SYDNEY, N.S. — A strong start was exactly what Ontario’s Rachel Homan needed to slip past her provincial rival from the north and into the Scotties Tournament of Hearts semifinal.
Homan opened with the hammer and converted for a key deuce in the first end that proved to be the difference-maker in her team’s 6-4 victory Saturday afternoon over Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville in the Page 3-4 playoff game.
While the 2017 world champion Homan continues her quest to earn a fourth Canadian title, McCarville is heading home empty-handed.
Back-to-back misses from second Jen Gates and third Kendra Lilly with their rocks sailing through the rings allowed Team Homan to clutter up the house and set the table to score. Facing three, McCarville bailed out her teammates with a double takeout to limit the damage but allowed Homan to cooly draw for the decisive deuce.
“It was good to start with a two in the first end,” Team Homan lead Lisa Weagle said. “We kind of play just to manage the ends. It’s nice to start with a lead and then we can manage the game from there.”
Homan entered the match with a stellar 13-1 all-time head-to-head record against McCarville but the five-rock rule ensures deuces can be wild and it was crucial for Weagle to help her side begin every end on the right foot. Team Homan was also well-aware Team McCarville had been dangerous with or without the hammer this week as they had stolen a tournament-high 21 ends, seven more than second-place Wild Card (Casey Scheidegger).
“We knew about their steal stats and I just tried to really set up the ends,” Weagle said. “Kinda go from there and make sure we were making our shots every end.”
It was just singles going steady back and forth after the opening end with Homan in an advantageous position for the final frame staying one point ahead and holding the all-important hammer. McCarville sat a cluster of two stones in the house but with no guards, i.e. nowhere to hide, Homan doubled them out with ease on the last shot of the game to tack another point on the scoreboard.
Although Team Homan didn’t know who they’ll be facing in the semifinal following their 3-4 game victory, they do know it’ll be a battle Sunday afternoon against the loser of the Page 1-2 playoff game. Homan lost to both Alberta’s Chelsea Carey and Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle earlier in the week and will have to get through both regardless if her team wishes to represent Canada next month at the world championship in Denmark.
“Both teams are good teams and we know the semi is going to be a really tough game,” Weagle said. “We’ll go have a nice meal, relax and get ready for, hopefully, a two-game day tomorrow.”
There might also be a psychological advantage for Homan as the 3-4 game winner enters the semifinal carrying some momentum from a spirited victory as opposed to the 1-2 game loser who has a tighter turnaround and has to quickly regroup to try to bounce back from defeat.
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Carey completes comeback to reach final
Carey fell behind early but was able to rally past Silvernagle 11-7 and punch her ticket to Sunday evening’s championship game.
Alberta third Sarah Wilkes said perseverance and trusting in their abilities were the keys.
“We’ve come back before, so reflecting on those previous comebacks and know that we could do it, just have faith in each other and keep plugging away,” Wilkes said. “You don’t have to get all the points back at once.”
Wilkes knew it would be a lot dicier than their 10-3 thrashing over Saskatchewan earlier in pool play.
“They played great. We knew it was going be a tough battle against them,” Wilkes said. “They’re all great curlers. They were ready to play, for sure.”
It looked like Carey was in control to start scoring a deuce off the bat, however, Silvernagle took over with a three-count in the second end followed by a single steal in three.
That’s when Carey turned on the (Winnipeg) jets with a point in four and a steal in five to make it all square 4-4 entering the break. Silvernagle was forced to one in six and left the door open for Carey to connect with a score of four to regain the lead.
A deuce in eight closed the gap and Carey opted for a single in nine to lead 9-7 without the hammer coming home. Silvernagle had to make a tricky angle raise double just to force an extra end but was unable to execute the tough shot and misfired.
Surf’s up: Team Carey riding the wave
Watching Team Carey play and you almost forget this is not only a new team but they’ve really only been rolling with this formation for a couple of months.
