Rachel Homan wins fourth Scotties title, defeats retiring Jennifer Jones
Team Homan's incredible season continued on Sunday night in Calgary.
Rachel Homan won her fourth Canadian women's curling championship on Sunday night, leading her Ontario team to a 5-4 victory over Jennifer Jones’ Manitoba rink at Canada Olympic Park in Calgary.
It was also a fourth Scotties Tournament of Hearts title for Homan’s longtime teammate Emma Miskew, a second for Sarah Wilkes, and a first for Tracy Fleury. It is Homan’s first national title since 2017.
Team Homan didn’t lose once all week, going 8-0 in the round robin before beating Kerri Einarson’s Team Canada in the second round, Team Jones in the 1v2 semifinal, and then Jones again in the final itself. It is only the third time a team has gone undefeated in Scotties history, one of which was also Homan in 2014.
It is also the latest chapter in a truly remarkable season for the team out of the Ottawa Curling Club, who have won 48 of 53 matches played this season and won six of the eight events they’ve competed in.
This latest win comes with $100,000 in prize money, and next year Team Homan will wear the Team Canada jackets at the Scotties as the defending champions. The team will also represent Canada in March at the 2024 World Women's Curling Championship in Sydney, Nova Scotia as a result of their win, and if they finish in the top six at that tournament will automatically qualify for the 2025 Canadian Olympic trials and have a chance at going to Milano Cortina 2026.
Sunday’s final was a close match. After the first end was blanked, Homan and Jones traded singles for the next three ends, giving Homan a 2-1 advantage. The Ontario team scored again in the fifth end to take a 3-1 lead into the break.
The sixth end was blanked as well, but in the seventh Jones scored to pull the Manitobans back within one. Homan added one to her tally in the eighth end, before Jones found two in the ninth, sending the game to the final frame tied at 4-4.
Needing to reach the button with her final throw, Jones brushed one of Homan’s stones on the way through, failing to reach her target and confirming a 5-4 victory for the Ontarians without Homan needing to throw her final stone.
It was the third meeting between the two teams at this tournament, with Homan beating Jones in pool play and again in the semifinal and final — all close games that went down to the wire. The semifinal in particular was a dramatic, back-and-forth instant classic.
The victory for Team Homan denied Jones a record seventh Scotties title in what was her final appearance at the event. Jones announced before the competition that it would be her 18th and final appearance before retiring, although she will play mixed doubles with her husband Brent Laing.
Jones holds the Scotties records for all-time wins (177), playoff wins (28), and shares the record for most titles (six) with her longtime teammate Jill Officer, and former Nova Scotia skip Colleen Jones. Jennifer Jones, whose young Manitoba team also finished second last year, is widely regarded as one of the best female curlers ever, if not the best, and was celebrated all week.
"I love being part of this curling community," Jones said after receiving a standing ovation from the sold-out crowd of 3,195 fans on Sunday.
"The standing ovation was more than I could have ever expected, the fact that all these people came and supported our sport and kind of support me means the world. This moment, it's really hard to say goodbye to be honest."
The 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts will be held at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The 2024 men’s national championship, the Brier, gets underway on Friday in Regina, Saskatchewan.
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