Rachel Homan

Women's Curling
Representing Canada
World Curling Championships
	2014 Saint John
	2013 Riga
World Junior Curling Championships
	2010 Flims
Representing Ontario
Canadian Olympic Curling Trials
	2013 Winnipeg
Scotties Tournament of Hearts
	2013 Kingston
	2014 Montreal
	2015 Moose Jaw
Canada Winter Games
	2007 Whitehorse

Rachel Catherine Homan^[1] (born April 5, 1989 in Ottawa) is a Canadian curler from Kanata, Ontario.^[2] Homan is a former Canadian Junior Champion and was the skip of the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship team.

Career

Bantam and Junior (2003-2010)

Homan began her dominance in the sport when she was bantam aged, winning four straight provincial bantam championships from 2003 to 2006. She had won four championships while no other curler had won even twice.

Homan's first two years at the junior level were somewhat disappointing, as her top-rated team failed to win a provincial championship. In 2007, her team lost the provincial final to Hollie Nicol's rink. In 2008, her team lost in the final to Danielle Inglis. However, these losses were amended by a provincial junior championship in 2009, earning her team a berth at the 2009 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. At the Canadian Juniors, she skipped the Ontario team to a 10-2 record after the round robin, giving her rink a bye to the final. However, she would lose to the defending champion Kaitlyn Lawes rink from Manitoba in the final. Homan won the 2010 provincial championship and went on to represent Ontario at the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. At the 2010 Canadian Junior Curling Championships, Rachel Homan, with Emma Miskew, Laura Crocker, and Lynn Kreviazuk won the Junior National Title in dramatic fashion by completing the event with an undefeated record of 13 wins and 0 losses - only the fourth women's team to do so. The team represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Curling Championships in Flims, Switzerland. The team dominated the tournament, losing just their final round robin game. However, the team came up short in the final, losing to Sweden.

At the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse, Yukon, Homan skipped her Ontario rink to a gold medal. (See Curling at the 2007 Canada Games.)

Prior to graduating from juniors in 2010, Homan's junior team was too young to participate in Scotties Tournament of Hearts playdowns, but this did not stop her from participating in Women's World Curling Tour events. Homan's top accomplishments in the tour have included winning two straight Southwestern Ontario Women's Charity Cashspiels. In 2007, she defeated then-World Champion Jennifer Jones, and in 2008 she beat the Chinese national team, skipped by Wang Bingyu. Her team earned $11,000 for each win. In 2009, she won the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic, winning $5,500 for her team. Later that year, her team participated in the Canadian Olympic Curling Pre-Trials, where her team finished with a record of three wins and three losses, and therefore not qualifying for the "Roar of the Rings", Canada's Olympic Trials.

In 2009, her rink was named the World Curling Tour's "rookie team of the year." ^[3]

Early women's (2010-2012)

In her first year of eligibility, the Homan rink qualified and won the 2011 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts. At the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Homan skipped the Ontario team to a 4th place finish. She finished the round robin in 3rd place, and lost in the bronze medal game to Nova Scotia's Heather Smith-Dacey after previously beating her in the 3 vs. 4 game. A semi-final loss to Saskatchewan's Amber Holland eliminated her from the finals.

In April 2011, Homan played third for her brother Mark, and won the 2012 Ontario Mixed Championship. The team which also consists of Brian Fleischhaker and teammate Alison Kreviazuk represented Ontario at the 2012 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship which was played in November 2011. The team finished with an 8-5 record and out of the playoffs.

Also in April 2011, Homan's women's team made it to her first Grand Slam final of her career, when she lost to Jennifer Jones in the final of the 2011 Players' Championship. Later that year she would play in her first Canada Cup where her team finished with a 2-4 record.

Homan once again qualified for the provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts in 2012. Her team went undefeated throughout the round robin. However, the team would be bested in the final by Tracy Horgan's rink from Sudbury. Homan, who was up one with hammer, missed a draw to the button to clinch the victory on her final rock. Instead, she gave up three and lost.

Scotties champions and world bronze medalists (2012-2013)

The 2012-13 curling season has been Homan's most successful to date on the World Curling Tour. In her first Grand Slam event of the season, the 2012 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic, her team lost to Sherry Middaugh in the final. In the second Grand Slam event of the season, the 2012 Manitoba Lotteries Women's Curling Classic, Homan's rink once again lost in the final, this time to Stefanie Lawton. The team lost in the semi-final of the third Slam, the 2012 Colonial Square Ladies Classic but followed it up with her first ever Grand Slam victory at the 2012 Masters of Curling where she beat Chelsea Carey in the final. Outside of the Grand Slams, Homan won her 2nd Royal LePage OVCA Women's Fall Classic of her career. Later in the season, she qualified for her second Scotties Tournament of Hearts by going undefeated at the 2013 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Homan began the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts by winning the Ford Hot Shots skills competition.^[4] The Homan rink tore through the competition representing Ontario at the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kingston, Ontario. The team lost just one game, to Manitoba's Jennifer Jones. This gave the rink a 10-1 record, 2nd behind Manitoba who went undefeated. However in their first playoff game against Jones, the Homan rink made amends by defeating Jones 8-5. This put the Homan team in the final, where they faced Jones once again, and this time would beat them again, by a score of 9-6. With the win, the Homan rink becomes the first Ottawa-based team to win the Canadian women's curling championship. The win earned Homan and her team the right to represent Canada at the 2013 World Women's Curling Championship in Riga, Latvia. At the World championships, the Homan rink led Canada to an 8-3 round robin finish, which put them in third place. In the playoffs, they beat the United States (skipped by Erika Brown) in the 3 vs. 4 game, but they then lost to Scotland (skipped by Eve Muirhead in the semi-final, after Homan missed her last shot of the game, jamming a double takeout. After the loss, Homan would go on to beat the Americans once again, this time in the bronze medal game. The Homan rink wrapped up the season by losing in the quarter final of the 2013 Players' Championship.

