Around the world, the biggest story on TV tonight would be the 85th Academy Awards taking place in Los Angeles. But in a sizeable number of Canadian households, I’ll wager, people tuned in instead to watch the Scotties final between Team Manitoba skipped by four-time Canadian champion Jennifer Jones and the young upstarts from Ontario skipped by Rachel Homan.
In the round-robin Jones finished first with a perfect 11-0 record. Homan was right behind her, finishing at 10-1, her only loss coming to Jones by a 9-7 score on Thursday. In the 1-2 Page playoff game, though, Holman got the better of Jones, winning 8-5. Earlier today Jones defeated Team Canada skipped by the hyperactive Heather Nedohin from Alberta in the semi-final, setting up a rematch with Homan.
On the line, a chance to represent Canada at the 2013 Women’s World Championship being held March 16-24 in Riga, Latvia — which would be a cool trip. And as you can perhaps tell from the fact that the Homan rink is pictured above, they’re the ones who ended up walking (or should I say, sliding?) away with the Canadian title, posting a 9-6 victory over Team Manitoba.
In their early to mid 20s, Homan and her teammates from the Ottawa Curling Club Emma Miskew, Lisa Weagle, Alison Kreviazuk (and alternate Stephanie Drew) seemed poised to be a dominant force in Canadian women’s curling for some time to come.