As one of the top women's rinks in the world over the last decade, expectations are usually quite high for the members of Team Rachel Homan.
The season after one of the most dominant campaigns in curling history is no exception.
Homan, Tracy Fleury, Emma Miskew and Sarah Wilkes remain the top-ranked team in the world after going 67-7 in 2023-24 and claiming national and world championships.
"We're not looking to have to surpass what we did last year in order to have a successful season," Miskew said. "We're trying to build off all of the work that we put in and try to be as consistent as we can out there.
"That's all that we can really control. We're going to try our best and that's all we can do."
The Ottawa-based team picked up where it left off last weekend by running the table at the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic.
Homan's side — guided by new coach Brendan Bottcher — completed an 8-0 performance with a 6-5 final victory over second-ranked Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland at the Cornwall Curling Club.
The squad outscored the opposition 51-23 overall.
Bottcher, who split with his four-player men's team last spring, is also playing mixed doubles with Homan this season. He succeeded Don Bartlett as coach of Homan's four-player team and is off to a perfect start.
"He's got just a wealth of knowledge in strategy," Homan said. "Obviously he was No. 1 or 2 in the world on the men's side and that's pretty tough to do. He's got a few things that he thinks can help us.
"We're trying to find a few percentage points here and there. He's just such a positive person and just really great to be around."
The team will return to the ice as defending champions at the Sept. 25-29 PointsBet Invitational in Calgary.
Bartlett decided to step back from his coaching role and do some travelling this winter. Bottcher is expected to be on the coach's bench at most events this season.
Homan and Bottcher are also off to a good start on the mixed doubles front. They won a competition earlier this month in Saskatoon and plan to play several events this fall as they aim to secure a berth in the Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials.
Five teams, including reigning national champions Kadriana Lott and Colton Lott, have qualified for the Dec. 30-Jan. 4 playdowns in Liverpool, N.S. The winner will represent Canada at the Milan Olympics in February 2026.
Direct-entry qualifying events are set for Oct. 31-Nov. 3 in Abbotsford, B.C., Nov. 21-24 in Guelph, Ont., and Dec. 5-8 in Banff/Canmore, Alta. National rankings will then be used to complete the 16-team field.
The previous mixed doubles trials were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Curling Canada named Homan and John Morris as the Canadian duo for the Beijing Games in 2022, but they did not make the playoffs.
Morris won gold with Kaitlyn Lawes when the discipline made its Olympic debut at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
BIG SMOKE
The Grand Slam of Curling will hold its season-ending competition — the Princess Auto Players' Championship — at its usual Toronto venue after all.
The circuit's five-event calendar will conclude April 8-13 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre, according to the tour's website.
The Players' Championship dates and arena were marked as TBA earlier this month.
COACH HOWARD
Glenn Howard will remain as busy as ever on the curling scene even though he ended his four-decade playing career at the end of last season.
Howard will serve as coach of Team Chelsea Carey and Team Scott Howard for the upcoming campaign.
Carey, from Winnipeg, holds the No. 5 position in the women's world rankings. Howard, from Tiny, Ont., has the No. 31 spot in the men's rankings.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2024.
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Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
