DISAPPOINTMENT FUELS HOMAN RINK
Ottawa crew puts Olympic nightmare behind them with blazing start to season
It’s been less than a year since Rachel Homan’s team found itself off the podium at the Pyeongchang Olympics, and yet it’s clear the foursome has managed to put that devastating disappointment in the past. Homan’s team from Ottawa is on an unbelievable roll this season, having won four major events, finishing second in another and placing in the top four of three more.
Not once has Homan failed to qualify for the playoffs in an event this season.
Not surprisingly, Homan’s team is ranked No. 1 on the World Curling Tour and has earned $163,848 to this point, tops in the world by a huge margin.
“It’s always tough coming off a disappointing result,” third Emma Miskew said this week, fresh off the team’s latest win at the Grand Slam Canadian Open in North Battleford, Sask. “We had a hard time with it last year after the Olympics.
“We kind of just realized that, if we’re going to be out here doing this, we don’t want to go in with half the work ethic. We just decided we’re going to go all-in again and it’s been really easy to work really hard all year and try to grow together and try to be the best teammates that we can be.”
The incredible results have been about hard work but also about a coaching change. The Homan team switched from Adam Kingsbury, a mental strength coach, to Marcel Rocque, a strong technical coach with a sparkling resume as a world champion curler and international mentor. “We’ve had training weekends and we brought Marcel back on board and he really pushes us in every area of the game,” Miskew said. “We’ve been working really hard, we’re motivated and it’s fun.”
Rocque coached the Homan team in the past, but worked with Chinese national teams in 2014 and 2017-18. He coached the Chinese men to a fourth-place finish at the Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and coached China’s mixed doubles entry in Pyeongchang last year.
His return has helped a Homan team that looked lost at the Olympics re-establish itself as a major force in women’s curling. The 2017 world champions have won three Grand Slams this season — the Masters, the Tour Challenge and the Canadian Open — and also won the inaugural Curling World Cup event in China.
“For sure he’s been a difference-maker,” said Miskew, whose team has now won 10 career Grand Slam titles.
“He really helped us a few years ago, and we were disappointed when he went back to coach China. We’re really excited he’s back on board with us. He works really well with us and he pushes us and gives us a little bit of extra motivation to be sharp out there.”
The Homan team, which also includes second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle, has had its fair share of distractions this season, as well. Homan recently announced she’s expecting her first child in June, while Miskew got married to Kensy Jones on New Year’s Eve.
How do you balance something like that with such a competitive schedule?
“I’m very organized,” Miskew said with a laugh. “I’m a designer, too, so the wedding stuff wasn’t that much of a distraction for me.”
The Homan foursome steamrolled through the Canadian Open, going 6-0 and beating Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni in the final.
This week they’ll be in Las Vegas to take part in the Continental Cup, a Ryder Cup-style event that’s more about fun and bragging rights than anything else. They’ll return home to prepare for the Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Elmira from Jan. 27-Feb. 3. Though Homan won the national Scotties and the world women’s championship in 2017, they gave up their defending champion spot in the 2018 national Scotties in order to represent Canada at the Olympics. As a result, Curling Canada has awarded them a wild-card spot in the national Scotties (Feb. 15-24 in Sydney, N.S.). If they don’t win the Ontario women’s championship, they’ll play in the wild-card game on Feb. 15.