By the Numbers: Team Homan's 2023-24 season
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Rachel Homan and her foursome from the Ottawa Curling Club are putting together one of the greatest seasons in Canadian history.
Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, and lead Sarah Wilkes will represent the country at next month's World Women's Curling Championship in Sydney, N.S., after capturing the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title in dominating fashion, defeating legendary skip Jennifer Jones, 5-4, in Sunday's final from Calgary.
Let's take a closer look at some of the impressive numbers Homan and company have put together so far in their 2023-24 curling campaign.
11-0 at the Scotties
Team Homan are just the third rink in history to run the table in the playoff era of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
The team won all eight of their round-robin games and three more in the playoffs at WinSport Arena, leading all major statistical categories, including points for (90), points against (43), stolen ends (17) and stolen ends allowed (two).
They also defeated Team Jones three times over 10 days in Calgary.
As a group, Team Homan shot a tournament-leading 88 per cent, with their skip recording an 89 per cent shooting percentage – eight points better than Canada's Kerri Einarson, who finished second among skips.
Third Tracy Fleury, who captured her first Scotties title, shot a Scotties-best 89 per cent as well.
At the 2014 Scotties in Montreal, Homan posted a perfect 13-0 record to capture her second career Canadian women's curling championship, beating Alberta's Val Sweeting in the gold-medal game.
British Columbia's Linda Moore accomplished the same feat in 1985.
Jones won all 11 of her round-robin games in 2013, before dropping the 1 vs. 2-page playoff as well as the championship game to Homan.
Saskatchewan's Emily Farnham (1974), Manitoba's Betty Duguid (1967), Alberta's Gail Lee (1966), British Columbia's Ina Hansen (1962) and Saskatchewan's Joyce McKee (1961) all posted perfect round-robin records before the introduction of the playoffs in 1979.
Homan, Fleury and Miskew were all named to the First All-Star Team while Wilkes was on the Second All-Star Team.
48-5
Team Homan have played 53 games so far this season and have won 48 of them. That's a .905 winning percentage.
Their domestic dominance is even more impressive given that they hold a 39-1 record against Canadian teams in 2023-24, with their lone loss coming to Team Einarson at the Tour Challenge in October, the only event where they failed to qualify for the playoffs.
Against international teams, Team Homan is 9-4, dropping games to South Korea's Team Eunji Gim (National final in November), Italy's Team Stefania Constantini, and two games to Team EunJung Kim of South Korea.
Gim and Constantini will both compete at the women's worlds in March. Homan is 3-0 against four-time defending women's world champion Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland this season.
Team Homan have played eight events this season, winning six times, including the season-opening Saville Shootout in September when Homan was sidelined after recently giving birth to her third child.
The foursome are currently on a 16-game win streak as they enter the world championships on home soil.
Four Scotties Titles
With their win on Sunday night, Homan and Miskew, who have been teammates for all of their curling lives, have won four Canadian women's curling championships.
Fleury earned her first, while Wilkes captured her second career title after winning with Chelsea Carey in 2019.
Homan and Miskew won back-to-back years in 2013 and 2014 before winning again in 2017. Team Homan would then miss the top step of the podium for six years, losing the gold-medal game three straight times form 2019-2021.
One of the major storylines this week was Jones attempting to win a recording-breaking seventh Scotties title to pass skip Colleen Jones and former teammate Jill Officer.
Jennifer Jones and Officer won their fourth Tournament of Hearts in 2010 at the age of 35 and 34, respectively. Colleen Jones won her fourth championship in 2002 at the age of 42. Homan is 34, while Miskew is 35.
The list of active players with four or more Scotties titles also includes Shannon Birchard, with five, as well as teammates Kerri Einarson, Val Sweeting and Brianne Harris, all with four.