(Posted 8 a.m., Jan. 27)
Orléans skip Rachel Homan advances to Ontario Scotties final
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Orléans skip Rachel Homan has made it to the final of the Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She is hoping to repeat her winning performance in 2010 and avoid the fate she suffered last year when she lost in the final after going undefeated in the round robin. File photo

Orléans skip Rachel Homan is one win away from returning to the Scott Tournament of Hearts after winning the 1-2 page semi-final at the Ontario Scotties Championship in Waterloo on Saturday.

Homan benefitted from a couple of crucial mistakes by Cathy Auld of Mississauga to win 9-0 in just five ends.

Playing in front of a hometown crowd, the Kitchener-Waterloo Granite Club skip was heavy on her final stone in the third end to allow Homan to score three. She just missed a tough tap back raise in the fourth to allow Homan to steal one, and then her draw against five counters in the fifth end came up well short to give the Orléans skip five more points.

“That was surprising, but the scoreboard doesn’t really tell the whole story,” Homan said after the game. “It really was a good battle, just a mistake here or there was the difference. We’ve had games that started like this before that turned into close games.”

Auld will get a chance to redeem herself Sunday morning when she plays Sherry Middaugh in the play-in semifinal.

In the meantime, Homan will focus on the final with her vice Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle. The 23-year-old is hoping to prevent a repeat of last year's final which she lost after going undefeated through the round robin and the playoffs.

The team has yet to lose a game this year and they want to keep it that way.

“We learned from the mistakes we made last year,” Homan said. “Everyone has made a ton of mistakes in this game, at the end of the day you have to learn from them.”

Homan is trying to return to the Canadian Scott Tournament of Hearts after a one year absence. She placed second in her rookie appearance in 2011. The team is also hoping to earn a berth in the Olympic trials and avoid having to go throught the pre-trials tournament.

They are currently ranked third in the CTRS standings with 127 points, but he two rinks ahead of tthem, Jennifer Jones and Stefanie Lawton, have already qualified which means whoever finishes third will get an automatic berth.

A win in Waterloo would give the Homan foursome an additional 14.48 points while a loss would still give them nine points. A win would also give them a chance to pick up even more points at the Scott Tournament of Hearts..

(Posted 10 a.m., Dec. 18)

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