Team Homan advances to women’s final of Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings

Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based teammates made all the key shots to get an early lead and rode their wave of confidence and their skip’s pinpoint accuracy to a 6-3 win over Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg in Saturday’s women’s semifinal at the Tim Hortons Road of the Rings. Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney, lead Lisa Weagle, alternate Cheryl Kreviazuk and coach Adam Kingsbury from the Ottawa Curling Club, will now play Chelsea Carey of Calgary in Sunday’s 2 p.m. final. The winner of that will get to wear the new Team Canada uniforms in Pyeongchang, South Korea, to try to defend the Olympic gold medal won for Canada by Team Jones in 2014. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to be in the final, exactly where we wanted to be,” Homan said afterwards. ‘We get to play today against an unbelievable team that threw everything at us. We had a solid game and feel real ready to come out tomorrow and play our A game. “We’re fortunate to be in this position in our hometown in front of this crowd and we’re going to enjoy every moment tomorrow.” It was a tough loss for Team Jones, the defending Trials champions who won’t get a chance to defend their Olympic gold medal. “You work really hard for this,” said Jones. “It’s four years, so you’re kind of gutted a bit. But at the end of the day we tried our best. It just wasn’t meant to be.” Homan grabbed the early lead, forced to take a single in two and then stealing one in three when Jones missed both her shots. The veteran skip rubbed a guard and slid through the house when trying a triple with her first stone and then came up light on a draw to the button on her second. Team Jones levelled the game in the fourth with a deuce. Homan tried a double takeout with her first stone but got only one, setting the stage for Jones to make a last rock hit-and-stick for two. The Homan foursome got that back in the fifth when Jones tried a hit-and-roll behind cover but got no roll and left Homan a straight hit-and-stick for her two. Team Homan, in its career, is 29-2 in games where they are up by two points without the hammer after five ends. The pivotal end may have been the seventh when Team Homan stole one for a three-point lead. Homan was thin on her try for a double, spilling only one but remaining shot rock. Jones tried a runback double but jammed Homan’s rock and rolled herself, giving Team Homan the steal. “If I make that double probably a bit of a different game. It was just a couple of shots here and there,” Jones said of the game. “All in all we played OK, and we’re OK.” Team Jones took a single in nine and tried to set the house to steal a deuce in the tenth, but Team Homan kept the middle of the house clear, setting the stage for their skip to make the final shot for the win, a fairly routine hit-and-stick. “Don’t matter the shot, I have nerves from end one through ten,” Homan said of the situation. “It’s a big game, a big moment every time we’re in the hack. You just learn to focus those nerves and enjoy the moment.” According to CurlingZone.com, Team Homan is 15-10 in games against Team Carey in their career meetings. Team Homan got to the semifinal by posting a 7-1 round-robin record to finish second behind Team Carey and their 8-0 record. Team Homan’s only loss this week came in their first game, 8-4 to Team Carey. The men’s semifinal, between Brad Gushue of St. John’s and Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/ TSN/TSN2 and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule For ticket information for the 2017 Tim Hortons Roar of the Rings, CLICK HERE. This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2017roaroftherings/?lang=fr