Homan savours home-ice advantage
Curling trials for Olympics get underway
• She has three world championship medals, including the gold she won earlier this year, but Rachel Homan is about to do something new that ranks right up there.
On Saturday, the 28- yearold will begin competing in the Canadian Olympic curling trials in her hometown, in an arena that holds special significance.
“Since we can remember, we’ve been in the stands here watching,” Homan said Friday at the Canadian Tire Centre. “Cheering on the (Ottawa Senators) or coming to concerts, watching Gord Downie a few months ago.
“It’s just a really special venue for us as the hometown team but having grown up in this rink, it’s a feeling that I’ve never felt before.”
Homan’s team, which includes third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle, is coming off its best season. They went 10-1 in the round robin at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in St. Catharines, Ont., and then beat Manitoba’s Michelle Englot in an extra-end in the final.
They then went 11- 0 in the round robin at the world championship in Beijing and beat Russia’s Anna Sidorova 8-3 in the gold medal game.
The success hasn’t really carried over to this year — Team Homan ranks seventh in the Canadian Team Ranking System standings — but everything has been geared toward peaking in this event.
“I don’t think success really carries forward,” Homan said. “You have to be continually getting better as a team. This is what we prepared for, to be our best at this event.”
Homan is one of the cofavourites in the women’s draw, along with 2014 Olympic gold medallist Jennifer Jones.
On the men’s side, the clear favourite i n an extremely strong field is Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue. His team not only won the Brier and the world championship earlier this year, but is the top team in the CTRS rankings this season.
“Last year is a different year but we’re also playing pretty good this year,” Gushue said. “The confidence that we have is that we know if we play as good as we can, we’re going to be there at the end of the week.”
Gushue and his t hird Mark Nichols were part of Canada’s gold- medal winning squad at the Olympics in Turin in 2006. But until last year, Gushue had never won a Brier.
“It was kind of the monkey off t he back,” s ai d Gushue.