Team Homan vying for Scotties glory, Olympic gold

January 31, 2022 c_admin Lacrosse Comments Off on Team Homan vying for Scotties glory, Olympic gold

Wild Card 3 skip Emma Miskew delivers a rock as they play Northern Ontario at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022. Photo by Andrew Vaughan /The Canadian Press

There’s gold to be won on two fronts for Team Homan.

One in Thunder Bay …

And one in Beijing.

“We’re split but feeling more together than ever,” said Emma Miskew, who is skipping Team Homan — as Team Wild Card 3 — at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Thunder Bay while skip Rachel Homan is halfway around the world vying to become an Olympic champion in mixed doubles curling.

“We’re cheering Rachel on, and she’s cheering us on,” continued Miskew. “And we feel her love, and we’re sending her all our love.”

With all those warm fuzzies being sent worldwide, how can they not swing two gold medals?

It wouldn’t be out of the question, regardless.

After all, Homan & Co. sport more than enough talent and experience to pull off the double with accolades galore decorating their tenure together, including a silver at last year’s Scotties in Calgary and a Grand Slam of Curling victory in the Champions Cup, also in Calgary.

It’s a lethal lineup, even with superstar Homan electing to take up the challenge of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

But it might take some time for Miskew Sarah Wilkes, Alli Flaxey and Joanne Courtney to really come together at Fort William Gardens.

“We just have to make sure we’re on top of our communication,” said Wilkes, who’s been bumped up to third duties with Miskew taking on skip efforts for the wild-card team. “I think the biggest adjustment is just making sure we keep our communication tight so we get the most out of every shot.”

It seems all good to start the Scotties with Miskew & Co. opening Friday with a 10-5 double-up of Newfoundland & Labrador’s Sarah Hill.

The news of that maiden win with Miskew as skip — for the first time in tournament play — found its way to Beijing, where Ottawa’s Homan has joined 2018 Olympic champ John Morris in pursuit of mixed doubles gold.

“Big congrats Em and the team!” Homan tweeted late Friday.

Then Saturday, the team from the Ottawa Curling Club suffered a loss, dropping a 7-2 decision to New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford in the late draw.

But Sunday afternoon, Miskew & Co. rebounded with a win over Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville, taking advantage of a fourth-end steal of three — when they jammed the top of the four-foot with four rocks and kept the enemy from finding a way in with the hammer. That broke the game open in their favour 5-2, moving them to 2-1 and — hopefully — improving their confidence without leader Homan.

“I think it’s just a new experience for me more than anything,” said Miskew of picking up the skip mantle from Homan for these Scotties. “As everyone knows, we’ve been playing together since we were 11 years old. I’ve played one game without her ever, and it wasn’t at the Scotties.

“We’re just trying to go one shot at a time, one game at a time.”

The newcomer to the team is Flaxey, herself a Canadian mixed curling champ in 2008.

She’s slid into the second spot, leaving Joanne Courtney at her usual lead position. Lynn Kreviazuk is the fifth, and Marcel Rocque is the coach.

Even with the altered lineup, however, the game plan’s still the same for Team Homan.

“Like I said, we’ve been playing together since we were 11, so I don’t think we have a different game,” said Miskew, a three-time Scotties victor. “I think we have the same game. So for the most part, it’s going to be similar to our game plan that we have when Rachel is here.

“But we do have Alli, who is new, and with the short time, we haven’t had a ton of time with her,” Miskew added. “So I’m learning how she throws. We just want to make sure we’re not getting ourselves into too much trouble with calling it aggressively and not knowing where to put the broom. So maybe we’re being a little bit more conservative — make sure that we don’t get ourselves into trouble by me putting the broom in the wrong spot or calling the line wrong.

“And then we’ll learn, and as the week goes on, we’ll get a little more confident in our game plan.”

EXTRA ENDS

New Brunswick (3-0) improved to three wins with a 6-3 victory over Nunavut’s Brigitte MacPhail (0-3) for Andrea Crawford’s first 3-0 start at a Scotties. It’s the New Brunswick skip’s 10th appearance at the national championship. Meanwhile, it was an easy afternoon win for Team Wild Card 1 (2-1), which was still without skip Tracy Fleury who is in COVID protocol, in a 9-1 dump of Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt (1-2). And Saskatchewan’s Penny Barker (1-2) used three in the eighth end to defeat Newfoundland & Labrador’s Sarah Hill (0-3) 8-6 … The evening draw saw two unbeatens in Canada’s Kerri Einarson (3-0) and Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges (2-1) square off, with Canada staying perfect after an 8-5 win. Meanwhile, Nova Scotia’s Christina Black (2-1) dropped B.C.’s Mary-Anne Arsenault (0-3) 9-3, Alberta’s Laura Walker (2-1) beat Ontario’s Hollie Duncan (0-3) 9-7 and Manitoba’s Mackenzie Zacharias (2-0) swept through Yukon’s Hailey Birnie (0-2) 12-3 … The morning saw an upset by Northwest Territories’ Kerry Galusha (1-1) 7-5 over Ontario, a Canada 6-3 upend of Nova Scotia, Alberta’s 9-8 edge of B.C. and Quebec’s beat of Yukon … Monday’s Scotties schedule consists of Draws 7, 8 and 9 at 9 a.m. ET, 2 p.m. ET and 7 p.m. ET respectively. All the draws are on TSN.

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

http://www.twitter.com/ToddSaelhofPM