Team skip Rachel Homan lines up a shot.
The Homan rink of the Ottawa Curling Club on O’Connor Street breezed effortlessly through the Ontario junior curling championships earlier this month, securing a spot at nationals in British Columbia beginning Jan. 31.
Skip Rachel Homan and her teammates Emma Miskew, Alison Kreviazuk, and Lynn Kreviazuk finished the provincial competition undefeated on Jan. 11, giving them entry to the 2009 M&M Meat Shops Canadian Juniors in Salmon Arm, B.C.
Fellow Centretown rink – Katie Morrissey’s team from the Rideau Curling Club – also made it to the provincial finals, but lost to the Homan rink for the championship.
“Congratulations to the winning team,” the Rideau club writes on it’s website. “You girls have had an amazing year and we know it will continue.”
Homan, 19, says the team expects to play well and win at the Canadian junior curling competition because of all their hard work.
“I am pretty excited,” she says. “We’ve never been to nationals.”
Team third Miskew, 19, says she feels honoured to represent Ontario at the national level.
“The feeling is beyond words to be honest,” she says. “It has been a goal of our team for years now and it has finally become true. Once we won that last game, there was a huge relief off our shoulders knowing we had finally achieved our goal. We can now focus on the next step, which is very exciting.”
The Ottawa Curling Club foursome defeated every other team, capturing an 8-0 run through the provincial curling contest.
The team might have celebrated more, but one of the rules of the competition is you can’t have alcohol for 24 hours after the event, says Coach Earle Morris. Instead they sat around eating Chinese food and talking about the victory.
Morris says the team has been a favourite for three years, so winning the provincial championship brought both a sense of relief and sense of accomplishment.
“When you’re one of the favourites, the longer you go without making it, pressure builds because there’s an expectation from you and the parents and everyone else,” he says. “This has been your number one goal for the year and you achieved it, so it’s a very satisfying feeling.”
The team was less nervous this year, which gave it an edge in the competition, says Homan.
“Looking back, we knew we could make it all the way. Last year we had never been in a provincial final, so we were a little less nervous this year than last year.”
The team made it to the Ontario juniors in 2008, but lost to Inglis in the championship.
The four-woman team is now focused on the national competition and hopes to earn a spot at Olympic trials this year.
“Rachel, myself and Lynn competed at Canada Winter Games representing Ontario two years ago, but it’s completely different,” says Miskew.
“We can try to take that experience into the Canadian juniors. We hope to contend for the title and do our best in wearing our Ontario crest on our backs.”