Scotties repeat champions and world silver medalists (2013-14)

The defending Canadian champion Homan rink had a less successful start to their season in 2013-14. The team failed to win World Curling Tour event until winning the 2013 Masters, where she beat Muirhead in the final. Up until this point, Muirhead's rink had Homan's number, having also defeated her team in the semi-finals of the 2013 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic. Having made the playoffs in every Grand Slam event in 2012-13, the team failed to miss the playoffs at the 2013 Colonial Square Ladies Classic.

Homan's success over the last couple of seasons qualified her team for an automatic entry at the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials. At the Trials, the team sneaked into the playoffs with a 4-3 round robin record, which was good enough for second place. However, in the semi-final of the event, the team would be defeated by Sherry Middaugh, ending the team's 2014 Olympic hopes.

As defending Scotties champions from 2013, the Homan rink earned the right to represent Team Canada at the 2014 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Montreal. The event was notable for the absence of the Jennifer Jones rink who was competing at the Olympics. Nevertheless, the Homan team went through the entire tournament without a single loss, defeating Alberta's Val Sweeting in the final. Homan became the youngest skip ever to win back-to-back Scotties. Homan was awarded the Sandra Schmirler Most Valuable Player Award, and ended the event with a stellar 90% shooting percentage.

Homan's 2014 Scotties win earned her team a berth at the 2014 Ford World Women's Curling Championship in Saint John, New Brunswick. The team had a better event than the previous worlds, as they only lost one round robin game to finish first place heading into the playoffs. The team defeated Switzerland's Binia Feltscher in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game, but were unable to beat them again when they faced each other in the final match. Homan and the rest of her Canadian team thus had to settle for a silver medal.

The Homan rink ended the season with a loss in the final of the 2014 Players' Championship against the Olympic gold medalist Jennifer Jones. The match marked the last game for second Alison Kreviazuk on the team, as she will be moving to Sweden to be with her boyfriend Fredrik Lindberg who plays for Niklas Edin. Kreviazuk had played for Homan since they were bantam aged. Kreviazuk was replaced by Joanne Courtney from Edmonton.

Joanne Courtney era (2014-present)

The Homan rink found less success in the 2014–15 curling season after adding new second Joanne Courtney to the team. The team did not win any Slam events, losing in the finals of the 2014 Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic (against Jennifer Jones) and the 2014 Canadian Open of Curling (against Eve Muirhead). The team also lost in the final of the 2014 Canada Cup of Curling against Valerie Sweeting. As defending champions, the team represented Team Canada at the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The team finished the round robin in 4th place with a 7-4 record. In the playoffs they would lose to Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton in the 3 vs. 4 game, but rebounded in the bronze medal game in a re-match against the Lawton rink, beating them 7-5. That season, the team would win one World Curling Tour event, the Pomeroy Inn & Suites Prairie Showdown held in March. That season, the team also won the inaugural 2016 Women's All-Star Curling Skins Game, taking home $52,000.

The team found much more success in the 2015–16 curling season, but were still wrought with some disappointment. They began the season with a win in the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard, followed by a loss in the first Slam, the 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge against Switzerland's Silvana Tirinzoni. The team then went on to win six Tour events in a row, the Stockholm Ladies Cup, the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic (no longer a Slam), the 2015 Masters of Curling, the 2015 National, the 2015 Canada Cup of Curling and the 2015 Canadian Open of Curling, amassing a huge lead in both the World Curling Tour Order of Merit and Money standings in the process. After this impressive run, the team's success seemed to dry-up. They were upset in the finals of the 2016 Ontario Scotties Tournament of Hearts against their club mates, the Jenn Hanna team, meaning the World #1 ranked Homan team would not be able to play in the national championships that year. The team was invited to play in the 2016 Elite 10 men's Grand Slam event, making history in the process. The team would only win one game in the event though, beating Charley Thomas' team. The team ended the season losing against Jennifer Jones in the final of the 2016 Humpty's Champions Cup. The Homan rink's success over the course of the season meant the team would end the season ranked number one in the world in both the Women's money list and order of merit standings.

