enough to elicit handshakes from Team Einarson

“Yeah, I kind of figured Rachel was going to come out shooting today,” said Einarson with a smile. “I thought we played well. We didn’t have too many opportunities, but when we did, we did take advantage.”

Just not enough times, and as a result, Team Einarson now drops into the semifinal, which is not unfamiliar territory; this team won Scotties titles in 2021, ’22 and ’23 by taking the long route through the semifinal.

“I think if we come out like that tomorrow, maybe a little bit sharper, I think we’ll do well,” said Einarson. “(We) definitely want another crack at them. Everyone’s out to beat them — they’re on a hot run. We know we just have to play our best, but focus on our semifinal game tomorrow.”

Team Canada, meanwhile, can set its sights on the final and a chance to repeat as Scotties champions.

“It would be amazing,” said Miskew. “We’ve had such a good season and we kind of just want to keep that rolling. We know that it’s going to be a battle no matter who we play tomorrow and we’re just going to have to come out tough. We’ll do our best and that’s all we can do.”

“We want to wear that Maple Leaf in a couple weeks (at the LGT World Women’s Championship in South Korea),” added Homan. “We’ve trained as hard as we can for this moment. At the end of the day, you know, the sports gods will decide, but we’re going to give it our all.”

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, go to www.curling.ca/2025scotties/tickets/.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2025scotties/nouvelles/?lang=fr