Fourteen Slams for Rachel Homan

Ottawa-based Team Homan has been dominant this season, losing only four games as team this season. Another strong performance from skip Rachel Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes as the team completes a dominant first half of the season, winning 32 games in 36 attempts even through adjustment early in the season. The 8-4 win over Silvana Tirinzoni puts Homan less than 3 points behind the Aarau, Switzerland based team for the number one spot for the year-to-date ranking, which counts solely toward the World Ranking by early February. Homan has been dominant on the season, reaching the final of the KIOTI National and winning three events on the curling tour. With Heather Nedohin filling in at skip, Homan won the Saville Shootout in September, then returning to the lineup, Rachel skipped the team to a win at the PointsBet Invitational. A rare slip at the HearingLife Tour Challenge where Homan went 2-2, though missed out on playoffs due to their shootout score (and no tiebreakers at the time). Homan added another title in November, winning the Pumps and Pressure Red Deer Curling Classic, faciing little pressure most of the weekend only throwing last rock once, in the semifinals against Winnipeg's Kaitlyn Lawes. There's been some inconsistencies the last few years for Homan, who's records in 2022/23 (53-17, 76%) and 2021/22 (41-28, 59%) were still strong, but pale in comparison to this season's 89% win-rate. In Sunday's Final, Tirinzoni held hammer to start the game, scoring a single in the second end. Homan scored four in the second end, controlling the game from there. Tirinzoni and Homan traded single in the fourth and fifth ends, with Tirinzoni scoring two in the sixth end to close the gap to a single point. In the seventh end, Homan finished the game with a hit to score three, getting handshakes after seven ends for the 8-4 win. In the semifinals, Homan defeated Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones 8-4 and Tirinzoni defeated Gimli's Kerri Einarson 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Tirinzoni defeated Tabitha Peterson (St. Paul, MN) 5-3, while Einarson won 6-4 against Eun ji Gim (Uijeongbu, KOR), Jones won 5-3 aganist Anna Hasselborg of Sundbyberg, Sweden and Homan eliminated another Sundyberg-based team skipped by Isabella Wrana 8-3. Homan finished 3-1 in the 16-team round robin pools qualifying round. In their opening game, Homan defeated Clancy Grandy (Vancouver, BC) 6-1, then won 7-3 against Tirinzoni and 6-5 against Hasselborg. Homan went on to lose 8-6 against Eunjung Kim (Gangneung, KOR) in their final qualifying round match.