News Players' Championship

TORONTO — Ottawa’s Rachel Homan continues to roll at the Players’ Championship clinching a playoff spot with a 4-0 record. 

The recently crowned Rogers Grand Slam Cup champion shut out Calgary’s Chelsea Carey 10-0 during Draw 9 Thursday night.

It’s been a couple of months since Team Homan played in a women’s event with the foursome competing in the Elite 10 men’s invitational last month and pairing off for the national mixed doubles championship.

“It’s such a thrill to be back on the ice again,” Team Homan second Joanne Courtney said. “It’s been a little while since we’ve played as a four-person team in a women’s event so it feels really good to be out there. We were all in the mixed doubles a couple weeks ago and it’s nice to be back within our team and doing all of our jobs that we do well and we’re having a lot of fun out there.”

Homan opened the scoring with a deuce in the first and rode the steal train swiping one point in the second and two in the third. The reigning Canadian champion Carey (0-4) continued to struggle in the fourth end coming up light on the draw resulting in a steal of five more points and early handshakes.

“We’re just trying to learn the ice each game and continue to work as a team to make as many shots as we can and I think we did a good job at that tonight,” Courtney said. “The goal is to learn the ice and feel comfortable going into playoffs and continue to build towards the weekend here so I think we did just that.”

Meanwhile, Alina Paetz of Switzerland got into the win column big time scoring three sets of deuces and stealing four in the sixth during a 10-2 rout over Russia’s Anna Sidorova. Both teams now hold 1-2 records. 

“It was pretty good,” said Paetz, winner of the world championship a year ago. “I mean, we played two good games yesterday, lost both of them, but it felt good to be out there tonight and I think we played well.” 

Paetz not only has a spare for the event with Briar Huerlimann filling in at second for the injured Marisa Winkelhausen, but Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling emcee Peter Steski is pulling double duty behind the bench as the team’s coach.

“Actually, he does a really good job,” Paetz admitted. “He figures out all of the rocks, gives us lots of information and his timeouts are pretty good.” 

Val Sweeting also earned her first win of the tournament with an 8-2 victory in six ends over Kelsey Rocque in an all-Edmonton matchup. Sweeting (1-2) scored a deuce in the first, stole three in the third and added another three-count in six for early handshakes. Rocque, who was held to a single in four and stole one in five, is now even at 2-2. 

Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni remains undefeated at 3-0 earning a 7-4 win over Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont. Fleury fell to a 1-3 record.

In the lone men’s division game, Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., got the single in the eighth end to beat Niklas Edin of Sweden 4-3. Both teams hold 2-2 records.

NOTES: The Players’ Championship is the fourth major and sixth event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. … The Rogers Grand Slam Cup will also be awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship. Homan mathematically clinched the women’s title with the men’s champion to be determined. … Winners of the Players’ Championship earn berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 26 to May 1 in Sherwood Park, Alta.