Personal life

Homan attended Cairine Wilson Secondary School and graduated from the University of Ottawa with a degree in Human Kinetics in 2011. ^[5]

Year by year statistics

Year	Team	Position	Event	Finish	Record	Pct.*
2003	Homan (RCC)	Skip	Ontario Bantam	1st	N/A	-
2003	Bushfield (CVCC)	Third	Ontario Bantam Mixed	1st	N/A	-
2004	Homan (CVCC)	Skip	Ontario Bantam	1st	N/A	-
2005	Homan (CVCC)	Skip	Ontario Bantam	1st	N/A	-
2006	Homan (CVCC)	Skip	Ontario Bantam	1st	N/A	-
2006	Homan (CVCC)	Skip	Ontario Winter Games	1st	N/A	-
2007	Homan (CVCC)	Skip	Ontario Juniors	3rd	N/A	-
2007	Ontario (Homan)	Skip	Canada Winter Games	1st	7-0	-
2008	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Ontario Juniors	2nd	5-4	-
2009	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Ontario Juniors	1st	8-0	-
2009	Ontario (Homan)	Skip	Canadian Juniors	2nd	10-3	80
2009	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Olympic Pre-Q	5th	3-3	75
2010	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Ontario Juniors	1st	7-1	-
2010	Ontario (Homan)	Skip	Canadian Juniors	1st	13-0	84
2010	Canada (Homan)	Skip	World Juniors	2nd	9-2	-
2011	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Ontario STOH	1st	10-1	-
2011	Ontario (Homan)	Skip	2011 STOH	4th	9-5	79
2012**	M. Homan (RCC)	Third	Ontario Mixed	1st	7-3	-
2012**	Ontario (M. Homan)	Third	(Canadian Mixed)	6th	8-5	75
2011	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Canada Cup	4th	2-4	79 ^[6]
2012	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Ontario STOH	2nd	10-1	-
2013	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Ontario STOH	1st	11-0	-
2013	Ontario (Homan)	Skip	2013 STOH	1st	12-1	83
2013	Canada (Homan)	Skip	2013 WCC	3rd	9-4	82
2013	Homan	Skip	2013 COCT	3rd	4-4	79
2014	North America	Skip	Cont'l Cup	1st	2-0-1	81
2014	Team Canada (Homan)	Skip	2014 STOH	1st	13-0	90
2014	Canada (Homan)	Skip	2014 WCC	2nd	11-2	85
2014	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Canada Cup	2nd	5-2	79 ^[7]
2015	Canada	Skip	Cont'l Cup	1st	4-0-0	80^[8]
2015	Team Canada (Homan)	Skip	2015 STOH	3rd	8-5	80
2015	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Canada Cup	1st	6-1	81 ^[9]
2016	North America	Skip	Cont'l Cup	1st	2-0-1	85^[10]
2016	Homan (OCC)	Skip	Ontario STOH	2nd	9-2
Scotties Tournament of Hearts Totals					42-11	83
World Championship Totals					20-6	84
Olympic Curling Trial Totals					4-4	79

* Round robin only ** Event occurred in the 2011 calendar year, but was billed as the 2012 edition.

Teams

Season	Skip	Third	Second	Lead	Notes
2002–03	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Nikki Johnston
2003–04	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Nikki Johnston
2004–05	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Nikki Johnston
2005–06	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Lynn Kreviazuk	Jamie Sinclair	Team qualified for the 2007 Canada Games
2006–07	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Nikki Johnston	For the Canada Games team, see previous season
2007–08	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Lynn Kreviazuk
2008–09	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Lynn Kreviazuk
2009–10	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Lynn Kreviazuk	Laura Crocker for A. Kreviazuk in junior events
2010–11	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Lisa Weagle	Alternate Sherry Middaugh for Scotties
2011–12	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Lisa Weagle
2012–13	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Lisa Weagle	Alternate Stephanie LeDrew for Scotties
2013–14	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Alison Kreviazuk	Lisa Weagle	Alternate Heather Smith for Olympic Trials Alternate Stephanie LeDrew for Scotties
2014–15	Rachel Homan	Emma Miskew	Joanne Courtney	Lisa Weagle	Alternate Cheryl Kreviazuk for Scotties

Grand Slam record

Key
C	Champion
F	Lost in Final
SF	Lost in Semifinal
QF	Lost in Quarterfinals
R16	Lost in the round of 16
Q	Did not advance to playoffs
T2	Played in Tier 2 event
DNP	Did not participate in event
N/A	Not a Grand Slam event that season

Event	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16
Tour Challenge	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	F
Masters	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	C	C	SF	C
The National	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	C
Canadian Open	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	F	C
Players'	QF	DNP	F	DNP	QF	F	SF	QF
Champions Cup	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	F

Former events

Event	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15
Autumn Gold	DNP	DNP	DNP	Q	F	SF	F
Colonial Square	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	SF	Q	DNP
Wayden Transportation	SF	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Sobeys Slam	DNP	N/A	Q	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries	DNP	DNP	Q	Q	F	DNP	N/A

Men's events

Homan's rink was invited to play in the 2016 Elite 10, which is the only men's only slam left on the tour. There, her team managed one win (over Charley Thomas) in the round robin, and lost three, missing the playoffs.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rachel Homan.

Rachel Homan on the World Curling Tour database

Rachel Homan on the World Curling Federation database

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