Tirinzoni tops Homan to successfully defend AMJ Players’ Championship women’s title
TORONTO — And still champions: Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni successfully defended the AMJ Players’ Championship women’s title with a 5-4 victory over Canada’s Team Rachel Homan in Sunday’s final at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
It’s the fifth career Grand Slam of Curling championship for Tirinzoni, who defeated Homan in a rematch — but not a repeat — of last month’s World Women’s Curling Championship gold medal game.
The Aarau-based squad of Tirinzoni, fourth Alina Pätz, second Carole Howald and lead Selina Witschonke collected $60,000 from the prize purse.
“It feels amazing,” Pätz said. “Even if we would have lost the final, I think it’s a good finish, but now to have the trophy in our hands, it’s even better.”
Tirinzoni said earlier in the week she wasn’t sure how the team was going to play since they hadn’t practised a lot after losing to Homan at the women’s worlds last month, but they felt comfortable out on the ice.
“I think it was more important to actually get some rest than practice, it looked like, so everyone was really hungry to get on the ice again,” Tirinzoni said. “The summer is just around the corner, but there was no other place we wanted to be here this week. It’s a big motivation to play in a big tournament like this.”
Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes banked $40,000 to add to a season of riches.
The two-time reigning world champs from Ottawa reached the final in all 10 events the team played, including the five Grand Slam events. Homan won the Co-op Canadian Open and KIOTI National and also finished runner-up at the HearingLife Tour Challenge and WFG Masters.
Although the teams are fierce rivals on the ice, they’re good friends off it. After Homan defeated Tirinzoni in the Co-op Canadian Open final, the Swiss squad showed up to the post-game celebration wearing “Homan Empire” sweatshirts. Team Homan returned the favour, arriving at the KIOTI National wearing Team Tirinzoni gear.
“On ice, you just try to win, try to kick the other team’s asses, so that’s what we tried to do,” Pätz said with a smile. “Off the ice, we’re friends. It’s a show. At the end, curling is a game and curling is a show. It’s nice to win, but it doesn’t mean that off the ice we’re the same, like against each other. Off the ice, friends. On the ice, we are competitors.”
Tirinzoni opened the scoring with a single in the third end, sitting shot rock on the button but with no easy path for a second point. Pätz attempted to raise a guard to the button and had the right angle, but tapped it a touch too hard.
The point that got away came back for Team Tirinzoni after Pätz pulled off a pivotal perfect freeze to sit shot rock on the button. It was now Homan’s turn to try and angle raise a guard to dislodge it, however, she missed the target to give up a steal and fall behind 2-0.
“I think it was really important,” Pätz said. “If I miss it completely, they get three, and it’s a totally different game. To make that was really important and gave us the lead we needed to win in the end.”
Tirinzoni turned up the pressure in the fifth, sitting four counters in the house to force Homan to hit for only one point.
Homan left Pätz an open draw for a multiple score in six — the question was, how many? Pätz just barely bit the eight-foot circle to guarantee a deuce and out came the measuring stick. They checked it twice and determined Homan held the third shot. Still, that gave Tirinzoni a 4-1 lead with two ends to play.
The plot thickened in the seventh as Homan tied it up with a draw for three points, as it looked like another comeback was brewing. Tirinzoni, who entered the match 0-5 against Homan this season, wasn’t having it.
“Oh, she had so many comebacks against us. I feel like we had a few games in the past where we were actually in the lead and then we let it go away,” Tirinzoni said. “This time, it looked like it was going to happen again. I just said, no. This time, no. This time, we’re going to finish the job.”
Homan sat two stones tight in the house during the decisive eighth end, but Pätz blasted them both out, and her shooter stayed in the rings to count for the winning point.
The Grand Slam of Curling returns in the fall with the WFG Masters kicking off the 2025-26 season, Sept. 23-28, at the Western Fair Sports Centre in London, Ont.
