Canada's Team Homan to play for Pan Continental gold after semifinal win over China

LACOMBE, Alta. — Canada's Rachel Homan will play for gold at the Pan Continental curling championship after posting a 6-5 extra-end victory over China's Wang Rui in semifinal action Friday.

Homan didn't need to throw her final stone in the extra end after a last-gasp double takeout attempt by Wang only removed one Canadian stone.

Wang looked poise to score three in the 10th end and win the game in regulation, but Homan's outturn freeze forced China to make a draw for two and give Canada the hammer for the extra end.

"We stuck together," Homan said. "We definitely wanted some shots back, but honestly, we played a really good game. They (China) just played crazy good, so it was just one of our few mistakes here and there were a little bit more evident when they played so well."

Homan's Ottawa team, which includes vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes, will face defending champion South Korea in Saturday's final.

Canada defeated Eunji Gim and the Koreans 8-2 in round-robin play on Wednesday.

"I know that we’re going to see a better team than we saw earlier in the round robin," Homan said. "That wasn’t them, so I’m sure we’re going to get another game like we had in the semi here."

Later Friday, Canada's Brad Gushue faced American John Shuster in the men's bronze-medal game

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2024.