The 2016 Scotties champion Carey disbanded her old squad to join forces with Wilkes, who previously played with skip Shannon Kleibrink, and the front-end duo of second Dana Ferguson and lead Rachel Brown, both of whom were with skip Val Sweeting.
Even then, Brown missed the first portion of the season due to mat leave — Breanne Knapp and Heather Rogers filled in as spares — and Ferguson held the broom in the house during skip stones. Once Brown was back in December, Ferguson rejoined her on sweeping duties and Wilkes took on a full vice skip role.
“It’s been a lot of change but I think we’ve finally found the lineup that clicks for us,” Wilkes said. “It’s been working, so we’re just riding that wave and seeing how it goes.”
Wilkes said she loves being in the house with Carey.
“She’s very honest, she’s supportive, it’s easy to pump her up,” Wilkes said. “I really enjoy that dynamic that we have in the house.”
Carey went undefeated 5-0 through provincial playdowns to get here and is in the driver’s seat cruising along with a 10-2 overall record at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with one game to go.
Elite vs. non-elite? Not quite
Although McCarville and Silvernagle aren’t as big names on tour like Homan and Carey, it wasn’t like they came out of nowhere to reach the final four.
Team McCarville is a Tier 2 club in ranking only as it’s not talent but merit, particularly the Order of Merit, that prevents them from competing in top-level events frequently.
McCarville, who is a school teacher, doesn’t go crazy on the World Curling Tour but when her team does appear in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling they hold their own. Take the 2016 Boost National where they received a sponsor’s exemption and made it all the way to the semifinals, eliminating Homan no less in the quarters. (There’s that lone loss for Homan in their head-to-head record.)
Even this season McCarville managed to receive an invitation based on merit, thanks to a few teams declining their spots, to the Tour Challenge Tier 1 in her hometown of Thunder Bay.
The opposite side of the coin is the 2017 Tour Challenge where McCarville turned down her team’s invitation as it conflicted with the first week of the school year. Missing out on an event that featured 30 women’s teams (15 in Tier 1 and 15 in Tier 2) was a huge blow that shuffled the standings and McCarville dropped a couple spots.
Silvernagle’s squad is relatively new with lead Kara Thevenot the only holdover from last season’s lineup and the addition of former skips Stefanie Lawton at third and Alberta import Jessie Hunkin at second. The veteran Lawton skipped her former crew to the Scotties four times, reaching the playoffs on all four occasions, won the 2012 Players’ Championship women’s title and finished the following season ranked No. 2 on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit.
The new-look Team Silvernagle won three titles on tour this season and reached the quarterfinals at the Meridian Canadian Open. Although Silvernagle received a sponsor’s exemption for that one, held in her hometown of North Battleford, her team is currently ranked No. 13 on both World Curling Tour Order of Merit and year-to-date standings. Once Scotties points are factored in, Silvernagle will leapfrog into the top 12 and should be heading to the Players’ Championship in April. Although Team Silvernagle are not Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling regulars at this point, they will be going forward.
Laurier alumni in the house
The Wilfrid Laurier University Golden Hawks were well represented during the Ontario provincial curling championships with over a dozen alumni at the event. Guess what? There’s also a handful here at the Canadian women’s curling championship, too, and they made the Page playoffs.
Wilkes, Gates and Team Ontario alternate Cheryl Kreviazuk not only all made the final four they also happen to be teammates on back-to-back Canadian university curling championship-winning teams in 2011 and 2012.
“It’s awesome. It’s just so great to see,” Wilkes said. “We had such an amazing thing going at Laurier. We’re all such good friends, so just to see that continue and to see all these girls, us all representing different provinces here at the Scotties and to connect again, it’s great.”
You couldn’t throw a (curling) rock without hitting a Laurier grad around here. Sunday morning’s media game saw Laurier alumnus Danielle Inglis defeat Colleen Jones, thus denying Jones an opportunity to re-tie the Scotties all-time wins record (although there would have been an asterisk next to that victory had Jones prevailed).
