Homan to take over full skip duties; team adds Bartlett as coach
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With the 2023-24 curling season barely underway, Ottawa's Team Rachel Homan announced a handful of updates regarding their squad on Sunday.
The most notable change will be Homan taking over full skip duties as the shot caller and last rock thrower. Tracy Fleury, who joined Team Homan last season and called the game while throwing third stones, will be the team's full-time vice.
"We believe in pushing ourselves to be the best we can be," said Fleury in a team release. "These changes reflect our determination to continually evolve to enhance our performance, individually and as a team. It has been a different training experience over the summer for me personally, but I embraced the challenge, and I am excited to hit the ice with this team in September."
In addition to the lineup shuffle, Team Homan, also featuring lead Sarah Wilkes and second Emma Miskew, will have a new coach this year with Olympic silver medalist Don Bartlett replacing the departing Ryan Fry.
Bartlett, 63, was one of the best leads of all-time during his playing days, winning Briers in 1991 and 1997 as well as silver medals at the World Men's Curing Championship in 1991 and Winter Olympics in 2002 as a member of Kevin Martin's rink.
He also served as the coach of Brendan Bottcher's former team that captured the Brier Tankard in 2021.
Homan announced at the end of last season that she was pregnant with her third child and has an expected due date of Sept. 10.
As a result, Team Homan announced in a release on Sunday that two-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Heather Nedohin will spare for Homan during their first event of the season at the Saville Shootout in Edmonton from Sept. 7-13.
Team Homan's next scheduled event is the PointsBet Invitational in Oakville at the end of September.