Manitoba foils Homan again at Scotties
ST. CA THARIN ES, ONT. After winning every game over the first five days of the Scotties, Ontario’s Rachel Homan — the world’s top-ranked curler — has lost twice in 24 hours.
Both times to Manitoba’s unflinching Michelle Englot.
With just the gold-medal game to go, the 53-year-old skip has become the story of this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Englot continued her precise, age-defying play here Friday night, outperforming Homan to win the 1-2 Page playoff 9-8 at the Meridian Centre.
Manitoba advances directly to Sunday’s gold-medal game (5:30 p.m. TSN).
Ontario is relegated to Saturday night’s semifinal (5:30 p.m.), where it will play the winner of the Team Canada vs. Northern Ontario 3-4 Page playoff game earlier Saturday (12:30 p.m.).
If Homan wins her semifinal, Englot and Homan will be knockin’ rocks for the third time in four nights, as Englot thumped Homan 9-5 Thursday to finish tied with previously undefeated Ontario atop the round robin standings at 10-1.
“It’s just amazing,” said Englot, a near lifelong Regina resident who crossed the provincial line to team up only 12 months ago with third Kate Cameron, second Leslie Wilson and lead Raunora Westcott. “The girls played so well all week. To come out and have such a solid game tonight feels really good.
“We’re just playing our game and forcing. Rachel made a few big shots in that game, but if we keep putting the pressure on, she’s eventually going to miss. And we got a couple of misses, so took advantage of it. We’ve been taking advantage of every opportunity.”
Why is Englot’s foursome performing so well against Homan?
“I think just because we play such an aggressive game and we put the pressure on her.”
Earlier Friday, Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville secured fourth place with a 10-6 win over Kerry Galusha’s Northwest Territories, while Team Canada’s Chelsea Carey finished 9-2 with a 7-4 win over Alberta’s Heather Nedohin.