Cheryl Kreviazuk to join Team Homan as fifth for Scotties
A familiar face will be behind the boards again for Ontario’s Team Rachel Homan at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Sportsnet.ca has learned Homan, who captured her fourth provincial title Sunday, has selected Cheryl Kreviazuk as her team’s alternate for the Canadian women’s curling championship taking place Feb. 16-24 in Sydney, N.S.
Kreviazuk has served as the team’s fifth player on the bench in the past including the 2015 and 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts earning bronze and gold medals, respectively. The 26-year-old also captured gold with Team Homan at the 2017 world championship.
“We’re excited to bring Cheryl as our alternate for the Scotties again this year, it was an easy choice for us,” Team Homan third Emma Miskew said. “She fits in so well with our team, is a great player and makes sure we’re taken care of off the ice as well.”
Although Kreviazuk continued on as their fifth player for the Roar of the Rings in their hometown of Ottawa, where Team Homan earned the right to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics, she did not join them for the trip overseas to Pyeongchang, South Korea. Cheryl Bernard, the 2010 Olympic silver medallist skip who stepped back from competitive curling four years prior, joined in her place.
Kreviazuk, who is a two-time Canadian university champion with the Laurier Golden Hawks, currently throws second stones for Toronto’s Team Hollie Duncan winning the Ontario provincial curling championship last season and reaching the championship round at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Team Duncan had a heartbreaking title defence attempt last week in Elmira, Ont., with no power or heat to start the week at their Airbnb rental. Their skip, who is several months pregnant, missed their final round-robin game against Homan as she had to make an emergency trip to a hospital. Duncan returned immediately for the next draw with her team needing to win a last-chance tiebreaker in order to qualify for the playoffs, but they came up short against eventual finalists Team Julie Tippin.
Kreviazuk is the youngest of three sisters with both of her older siblings playing with Team Homan previously as well. Eldest sister Alison Kreviazuk won back-to-back Masters Grand Slam of Curling and Scotties Tournament of Hearts championships with Homan during the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons. Alison left the team at the end of that Olympic cycle to move to Sweden.
Middle sibling Lynn Kreviazuk competed with Team Homan during juniors and into the start of their women’s career winning gold medals for Ontario at the 2007 Canada Winter Games and 2010 Canadian junior curling championships plus silver at the 2010 world juniors.