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It was supposed to be Jennifer Jones’ bash.
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Instead, Rachel Homan spoiled the fun Sunday.
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In what was shaping up to be a winning retirement party for Jones at her last Scotties, the Ottawa skip made the night her own, capping an unbeaten week at the national women’s curling championship with an 5-4 victory over the legendary curler from Winnipeg.
“Unbelievable,” Homan said. “An absolutely unbelievable game. We needed every inch.
“You put in the work, and you hope it’s enough,” continued Homan. “And (Sunday), it was enough.”
Homan and her Ontario team wrapped the week-plus event with an 11-0 record for her fourth title at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Along the way, Homan — with third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachel Brown and coach Don Bartlett — tripped up Jones three times, including in a 7-5 round-robin meeting and the 6-4 Page playoff 1-v-2 battle just 24 hours ahead of the finale.
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Then came that finale — in front of a sellout of 3,195 fans — and another defensive epic between the two sharpshooters but another win for Homan.
“I’m so proud of my team for fighting and sticking with it,” Homan said.
Not exactly the way Jones envisioned saying good-bye after an otherwise fantastic week herself, going 8-4 with her Manitoba rink of third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias, lead Lauren Lenentine and coach Glenn Howard from the St. Vital and Altona curling clubs.
But it was a happy so-long, nonetheless.
Fans stood, roared, shouted and clapped in a spirited show of celebration for Jones, who was in search of a record seventh Scotties crown.
The 49-year-old Winnipeg native and legend of curling answered back with tears, hugs, waves and kisses blown.
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The early ends were typical of the Jones-Homan battle during the week — a chess match with few mistakes and not much given one way or another, resulting in Homan — who earned hammer with the perfect record coming in — eking out a 2-1 lead through four ends.
The fifth saw Homan execute a perfect runback with her last rock, and Jones was heavy with the draw with hammer.
In the sixth, Homan answered Jones’ brilliant double-takeout with one of her own to force a blank and then forced Jones to one in the seventh.
The Ottawa Curling Club skip then hit-and rolled against three enemy rocks in the eighth to restore her two-point lead.
With hope fading in the ninth, Jones caught a break on a Homan double-takeout that went strangely wrong, with a Manitoba rock surprisingly falling back into the four-foot to be shot rock. It opened the door for Jones to draw in for two and a tie game.
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But in the 10th, Homan went to work to keep the end clean, but it was Jones who gave it to her, coming up light with her last rock on a draw to the button.
“Awwww … I wish I could have that draw back,” Jones said. “But honestly, I couldn’t have asked for a better championship. The crowds were fantastic. I thought we played a really great game. It could’ve gone either way. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.”
The Scotties win also gives Homan the first spot in the Olympic trials to represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Games in Milano Cortina, Italy.
But in the 10th, Homan went to work to keep the end clean and get the point she needed for victory.
– 1st, Blank, 0-0– 2nd, Homan forced to hit-and-stick for one, 1-0 Ontario– 3rd, Jones’ stone picks on draw for two, 1-1– 4th, Homan hit-and-stick and measure for one, 2-1 Ontario– 5th, Jones draw heavy, steal of one, 3-1 Ontarion 6th, Blank, 3-1 Ontario– 7th, Jones forced to hit-and-stick for one, 3-2 Ontario– 8th, Homan forced to hit-and-roll for one, 4-2 Ontario– 9th, Jones draws for two, 4-4– 10th, Jones light on draw to force Homan hammer, 5-4 Ontario
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SEMIFINAL SCORE
The semifinal saw Jones dismiss Manitoba’s Kate Cameron in 12-7 fashion.
Jones executed a double-takeout with hammer in the first end to secure a five-ender, sending her on her way to victory.It was her second five-count of the week.
“If you keep lots of rocks in play, you never know,” Jones said. “You might get a big end. And we got fortunate when Kate rubbed off and left me the double. That was obviously a big turning point in the game.”
Really, it was the end of Winnipeg’s Team Cameron, which unleashed quite the run at these Scotties all the way to the semifinal.
“We just tried to maintain the scoreboard at that point and hoped that we’d get a couple of breaks along the way,” said Cameron of trying to rebound after the five-ender. “Statistically, I don’t think it’s good odds after that point, but I think it was just focusing one end at a time and seeing if we could make something happen out there.”
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Cameron’s team from the Granite Curling Club of third Meghan Walter, second Kelsey Rocque, lead Mackenzie Elias and alternate Taylor McDonald managed to score deuces in each of the second, fourth and eighth ends, but Jones & Co. replied with two-counts in the third, fifth and seventh frames to continue their dominance on the scoreboard.
“As much as that loss sucks right now, the girls are going to take a lot from that,” Cameron said. “I think that’s one of the biggest games they’ve played in. Lots to learn from.
“This whole week we can pull from,” added Cameron, a 32-year-old Winnipeg native. “We turned some heads and won a few games people weren’t expecting. We knew we could. We just had to stay in that mentality of one game at a time — our backs have been against the wall since Thursday morning. So I think it was pretty impressive to make it to Sunday.”
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EXTRA ENDS
Sunday’s final was Jones’ 11th — the most-ever for a Scotties competitor. It was also capped her 18th appearance at the Scotties. Jones last won in 2018. Nobody has won more Scotties than Jones, who came into the night tied with Colleen Jones on six titles. The Manitoba skip also entered the night with three Scotties MVP awards … Homan last won the Scotties in 2017, which was her third take of the title at the national championship. The Ottawa skip made her seventh appearance in a final Sunday in just 10 Scotties journeys … Final attendance for the event was 63,971 fans … The 2025 Scotties Tournament of Hearts is slated for Fort William Gardens in Thunder Bay, Ont., Feb. 14-23, 2025.
tsaelhof@postmedia.comX-@ToddSaelhofPM
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