Homan rink still rolling at the Scotties

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. — It took an extra end, but Rachel Homan’s team was the first into the playoffs at the Canadian women’s curling championship.

The Ottawa Curling Club foursome edged provincial rival Krista McCarville of Northern Ontario 7-6 to get to nine wins without a loss Wednesday.

Just three teams have gone undefeated in the preliminary round since the national women’s curling championship became the Tournament of Hearts in 1982: Homan (2014), Jennifer Jones (2013), Linda Moore (1985).

“It’s more like scary because you’re bound to lose a game,” Homan said. “It’s sport. It’s really tough to go undefeated.

“You keep playing as well as you can. No matter what our record is at the end, we just need to win out in playoffs.”

The defending champion gaining automatic entry into the following year’s Hearts wasn’t introduced until 1986, so Moore was 10-0 in 1985 while Homan and Jones went 11-0.

Ontario concludes their round robin today against Quebec’s Eve Belisle (6-3) in the morning followed by a much-anticipated showdown with Manitoba’s Michelle Englot (8-1) at night.

“It’s going to get awfully loud in here,” Englot said. “But I think we’ve picked up a few fans along the way.”

The top four teams after the preliminary round’s final draw Friday morning advance to the Page playoff. Ties for fourth get solved by tiebreaker games. The final is Sunday. At eight wins, Englot was assured at least a tiebreaker.

Defending champion Chelsea Carey won her seventh straight to get to 7-1. Her Calgary team downed Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland and Labrador 11-5 in an evening draw.

Northern Ontario was chasing at 5-3. McCarville recovered from the loss to Homan beating Prince Edward Island’s Robyn MacPhee 7-6 in an extra end.

With Heather Nedohin continuing to fill in for Shannon Kleibrink at skip, Alberta was tied at 4-4 with Kerry Galusha of Northwest Territories. Kleibrink hasn’t played since Monday due to a sore back.