Rachel Homan curls perfect game, beats Kerri Einarson in Scotties final

THUNDER BAY, Ont. — Rachel Homan had tears in her eyes when she described the moment as best as she could: “There is no feeling.” 

The world No. 1 skipper had just curled 100 per cent in the Scotties final, becoming the first player ever to achieve that, and in the process, led her team to a 6-1 victory over Kerri Einarson and Manitoba in front of a sold-out crowd of 3,442 at Fort William Gardens. 

“She was on fire,” second Emma Miskew said of her skip, shaking her head. 

“Rachel was just unreal today,” added third, Tracy Fleury, whose four-year-old daughter, Nina, was walking circles around her mom, yanking on the gold medal dangling from Fleury’s neck. “I don’t think she missed anything, and she made some really key shots when we needed her to.” 

It’s a second Scotties title for Fleury, a third for lead Sarah Wilkes, and a fifth for Homan and Miskew, the long-time teammates. Their team becomes the first in history to go undefeated in back-to-back years at the national championship. Sunday’s win was their 22^nd in a row.  

“It feels amazing,” Miskew said, with a grin. “It was definitely a battle, there was a lot of great shots made, and it feels so good to win after the week that we had.”

The undefeated week they had here, yet again. 

“It’s hard to believe, really, but we want to just keep raising the bar,” Fleury said. “And we still think we can get better and learn from each other, too.”

The stuff they’re rewriting in the history books isn’t what this team pays attention to, according to Homan. “What’s important is we came out here today in the final and we performed the way she wanted to,” the 35-year-old said. 

Homan came out absolutely firing, and didn’t let Team Manitoba get much of anything cooking. After Canada got out to an early 1-0 lead, it looked like Manitoba set themselves up for a deuce in the third, but Homan made back-to-back double takeouts — the second, a rocket she sent down the ice that narrowly hit one rock on its outside edge to send it careening into another. 

“I don’t even remember both,” Homan said, grinning, and then she recalled the second: “It was really, really thin.” 

“The skinny one, going away, it was like a quarter of a rock double, and she went after it and made it,” said Fleury. “Some doubles that she made it was like, ‘wow, incredible.’”  

Those shots were key in what was a close and low-scoring game in the early goings. Homan nailed another double takeout in the fourth end to hold Manitoba to a single, and Einarson forced Homan to take a single right back, giving Team Canada a 2-1 lead going into the break. 

Homan was curling a perfect 100 per cent in the first half, and Einarson wasn’t far behind at 93 per cent. It was clinical, precise stuff.

“Numerous times I was like, who’s gonna blink? Thankfully, it wasn’t us,” Homan said. “Keeping it close, keeping the pressure on as the game went on — we needed a miss because we were pretty neutral control, nobody really had a huge leg up on the other.”  

In seven, Manitoba blinked, giving up a steal of one when Einarson’s last floated long. And in eight, Canada got its leg up when Einarson’s final shot stopped well short to give Team Homan a steal of two and a commanding 5-1 lead. 

“I definitely want some shots back,” Einarson said, when it was over. “I got caught in some paths where it just wasn’t up to speed, and I thought I threw it close…it just got fudgy in the middle, and we just didn’t pick up on it or believe it. I just got caught on a couple paths.” 

In nine, Einarson missed a double, and shortly after that, the teams shook hands. 

For Einarson, long-time third Val Sweeting, newly installed second Karlee Burgess and lead Krysten Karwacki, it was a grind to get to the final. They won their semifinal over Nova Scotia earlier in the day on the last shot.

The Scotties was one of the first big events for this new-look Team Einarson, ranked No. 2 in Canada, after losing long-time second Shannon Birchard to injury earlier this season and having a revolving door of replacements, and with long-time lead Brianne Harris pulled just prior to the last Scotties due to a failed doping test (she’s since been cleared of any wrongdoing). 

“We’ve been through a lot over the last year,” said Einarson, a four-time Scotties champion who won all those titles in a row, from 2020-2023. “It’s amazing for us to reach a final and play one of the world’s best who have been together for many, many years.” 

And won many, many titles. The Scotties is the sixth championship win for Team Homan this season, and next month, they’ll try to win a seventh as they attempt a title defence as Team Canada at the world championships in Korea. 

“We’re just probably going to take one day off, and then get back to work,” Homan said, with a laugh. “We want to perform for Canada every time we step on the ice.” 

Well, this last time she stepped on the ice, to win her fifth Scotties, Homan was perfect. 

“I thought I played okay, but I didn’t think I played 100 per cent,” Homan said, with a shrug, and that gold medal hanging around her neck. “Maybe a nose hit instead of a roll?”

The skipper decides she won’t question the stats-takers, after all. 

“Honestly, it was a ton of team shots, so kudos to my team for helping me play 100,” Homan said. “It was a great game.”