The Canadian Press
BEIJING–Canada is on the verge of clinching a playoff spot at the world women’s curling championship after a pair of victories today.
Ottawa’s Rachel Homan defeated South Korea’s EunJung Kim 9-8 before dumping Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 8-2 in evening play at the Capital Gymnasium.
The Canadian team of Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Joanne Courtney, and lead Lisa Weagle improved to 7-0 in round-robin play.
“We’re happy with that performance,” Courtney said after beating Scotland.
“I think we got a good handle on the ice early and it was nice to play a couple open ends to get to feel comfortable,” she noted.
“And when we had our opportunities, we were able to capitalize.”
Homan threw at 96 percent while Muirhead finished at just 71 percent.
Scotland conceded the game after seven ends.
After two blank ends to open the game, Homan scored a pair in the third with a short raise take-out.
Muirhead was heavy with her draw in the fifth end to give Canada a steal of two.
Scotland scored a pair in the sixth, but Homan ended it in the seventh with a come-around tap to score four points.
“They’re a great team and they have all the shots, so you know you have to be careful with what shots you’re leaving them and you have to show up and play well,” Courtney stressed.
“So we’re quite happy with our performance.”
Round-robin play continues through Thursday night.
The Page playoffs begin Friday night, with the medal games scheduled for Sunday.
“It’s easy to maintain the focus because there are so many good teams here and you have to be on your ‘A’ game no matter who you’re playing,” Homan stressed.
“It makes you focus that much harder,” she noted.
“There’s lots of parts of the game that we’re looking at and trying to improve.”
Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg was alone in second place at 6-1 after a 9-4 victory over Switzerland’s Alina Paetz.
Switzerland is the three-time defending champ but Paetz is in danger of missing the playoffs after falling to 4-3.
Anna Kubeskova of the Czech Republic, Russia’s Anna Sidorova, and American Nina Roth were tied with the Swiss rink after 11 draws.
Earlier today, South Korea gave the Canadians a scare, leading 5-4 through six ends.
But Homan made a precision tap to score four in the seventh, then held her opponents to a single in the 10th for the victory.
“We were struggling with our rocks for a lot of the game and we weren’t putting our rocks in good spots,” Miskew admitted.
“Luckily, we left Rachel with a couple savers and she made them, so we were happy about that.
“We’re throwing really well, and its always tough when you’re throwing well and not getting results,” she added.
“You just have to kind of let that [go] and move on to the next one.”
This is Homan’s third career appearance at the women’s world championship.
She won bronze in 2013 and took silver in 2014.
