Homan earns bye to Scotties final

Rachel Homan kept her undefeated record alive with a 5-4 win over Manitoba’s Chelsea Carey in the 1v2 Page playoff game at the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Montreal, Quebec. After blanking the first end, Homan set the tone in the second end with a precision double take out for three. It may have looked risky to most, but Homan is quick to explain her strategic decision. “Why not? We like making big shots. We’re at the Scotties and we knew we could make it. It’s a one-point difference or a three on the board. There’s a time and place for it. Risk versus reward.” The two teams traded hits in the third end resulting in another blank. The fourth end looked like a potential for Carey to score a couple, but another impressive double by Homan took away any hope of scoring a deuce. Carey settled for a draw to the four-foot for one. In end five, Homan came up short on her first shot, leaving Carey with the opportunity to hit and sit four. Looking at four opponent rocks on her last, Homan played the scoreboard and made the open hit to give Carey a steal of one. Great rock placement by Carey in end six resulted in another steal of one when Homan failed to execute a hit with her last. In the seventh end, the Homan team stopped the bleeding with a draw for one against a couple of Carey stones to take a 4-3 lead. The tables turned in end eight with Carey having to make a draw against three Homan rocks in the four foot, tying it up at 4-4. Homan blanked the ninth to retain hammer going into the last end. In the tenth, Carey buried a rock on the tee-line around a corner guard and Homan elected to freeze to the face of the stone forcing Team Manitoba to make a play on shot rock. Carey attempted a board weight tap back, but just rubbed the guard giving Team Canada the win and a bye to the final. “[Carey’s] team didn’t miss. They kept capitalizing on our mistakes,” said Homan. “My team’s playing amazing. Kudos to them for judging my last one perfectly. It was just enough that we forced the mistake. I’ve got to hand it to our sweepers this week, they’ve taken us here.” The last team to win a Scotties Tournament of Hearts with an undefeated record was Linda Moore in 1985. Team Homan has a chance to make it happen again on Sunday during the final at 7:30 p.m. ET. Carey will meet the winner of the 3v4 Page playoff game in the semi-final on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET. The 3v4 game will feature Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton squaring off against Alberta’s Val Sweeting on Saturday at 11 a.m. ET. TSN/RDS2, the official broadcaster of the CCA’s Season of Champions, will provide extensive coverage of the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, with 66 hours of live broadcasts scheduled. The winner of the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will represent Canada at the Ford World Women’s Curling Championship, presented by Booster Juice, March 15 to 23 in Saint John, N.B. The 2014 Scotties marks the 33rd year of Kruger Products Limited’s sponsorship of the Canadian women’s championship. For ticket information, go to: www.curling.ca/2014scotties-en/tickets/ For schedule information, go to: www.curling.ca/2014scotties-en/draw-schedule/