Scotties tissues were needed

[With files from Curling Canada]

Tears flowed and hugs abounded as an emotional Sunday night curlfest delivered all the feels.

There were Scotties tissues on hand, of course.

Rachel Homan returned to the top of Canadian women’s curling after a six-year absence on a night that also served as a retrospective to the end of an era.

Calgary’s WinSport Event Centre exploded as Homan’s Ontario crew salted a 5-4 championship victory over living legend Jennifer Jones of Manitoba, who now says farewell to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

In 18 career appearances, the 49-year-old Jones achieved 14 podiums, won six titles, scored the most game wins (177) and most playoff wins (28).

Jones also won Olympic gold in 2014, the most recent Olympic Trials title and two world championship crowns.

But the night ultimately belonged to Homan and teammates Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew, Sarah Wilkes, Rachel Brown and coach Don Bartlett.

It’s a fourth national title for Homan and Miskew and their squad went undefeated—at 11-0—for only the third time in event history.

The Ottawa crew will now represent Canada at the world women’s championship at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S., running March 16-24.

Life has been an endurance run for Homan in recent years.

She missed the playoffs at two Olympic Games—in 2018 and in mixed doubles at Beijing 2022—and lost three straight Scotties finals in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

She has also leapt back onto the ice mere weeks or even days after giving birth—three times.

“I can’t describe the feeling of coming so close so many times and losing,” said Homan.

“I don’t know, it feels like seven finals and it’s just an amazing feeling.”

The Homanators are dominant this season. They have a 48-5 won/loss record (39-1 against Canadian teams) and have won six of their eight competitions outright.

The team shooting percentage for the 11-day WinSport rockfest was 88%.

It’s the second STOH title for Wilkes, who captured the 2019 crown with Chelsea Carey (and Brown) and the first for Northern Ontario import Fleury, who suffered a stunning loss to Jones in an extra end of the 2021 Olympic Trials championship final.

Homan gave special praise to Fleury.

“Tracy is such an unbelievable competitor,” said Homan. “So happy we could win it with her. Phenomenal to be able to do it with my kids here, except for one back home, he doesn’t sleep. Unbelievable feeling to be able to win it with all the support here … it means the world to us.”

It marked the second straight silver medal for Jones and her final four-player women’s lineup of Karlee Burgess, Emily Zacharias, Lauren Lenentine and coach Glenn Howard, who were upended in last year’s final by four-time champion Kerri Einarson.

“I’m going to miss everybody,” said Jones. “I love the game, I love being out here, I love what it’s done for my daughters, they believe that anything is possible because of curling.

“At this moment it’s really hard to say goodbye.”

Homan made sure there would be no great storybook ending to Jones’ outstanding career. She used the power of the big-weight runback to put away the Manitobans several times over the game, and when it was brandished, it was effective.

She made one in the fifth end that forced Jones to draw for a single, but the veteran came in hot, leading to a steal of one and a 3-1 Ontario lead.

Homan made another howitzer in the sixth, putting an end to a possible Manitoba deuce.

The game, though, came down to the 10th end, tied 4-4, and after Homan made a gentle tap back on her own stone to sit shot near the button, Jones tried to follow—but rubbed a guard and rolled away, leaving Ontario with the winning point.

“You don’t want to end on a miss but honestly I couldn’t have asked for a better championship,” said Jones. “The crowds were fantastic.

“I felt we played a really great game today. It could have gone either way but unfortunately it didn’t go our way.”

The two teams had put on an equally scintillating page playoff show on Saturday. Jones had the advantage in that one, but missed a shot for the victory and Homan stole the win.

Team Jones then walloped fellow Manitobans skipped by Kate Cameron 12-7 in the semifinal, after scoring a huge five-ender to start the match.

Jones, who will continue on in the sport playing the mixed doubles discipline with her husband Brent Laing, will make her four-player finale at the Players’ Championship in Toronto Apr. 9-14.