Opponents continue to make Rachel Homan’s pursuit of her first Olympic curling berth difficult.
But for the second straight game, the reigning women’s world champion gutted out a victory with a 4-2 decision against Krista McCarville on Monday morning at the 2018 Winter Games trials in Ottawa.
Calgary’s Chelsea Carey handed Homan (2-1) an opening-draw loss on Saturday before the latter rebounded Sunday with an 8-7 win in extra ends over Julie Tippin.
Homan took an early 2-0 lead against McCarville with single points in the second and third ends before the Thunder Bay, Ont., native cut the deficit in half in the fourth.
The skips later exchanged points before Homan held on to a 3-2 advantage with a double takeout in the ninth end. With the hammer in the 10th and final end, the 28-year-old Ottawa native came through with a double on her last rock to score one to cement her 11th win in 12 career matches versus the 35-year-old McCarville (1-2).
On the men’s side in Draw 6, reigning world champion Brad Gushue of St. John’s posted an 8-6 victory by erasing a 5-4 deficit to Winnipeg’s John Morris, hitting a tap to score four points in the eighth end for back-to-back wins.
Gushue gave up three points in the third end after ticking a guard, but pulled even in the fourth with a deuce. He shot 80 per cent on the game while his team was at 81 per cent.
“I thought we put a lot of good ends together this morning that we hadn’t done in the first two games,” Gushue said.
Gushue improved to 2-1 in round-robin play while Morris, from Vernon, B.C., is winless in three starts.
Five rinks are undefeated entering the afternoon draw Monday at Canadian Tire Centre.
They include Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (3-0), Carey (2-0) and Casey Scheidegger (2-0) of Lethbridge, Alta., in the women’s draw. Calgary’s Kevin Koe (3-0) and Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (2-0) are unbeaten in the men’s draw.
“Everyone is at the top of their game,” Homan said. “Every game is going to need 10 or 11 [ends].”
Round-robin play continues through Friday and the finals are scheduled for Sunday. The winning teams will represent Canada at the Feb. 9-25 Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea.
Round-robin play continues through Friday and the finals are set for Dec. 10.
