Homan, Hasselborg set to face off in Kioti National women’s final

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Canada’s Rachel Homan and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg have been battling on the ice ever since juniors a decade-and-a-half ago. Sunday will mark their 28th head-to-head meeting in women’s play, but the first this season and what a game it’s going to be.

Homan and Hasselborg are set to face off for the KIOTI National women’s championship with both teams carrying unblemished 6-0 records into the final at the Mary Brown’s Centre.

The win-loss tally may suggest Homan has been cruising comfortably, however, Saturday was a grind with her team going to distance, and then some, in both playoff games.

Homan needed to steal in the extra end to escape with a 7-6 win over Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura during the quarterfinals. The reigning world champion at least had the hammer for the extra end against South Korea’s Team Eun-jung Kim in the semis and drew to the back of the four-foot circle while facing a bunch to win 7-6 once more.

"It kind of feels like we’ve got nine lives out there," Homan said. "It was definitely a grind and a battle. We definitely struggled with rocks early, switched them around and were hoping it wasn’t too late. We made a pile of shots, sweepers were unreal that game and we battled hard. Thankfully, we got a couple of misses from the other team and snuck it out there." 

Kim opened with the hammer and had control of the match to start. After alternating deuces, Kim took two more points in the fourth end and stole one in the fifth to grab a 5-2 lead. Homan was looking to draw for a potential deuce but came up light and tight. It went from bad to worse as a measurement determined shot rock actually belonged to Team Kim.

The two points that got away came back in the sixth and Homan stole two in the seventh to pull ahead 6-5 as Kim hit and rolled out. Kim was held to an equalizing single in eight and Homan made the high-pressure draw to the back of the four-foot circle in the extra end. 

"We know we’re sticking together and after misses, we’re still trying to make the next one," Homan said. "Just trying to stick with every shot. We needed every single one there. It was a battle. They played phenomenally. Their percentages must be in the 90s."

Team Homan improved to an incredible 39-2 record on the season, including 13 consecutive wins through the Grand Slam of Curling series. Homan rolled through the Co-op Canadian Open at the start of the month in Nisku, Alta., to capture a record-extending 15th Grand Slam women’s title.

Hasselborg wasn’t at that event, opting to focus on training for the European Championships, which the squad settled for a silver medal at last week. Team Hasselborg was also missing second Agnes Knochenhauer for the HearingLife Tour Challenge in October as she was attending her sister’s wedding and serving as the toast madame.

"It feels so good," Hasselborg said. "I’m so proud of the way we’re playing right now and I feel like we’ve had some really good weeks and it’s just great to be back. It’s been a while since we’ve been in a final and it feels even better the way we’re playing right now."

Team Hasselborg also needed overtime to settle a 7-6 decision against Canada’s Team Christina Black in the quarterfinals and earned a 7-1 victory over Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson in the semifinals.

Hasselborg opened the scoring with a count of three in the second and Einarson was limited to one point in the third. The offence was all Hasselborg from there as she matched with a single in four, stole a pair in five plus another point in six.

For Hasselborg, it'll be her first Grand Slam final since winning the 2022 Players’ Championship, and becoming the first women’s skip to complete a career Grand Slam.

Meanwhile, it’ll be the sixth final through seven events in the series for Homan.

On the men's side, Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat will play in its third consecutive Grand Slam final while aiming for a third straight title as well.

Mouat (5-1) avenged an early round-robin defeat to Team John Shuster of the United States with a 7-2 victory in the quarterfinals and handed Canada’s Team Mike McEwen its first and only loss the week with a 5-1 decision.

"We came here a wee bit tired, but we’ve been playing really well," said Mouat, who earned silver at the European Championships last Saturday in Finland. "The last three or four games have been really solid, so I’m really excited to see what can happen tomorrow."

McEwen opened with the hammer, but Mouat struck the scoreboard first by stealing two points in the second end. After singles back and forth, Mouat stole a point again in the fifth and swiped another in the sixth. 

"We put them under some pressure in that second end … and made him play a really tough shot and we obviously got the break," Mouat said. "It was nice to see."

Although Mouat defeated Team Brad Gushue in both the HearingLife Tour Challenge and Co-op Canadian Open championship games, his side will take on a different Brad this time.

After a fiery 6-5 victory in the quarterfinals over the hometown hero Gushue, one that resulted in jeers and cheers from the crowd, Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs doubled up on Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte 6-3 in the semis to punch a ticket to the championship game.

It was textbook curling to start for Jacobs, who took two in the second, forced Whyte to a single in the third and counted another couple of points in the fourth to lead 4-1 at the break. Whyte got two in the fifth, however, Jacobs blanked back-to-back ends and added another deuce in the eighth for good measure.

"I think we just put together in the semifinal there our best game as a team so far, since the inception of this team," Jacobs said. "I’m feeling great and I know the guys are feeling great, feeling really confident and we’re going to need that type of game tomorrow in that final against Mouat. They’re just on fire. Hopefully, we can come out and put together the same sort of performance we did just now." 

Jacobs reflected on the quarterfinal match as well as he was booed for intentionally giving up a steal in the seventh end to tie it but retain the hammer for the decisive eighth end where an open hit iced the game. 

"First of all, we all loved it," he said. "There were a lot of apologies from a lot of people. A lot of people actually felt like it was uncalled for but you know what? Curling needs more of that. In any other sport out there, there’s a team that people want to win and there’s the villain and I know we’re both Brads, the Battle of the Brads for how many years now? Well over a decade. We embrace that. That’s good theatre, that’s good TV, that’s good for the sport and that makes it worth it for all of those bums in those seats. 

"I also thought to myself, if any individual can reach a point in their life where they’re in an arena and they’re booed by 6,000-plus people, they’re probably doing something right in their life. We embraced it. I know that we rained on the parade a little bit but they get a lot of rain out here, so they’re used to it, right?"

Mouat's lone loss to Shuster means Jacobs (6-0) will start the final with the hammer and look to win his first Grand Slam title with his recently formed Calgary club featuring third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert. The skip from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., left Team Reid Carruthers over the off-season and linked up with the trio, who previously played with skip Brendan Bottcher but opted to go in a different direction.

The women’s final kicks off Championship Sunday at 12:30 p.m. NT / 11 a.m. ET on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West, Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+ followed by the men’s final at 5 p.m. NT / 3:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet 360 and Sportsnet+.