Roar of the Rings: Rachel Homan takes unconventional route to second place

Rachel Homan

entered the 2013 Roar of the Rings as one of the favourites, and with good reason. She's the defending Canadian champion and won the Masters Grand Slam of Curling a month ago. There was no reason to believe she wouldn't be there, shot for shot, with Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones to win the right to skip Team Canada at the upcoming Winter Olympic games in Sochi.

The week though, didn't unfold as anticipated. She got crushed in her first matchup, 10-3, against Val Sweeting, and lost against Chelsea Carey Monday. She gave up a single point with hammer to Jones in Wednesday night's late draw, so Jones clinched the automatic bid to the final. The ice wasn't up to her standards.

Per Cam Cole Wednesday night:

And yet, despite whatever's gone wrong, a series of fortunate events during Thursday's draw, and the final draw for the women, guaranteed her a spot in Friday's Semi-Final. She took care of her own business, defeating Stefanie Lawton 6-5 with a hit in the final end with her last rock. Pieces fell into place for her as well. Chelsea Carey fell to Sherry Middaugh 7-6 after Carey made a game of it with a three-ender in the 8th end. Carey was sitting at 4-2 going into the day, and a win would have booked her ticket into the semis.

But Renee Sonnenberg, who was the only curler out of contention going into Thursday's draws, also beat the 3-3 Val Sweeting in the 11th end. Though Jones had clinched the berth in the finals, she didn't go lightly against Heather Nedohin, another one of the 3-3 rinks. Jones also won with a hit on the final stone, eliminating the 2012 Scotties champion.

So that left the 6-1 Jones, and Middaugh, Carey and Homan at 4-3. Each curler was 1-1 against the other, so the next tiebreaker was the combined distance of draws to the button throughout the week to determine last rock in the first end. Homan, who had the hammer five times in seven games, also won this tiebreaker.

Nobody would disagree that Homan didn't play up to her potential this week, but her Ottawa rink with Emma Miskew, Alison Kreviazuk and Lisa Weagle still squeak into a second-place berth. Most observers would have expected that her and Jones' rink would dominate the field, which isn't as deep as the men's side of things, but Homan struggled with the ice, and Jones gave up a surprising four-ender to Sweeting in her only loss.

So perhaps unconventionally, but the women's playoff field shook down how you'd expect it. Jones is seeded first and is in Saturday's final. Carey and Middaugh will have a rematch of their Thursday game Friday afternoon (1:30 p.m. CST) and the semifinal will be Friday evening. There was a potential five-way tie for second place coming into the Thursday draws, but now there are just four teams remaining in Olympic contention. Should be fascinating to see how it plays out, and if Homan can get her game on track to the level we saw at the Scotties and the Masters.