Team Homan wins first event at Tour Challenge; Team Edin victorious without skip

Rachel Homan captured her 12th career Grand Slam title on Sunday in Grande Prairie, Alta., but the very first with her tweaked lineup.

Ottawa's Team Homan defeated Kerri Einarson and the three-time defending Canadian champions from Gimli, Man., in the final of the Tour Challenge, 8-4.

Skip Tracy Fleury, who joined the squad this season as the new shot caller and third-rock thrower, fourth Homan, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes went 6-1 over the six-day event, taking home $30,000 of the $120,000 purse. 

Team Homan defeated Winnipeg's Team Kailyn Lawes and Sweden's Team Isabella Wrana in the playoffs en route to the final. Einarson took a one-point lead after scoring three in the second end, but Homan answered back with a trio of her own in the third end and would go on to score a deuce in the sixth. 

Einarson and company, who defeated Anna Hasselborg in the quarterfinal and Eunji Gim in semifinal this weekend, lost to the red-hot Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland in the first Grand Slam of the season two weeks ago. Tirinzoni was eliminated in the quarters in Grande Prairie. 

This was the second final of the season for the new-look Team Homan after falling to Team Jennifer Jones in the Saville Shoot-Out in September. The Ottawa-based foursome are now 17-5 on the season. 

At the Tour Challenge Tier 2 event, Vancouver's Team Clancy Grandy won their second event of the 2022-23 season, defeating Edmonton's Team Jessie Hunkin in the final. 8-2. 

Team Edin win without skip

Playing without their star skip, three-man Team Niklas Edin defeated Matt Dunstone and his Manitoba-based team in the men's final at the Tour Challenge. 

Oskar Eriksson, Rasmus Wrana and Christoffer Sundgren were without the six-time world champion for the last two games of the playoffs after Edin re-aggravated a knee injury prior to Saturday's semifinal against Brad Gushue. Team Edin stole a single in the extra end against Team Gushue to pick up the 6-5 win in a rematch of last year's World Men's Curling Championship final. 

The final against Dunstone was tied 1-1 through five ends, before Edin's shorthanded rink put up three spots in the sixth and eighth ends for the 7-3 win. 

Team Edin, who have won four straight world titles as well as the gold medal at last year's Olympics, went a perfect 7-0 at the Tour Challenge. 

This marked the third win of the season for the Swedes. They also fell to Gushue in the first Grand Slam of the season earlier this month. 

In the Tier 2 event, Team Korey Dropkin of the United States defeated Calgary's Team Aaron Sluchinski, 6-3, in the final.