NISKU, Alta. — Canada’s Rachel Homan claimed a record-extending 16th Grand Slam of Curling women’s title following a successful title defence in the Co-op Canadian Open.
Homan and her Ottawa-based club defeated Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni 7-5 during Sunday’s final in front of a capacity crowd at the Silent Ice Center.
The team of Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes posted a perfect 7-0 record through the event to collect $44,000 as they continue their incredible run to start the season.
“Unbelievable,” Homan said. “The team played phenomenal. We had a tough competitor. Tirinzoni played phenomenal (too) and we had to make every shot there in the last end. Thankfully, we stuck together and kept our lead. We made the big ones when we needed them.”
The win was extra special for Homan, who lives nearby in Beaumont and suggested the Silent Ice Center to the Grand Slam of Curling as a potential host venue.
“It’s so cool,” Homan said. “We brought this event here, we were hoping it’d be a success and it was sold out all weekend. It’s just awesome that we could be in the final and take it home for Beaumont.”
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Homan holds a 33-2 record on the season with four title wins in five tournaments. Team Homan finished runner-up to Team Kerri Einarson during last month’s HearingLife Tour Challenge, the first Grand Slam of Curling event, in Charlottetown.
“It feels great and it’s nice,” Miskew said. “Like the last Slam we were in, being in the final, it was such a close game and to be able to win this one feels great. We’ve put in the work and it’s nice to win those close games.”
“We came up short in the last Slam and we wanted to win that final,” Homan added. “We didn’t play our best and we came out and gave it our all here and thankfully that was enough.”
Homan got cracking with the hammer in the opening end and made the two-point conversion. Alina Pätz, who throws the last rocks for Tirinzoni, just missed a double that allowed Homan to draw to her shot rock for a deuce.
Pätz just needed to deliver a super short raise takeout to even it up in the second and pulled ahead 3-2 in the third with a steal as Homan’s shooter only ticked Team Tirinzoni’s shot rock aside on its way through the house.
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Homan bounced back big time in the fourth end as she hit Tirinzoni’s stone through the tiny port between her own rocks and stuck around to count three points and retake the lead.
“That was the smallest hole I’ve ever seen,” Homan said. “I wasn’t quite sure if it was there. Trying to go for two, you always hope for the best and just feathered that hole.”
Team Homan extended the lead to 6-3 in the fifth. Homan sat a ring of rocks around the 12-foot circle and Pätz’s shooter rolled just a tad too deep.
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Team Tirinzoni recovered in the sixth end and capitalized after Homan wrecked on a guard while trying a double takeout. Homan got the double on her second attempt, however, Pätz eased her last rock into the house to count another couple of points and close within one.
Homan held the shot rock in her pocket during the seventh and looked to make a takeout for two, but her shooter rolled and bumped her stone to only score one point.
That gave Tirinzoni the hammer coming home, but Pätz would need to make both of her shots count to force an extra end with Homan sitting a quarry of granite in the house. Pätz didn’t throw her last though, and Team Tirinzoni conceded after Homan drew to sit three and made the equalizer impossible.
“It tends to happen like that up two now with the way the five-rock rule is,” Miskew said. “There are always lots of rocks in play. Sometimes offence works better than defence, so we’ve got to go offensively first. It was a well-played end all around and it was nice to come out with a win.”
The team of Pätz, Tirinzoni, second Carole Howald and lead Selina Witschonke banked $24,000.
It was also a rematch of last season’s Co-op Canadian Open women’s final. Homan needed to score two in the eighth and steal the winning point in the extra end to edge Tirinzoni 5-4 back in January in Red Deer, Alta.
Later Sunday, Canada’s Team Brad Gushue goes up against Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat in the men’s final. Watch live on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ at 4:30 p.m. ET / 2:30 p.m. MT.