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Team Canada perfect again to retain Scotties Tournament of Hearts crown

It was historic, it was at times dominant, and, in the end, it was sheer perfection.

Rachel Homan’s Ottawa team successfully defended its gold medal at the 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Sunday night before an appreciative sellout crowd at the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont.

Team Canada — Homan was backed up by vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown and coach Jennifer Jones — completed an unprecedented second straight undefeated run through the Scotties with a 6-1 win over Manitoba’s Team Kerri Einarson (Gimli). In the process Team Homan tied its record for consecutive wins at the Scotties with its 22nd in succession.

Just as, if not more impressive, was the record-breaking performance of Homan, who became the first player at any position ever to be scored at a perfect 100 per cent in a Scotties gold-medal game.

“There’s no feeling (like it). It’s always a big day, you know, the championship days — they’re always tough, they’re always nerve-racking,” said Homan, who along with Miskew will see her name engraved on the Scotties trophy for the fifth time in their remarkable careers. “We felt the nerves but we stuck together. We had some misses early but we just kept learning and kept sticking together. We made the next one — we made big shots when we needed to. I’m just unbelievably proud of my team; we never wavered and we knew we can make the next one.

“I’m just excited about this win. This week, it was so tough. We battled through a lot of games and Einarson’s team just played phenomenal and we needed the 100 per cent to beat them. They were lights out.”

It was a tight game through six ends, and it was Homan — named the Sandra Schmirler Playoff Most Valuable Player for the second straight year — who was largely responsible for keeping it that way.

Team Einarson (rounded out by vice-skip Val Sweeting, second Karlee Burgess, lead Krysten Karwacki, alternate Lauren Lenentine and coach Reid Carruthers) was able to force Homan to a single in the second end (the first was blanked), and had a crooked number on the scoreboard percolating in the third.

But Homan delivered stunning back-to-back double takeouts to snuff out the threat and prompt a blank.

“Yeah, she was definitely feeling it,” said Miskew, who’s witness more than a few stunning performances from her longtime teammate over the years. “I think that having a game on that sheet yesterday (in the Page 1-2 playoff win over Team Manitoba-Einarson) and knowing what the lines are gonna do, as soon as she can see what’s gonna happen there, she’s just on fire. Especially with some crazy doubles and ends that looked like a little dicey for us. So yeah, she was amazing.”

The teams traded singles in the fourth and fifth ends, but in the back half of the game, it was Team Canada that was able to rise to the occasion to pull away.

After a blanked sixth, Homan made a marvellous hit-and-roll behind a short centre guard, and Einarson was heavy with her draw to bite the pin, giving Team Canada a steal of one.

An end later, Einarson needed a piece of the four-foot looking at two Team Canada counters and barely got into the 12-foot.

If there were any doubt, it was erased and Team Homan could start anticipating a post-game Scotties title celebration for the second straight year.

The gloves came off for handshakes with another stolen point for Team Homan, ending a game that was the lowest scoring in Scotties final history, eclipsing the eight points combined in 1994 when, ironically, Team Canada (skipped by Schmirler) defeated a Manitoba team skipped by Connie Laliberte 5-3.

Considering the travails on and off the ice for Team Einarson this season, the silver-medal performance in Thunder Bay could be described as nothing short of remarkable.

“We’ve been through a lot over the last year,” said Einarson. “This was basically our first major event together as a team and it’s pretty amazing to be able to reach a final and play one of the world’s best that have been together for many, many years. We had a challenging week and we just dug deep every single game and battled back from huge, huge battles. The way our week was going, it didn’t look like we were going to be here, but we put ourselves in a great spot and I’m super proud of my teammates and even myself.”

Five titles as teammates is an achievement that wasn’t being taken lightly by Miskew Sunday night.

“I’m so grateful that Rachel and I found each other at a young age,” said Miskew. “We were able to battle through all these years together and go through the hard years and those hard losses and just really get back (to the top of the podium).”

Having successfully defended its Canadian title, Team Homan now has the assignment of trying to repeat as world champions at the 2025 LGT World Women’s Curling Championship March 15-23 in Uijeongbu, South Korea.

“It’s very special for us to go overseas wear the Maple Leaf,” said Homan, who along with Miskew won world championship gold in 2017 in Beijing. “I know we’re going to hear everyone’s cheers all the way in South Korea. We’re just going to probably take one day off and then get back to work.”

It was the 13th time a Team Canada outfit has claimed Scotties gold as defending champions.

Attendance Sunday night was a sellout 3,442, bringing the event total to 54,426

The 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will be played Jan. 23-Feb. 1 at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ont. For ticket information, go to www.curling.ca/2026scotties/tickets/.

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