Team Canada skip Rachel Homan delivers a rock against Manitoba in her teams quarterfinal victory during the Scotties Tournament of Hearts action in Thunder Bay, Ont., Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/David Jackson

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - When Rachel Homan is on her game, no stone in the rings is safe from her.

The skip of the defending champions at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts gave Manitoba's Kerri Einarson nowhere to hide in Saturday's 8-4 win.

Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes out of the Ottawa Curling Club were not only a win away from repeating as Canadian women's curling champions, but also a win a way from going undefeated in back-to-back years, which no team has done.

The foursome advanced to Sunday's championship game.

Einarson's Manitoba team from the Gimli Curling Club drops to Sunday's earlier semifinal against Nova Scotia's Christina Black, who was an 8-7 winner over Alberta's Kayla Skrlik.

Homan and Miskew reached the seventh Hearts final of their careers with a 4-3 record in them. They were repeat Hearts winners in 2013 and 2014.

Sunday's winner represents Canada at the world championship March 15-23 in Uijeongbu, South Korea. Homan and company want to defend the world title earned last year in Sydney, N.S.

"We want to wear that Maple Leaf in a couple weeks," Homan said. "We've trained as hard as we can for this moment. At the end of the day, sports gods will decide, but we're going to give it our all."

No other woman in curling can throw big-weight hits with Homan's precision. Her shots in the sixth and ninth ends to score deuces brought roars from the Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont. Einarson shook hands after the ninth end.

"I kind of figured Rachel is going to come out shooting today. I thought we played well," said Einarson, who along with vice Val Sweeting claimed four straight Canadian titles from 2020 to 2023.

Einarson won the last three of her four straight Hearts wins coming through a semifinal.

"If we come out like that tomorrow, maybe a little bit sharper, I think we'll do well," Einarson said.

The Page playoff game between the top two seeds tied 2-2 at the fifth end break, Homan fired her final stone of the sixth through a narrow port of two staggered guards to hit and roll for two.

The skip saw just enough stone to hit and roll when others doubted that shot was there.

"For sure, it was barely there. When Tracy asked me if I had enough, I barely had enough. I kind of lied," Homan said.

"The game wasn't on the line, but it was an important two if we could get it.

"I've got the best sweepers and unreal line caller. We know how to make those and in big moments, we go for it."

The No. 1-ranked team in Canada and the world turned up the heat in the seventh. When Einarson was light on a draw, Homan beat her into the rings to lie two.

The Manitoba skip was left with a long angle raise to score one and gave up a steal of two.

Einarson rolled off one of her own stones to the pin behind two staggered Homan stones in the ninth. Homan ran an Einarson guard onto to one of her own stones to knock Einarson off the button for a deuce.

"That was an incredibly hard shot," Miskew said. "She is a very good hitter. She throws it hard and she throws it very accurately and she's been feeling it this week."

As a team Homan's shooting accuracy was 90 per cent compared to Einarson's 80 per cent.

Homan's combined record over the last two seasons was 121-11. Einarson's crew was the only Canadian team to beat her in the final of a Grand Slam event in October.

"We've had such a good season, and we kind of just want to keep that rolling," Miskew said. "We know that it's going to be a battle no matter who we play (Sunday), and we're just going to have to come out tough. We'll do our best, and that's all we can do."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025