Roar Of The Rings: Jennifer Jones versus Rachel Homan looms large as the pressure mounts

When Rachel Homan defeated Jennifer Jones to win the Scotties last February, she and her teammates seemed an unstoppable force that week, especially in the championship game, beating Jones 9-6 and forcing seasoned vets to wonder if they still had what it takes to match up against the young team.

Now, as the highly anticipated rematch between the two comes at the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials (Roar Of The Rings) tonight, the roles are almost completely reversed.

Jones has her squad, including teammates Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen, cooking with gas while Homan and her team continue to scuffle and struggle to find the form. It's to their credit that they've been able to scramble their way to a 3 and 2 record, just back of Jones and her 4 and 1 mark. With Val Sweeting dropping a 7-6 decision to Sherry Middaugh, Homan finds herself right in the thick of it, tied with Sweeting and Chelsea Carey (a 6-4 winner over Renee Sonnenberg) in the standings.

A spectacular up-weight shot with her last rock of the seventh end gave Jones a three-spot and a 6-2 lead over Stefanie Lawton, in Wednesday morning action at the MTS Centre. It was a clutch shot by Jones, who had a reasonable hope of scoring two with a double takeout. However, she hit it so well that a third Lawton stone was pushed to the back twelve, giving the team from Winnipeg a bonus. Just a matter of time after that and a Jones deuce in the ninth ended it, with an 8-3 final score.

While Jones and company came out of the gate hard, this week, and have made very few mistakes - a terrible seventh end against Sweeting, which led to their only loss of the competition so far is a lonely example - Homan has had a knack of making lemonade out of lemons.

Good thing. Because she and her teammates continue to scatter the ice with those lemons, especially in the draw game. That was in evidence again as Homan outlasted Heather Nedohin, 5-3.

Struggling with weight, something she's done since the tournament began on Sunday, Homan turned a draw that came up short of the rings into more lemonade against Nedohin.

In a 1-1 tie after five ends, Homan looked to make a two-spot possible with a draw into the rings to lie two, but came up short, nudging a stone out front and resting about 8 or 10 inches short of the house. When Nedohin removed the other counter with her last and rolled out, Homan could have fired one through the house and held the hammer in seven.

Instead, she opted to play a split on that stone she'd left out front and did it perfectly to score a deuce and take a 3-1 lead.

While draw weight continues to be a head-scratcher for the Homan rink (Vice Emma Miskew had told Homan the ice was quick just before her draw came up short in the 6th, to which Homan replied afterward "that's not quick"), the touch shots, with a little bit of weight seem to be the bread and butter of the team. The taps and rolls and the like. In her win over Renee Sonnenberg on Monday, Homan made a terrific tap and roll to turn the game in her favour. Her split against Nedohin did the same thing, although it did not put Nedohin away.

As this week starts to wind down, it will be interesting to see how teams play against the Homan rink. Forcing the struggling skip to draw seems the best strategy.

How low has Homan's confidence been in the draw? In her win over Middaugh on Tuesday, she needed only to touch the eight-foot for the win but opted to play a hit on a rock fully in the twelve-foot even though there was plenty of room to come around. A second Middaugh stone in the rings would have meant a Homan loss had the shooter rolled out.

If your skip has confidence in their ability with the touch shots, they make a draw in that situation every time.

The tables have turned. The seemingly unstoppable force is Jones. The team with the question marks is Homan's.

Bet on Jones forcing her nemesis to draw every chance she gets. Question will be: Can Homan meet that challenge?

Meanwhile, on the very next sheet, Sweeting and Carey will go head to head. The young skip from Alberta, who was the surprise of the tourney when she jumped out to a 3 and oh start, will try to turn her fortunes around after losing two straight.

It'll make for great drama on a Wednesday night at The Roar.