Canada’s Teams Gushue & Homan pursue gold at Pan Continentals in Lacombe, Alta., this Sunday

When the 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships get underway this Sunday, both Canadian squads – Team Brad Gushue and Team Rachel Homan – will have podium-topping finishes in their sights.

The 2024 Pan Continental Curling Championships run from Oct. 27-Nov. 2 at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex in Lacombe, Alta. The event will feature teams from the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions vying to earn their nations a spot at the upcoming 2025 world men’s and women’s curling championships later this season. Five berths in each event will be available to the top teams in men’s and women’s competitions. 

In two years of Pan Continental competition, Team Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., is the only team to have earned gold in the men’s event after topping the podium at the inaugural event at Calgary in 2022 and won again in 2023 at Kelowna, B.C. Winning gold in Lacombe would complete a three-peat for skip Gushue, vice-skip Mark Nichols and lead Geoff Walker.

Fans will get their first look at Team Gushue’s revamped lineup, now featuring Brendan Bottcher at second. Alternate Adam Casey, coach Jeff Hoffart and national coach Jeff Stoughton round out the lineup.

Team Gushue opens with a game on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. (all times MT) against the nation it has competed against in the past two gold-medal games, Team South Korea. However, for the third year in a row, the South Korean team will feature a different lineup, this time with skip Jaebeom Lee at the helm. On Sunday at 7:30 p.m., Canada faces Team Ken Hsu of Chinese Taipei.

The Canadians are coming off a remarkable season, winning their third-straight Montana’s Brier title in 2024, following it up with a silver-medal performance at the 2024 world men’s championship. 

Three teams from last season’s world championship will also be in Lacombe: Japan’s Team Shinya Abe, New Zealand’s Team Anton Hood and Team John Shuster of the United States. 

With the upcoming 2025 BKT Tire World Men’s Curling Championship hosted in Moose Jaw, Sask., Canada already has a spot secured at the world championship. The top four teams at the Pan Continentals, besides Canada, will earn berths in the world championship.

Here is the Canadian men’s full schedule:

Sunday, Oct. 27
8:30 a.m. – vs. South Korea (Team Jaebeom Lee)
7:30 p.m. – vs. Chinese Taipei (Team Ken Hsu)

Monday, Oct. 28
2 p.m. – vs. New Zealand (Team Anton Hood)

Tuesday, Oct. 29
9 a.m. – vs. United States (Team John Shuster)
7 p.m. – vs. Japan (Team Shinya Abe)

Wednesday, Oct. 30
2 p.m. – vs. Australia (Team Steve Johns)

Thursday, Oct. 31
9 a.m. – vs. China (Team Xiaoming Xu)
7 p.m. – Semifinals*

Friday, Nov. 1
2 p.m. – Bronze-medal game*

Saturday, Nov. 2
10 a.m. – Gold-medal game*

*pending qualification

Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan is competing in the Pan Continental Curling Championships for the first time and aims to win Canada’s first gold medal after teams from Japan and South Korea won the past two editions.

Skip Homan, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes and alternate Rachel Brown have been on a surge since last season, capturing the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title and earning Canada’s first world women’s championship in six years. Team Homan has kept that momentum going into the 2024-25 season to remain atop the rankings, including a victory at the 2024 PointsBet Invitational earlier this season. 

Bottcher, who coached Team Homan at the beginning of the season is now committed to the four-player game and mixed doubles and will not join the team behind the bench. Instead, Team Homan is backed by national coaches Viktor Kjell and Renée Sonnenberg. 

Team Homan will wear the Maple Leaf again to qualify Canada for the 2025 LGT World Women’s Curling Championship in Uijeongbu, South Korea. Team Homan must finish in the top four to qualify the nation for the world championship hosted outside Canada. South Korea, as hosts, have already earned a spot in the upcoming championship.

Team Homan kicks things off in a battle of North America, taking on Team Cory Thiesse of the United States on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Thiesse played third on the team that won bronze at last year’s women’s Pan Continental championships and participated at the 2024 worlds. She steps up to skip and brings in a new American team ready for competition.

Also in the mix are last year’s reigning Pan Continental women’s champions and world bronze medallists, Team Eunji Gim of South Korea. Another team from last year’s world championship is also in the mix: Japan’s Team Miyu Ueno.

Here is the Canadian women’s full schedule: 

Sunday, Oct. 27
1:30 p.m. – vs. United States (Team Cory Thiesse)

Monday, Oct. 28
9 a.m. – vs. Chinese Taipei (Team Ko Yang)
7 p.m. – vs. China (Team Rui Wang)

Tuesday, Oct. 29
2 p.m. – vs. New Zealand (Team Chelsea Suddens)

Wednesday, Oct. 30
9 a.m. – vs. South Korea (Team Eunji Gim)
7 p.m. – vs. Mexico (Team Adriana Camarena)

Thursday, Oct. 31
2 p.m. – vs. Japan (Team Miyu Ueno)

Friday, Nov. 1
9 a.m. – Semifinals*
7 p.m. – Bronze-medal game*

Saturday, Nov. 2
3 p.m. – Gold-medal game*

*pending qualification

The eight teams in men’s and women’s competition play a seven-game round-robin schedule. The top four teams advance to the semifinals. The winners of those games advance to the gold-medal games and the losers compete in the bronze-medal games. 

The Pan Continental B Division Championships will also run concurrently with the main draw. The winners will earn spots in the main draw next season, while the teams that finish last in the A event will be relegated to the B Division. 

The men’s event features Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The women’s event has teams from Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Nigeria and the Philippines.

Click here to see the full schedule. 

Event passes and tickets are available to the general public to watch Teams Gushue and Homan compete at the event. Click here to purchase tickets today.

All games will be available on World Curling’s streaming platform, The Curling Channel.