Star-studded duo off to Liverpool

GUELPH, ONT. — By the time Rachel Homan and Brendan Bottcher reached the final game of the second (of three) Canadian Olympic Trials mixed doubles qualifiers, they were on fire—as shown in the 8-1 score that ended the championship match after four ends.

“We played well,” said Bottcher, after a flawless performance against Lauren Wasylkiw and Shane Konings, who earned their spot in the final with a win over Laura Walker and Kirk Muyres earlier in the day.

“We learned a lot every game and just tried to build off the last game,” said Homan.

The star-studded pairing—which came together in the summer and remained after Bottcher left Team Homan as coach to join Team Gushue—reached the final with a 9-4 win over Ontario’s Laura Neil and Scott McDonald in the other Sunday.

Homan/Bottcher led that one from the start and finished it off with a score of three in the seventh end and handshakes.

In the other semifinal, Wasylkiw and Konings, the Unionville, Ontario-based (and recently engaged) couple, stole four ends on the way to a 6-2 win over Walker/Muyres.

Walker and Muyres, who sit in first place in the Canadian Mixed Doubles rankings (CMDR) and third in the world rankings, have already qualified for the Canadian Trials.

The semifinals featured a scary moment when Muyres’ brush handle snapped and he fell into a mess of rocks in the house. There were no immediate injuries, but a bit of clean-up was needed on the ice before the game could resume.

Homan and Bottcher join Walker/Muyres and the previous Trials qualifier champs, Brittany Tran and Rylan Kleiter, plus four other pairs who have already qualified for the Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials, taking place in Liverpool, N.S., Dec. 30 to Jan. 4.

Those other four squads are: 2024 national champs Kadriana and Colton Lott, Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant, Nancy Martin and Steve Laycock, and 2023 national champs Jennifer Jones and Brent Laing.

After the final Scott Pfeifer, Canada’s national coach for mixed doubles, told the enthusiastic crowd at the Guelph Curling Club that Homan and Bottcher have been working hard towards this goal.

“They kept asking me every week ‘How many points do we need, how many points do we need, how many points do we need?’ and I kept telling them “You just need to win one of these events.’ And that’s what they did.”

The last stop on the mixed doubles Trials qualification trail is Banff, Alta. from Dec. 5-8, which will include both yet-to-qualify and qualified teams from the first two qualification events, including Homan and Bottcher.

With this decisive win in the books and already qualified for the Trials, what are they looking for at the next event?

“More than anything, (we want) some more good games,” said Bottcher. “Some high-pressure situations against good teams that we’ll be seeing at the Trials (that) will hopefully do us some good… and otherwise go out there and play as good as we can again.”