 After playing seven games in six days en route to winning the Grand Slam CO-OP Tour Challenge, and then travelling to Minnesota for the 2025 United States Steel Pan Continental Curling Championships, Team Rachel Homan knew it would be a physical challenge. But fortunately for the Ottawa-based reigning two-time Canadian and world champions, they have enough depth to deal with that challenge, and it was on display again Wednesday afternoon at the Iron Trail Motors Event Center in Virginia, Minn. With longtime alternate Rachelle Brown stepping into the starting lineup for the second straight game, Team Canada dispatched Mexico’s Team Adriana Camarena (0-3) 9-3 to improve to 2-1 in women’s round-robin play. The team planned to have Brown in the lineup at least twice during the round robin to give the front end of lead Sarah Wilkes and second Emma Miskew a break after the Slam victory in Nisku, Alta. Miskew was on the bench Tuesday night, while Wilkes was a spectator on Wednesday. “The sweepers need a little bit of a break from last week,” said Homan, whose team is rounded out by vice-skip Tracy Fleury and coaches Viktor Kjell and Renee Sonnenberg. “We feel really fortunate that Rachelle decided to join us and be full-time with us and help us in all the areas that we're working on. It's been such a great fit and we're just so fortunate to have her. She can come in and play at every position on our team. “We haven't tried her at skip yet,” added Homan with a smile, “but nothing's off the table.” Having an alternate of Brown’s ability — not to mention all of the intangibles she brings to the squad — is a bonus, and a significant factor in its success over the past two seasons, and she’s enjoying the ride. “It’s an absolute honour to wear the Maple Leaf, and honestly, to play with these world-class humans and curlers, and just get to go out there and represent Canada and do Canada proud,” said Brown, a former Scotties champion herself as a member of Team Chelsea Carey in 2019. “I'm very grateful for the chance to get out there and throw a couple rocks.” Canada set the tone early against Mexico, scoring three in the first end on a delicate tap-and-roll by Homan, and added three more in the fifth on Homan’s draw to bite the four-foot. In between, it was a matter of holding the Mexican team to singles, and continuing to get a grasp on ice and stone conditions in the ramp-up to the closing weekend. “I thought we picked up on what the ice was doing the last couple days and it stayed true today,” said Homan. “So we anticipated a few more lines, whereas yesterday we maybe made a mistake here or there. So it's just about learning the ice, really.” It’s a two-game Thursday for Team Homan; at 10 a.m. (all times Eastern), Canada plays South Korea’s Team Eunji Gim (1-2), and then at 8 p.m., it’s a matchup with China’s Team Rui Wang (3-0). In other Wednesday afternoon women’s games, Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States (3-0) remained perfect with a 7-1 victory over Team Bridget Becker of New Zealand (0-3); China scored two in the 10th end for a 5-4 win over Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa (2-1), and South Korea toppled Australia’s Team Helen Williams (1-2) 11-2. Brad Jacobs’ 3-0 Canadian men’s team is back on the ice Wednesday at 8 p.m. against New Zealand’s Team Sean Becker (0-3). Scores, standings and full team lineups are available by CLICKING HERE. All games will be available on World Curling’s streaming platform, The Curling Channel. This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/nouvelles-media/ |
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Quebec's Jean Michel Menard (Photo: Curling Canada) defeated Ontario's Mark Kean 8-5 to grab a 4-2 record at the Canadian Olympic Pre-Trials in Wolfville, Nova Scotia.
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