Rachel Homan saw Canada's men's hockey team go to overtime earlier Wednesday and decided she wanted some of that excitement in her life, too.
Just hours after Mitch Marner's OT winner, Homan coughed up a late three-point lead before recovering to beat Italy's Stefania Constantini 8-7 in 11 ends.
The win marked Canada's fourth straight at the Milano-Cortina Olympics.
But while the streak has helped erase a slow start to the tournament, Homan's Thursday's finale against Korea still stands as a must-win in determining her playoff fate.
Both teams are 5-3 for the tournament.
"We're just happy to still be in a position that we can control our own destiny and we're just trying to stick with one shot at a time again and not really think ahead too much," Canada's Emma Miskew told CBC Olympics.
"We know that we can manage to win tough games that aren't always looking as good at the start and we're just going to keep with that."
In the 11th end, Homan threw a draw to the four-foot past a pair of Italian guards and just barely beyond her opponents' shot rock to seal the win.
Canada appeared in control against the Italians after an expertly played spinner by Homan with her last rock in the ninth gave her rink a 7-4 lead.
But Constantini answered right back with a game-saving triple in the 10th to force the extra end.
Italy scored a single in the seventh and a steal for one in the eighth to stay in touch with the Canadians after Homan and crew previously took control of the game with a steal of two in the sixth end to go up 5-2.
At 2-6, the host Italians won't reach the knockout stage. Elsewhere, Great Britain sits at 4-4, while Switzerland is at 6-2 and the U.S. sits at 5-3.
Sweden has already locked up the No. 1 seed, finishing the round robin at 7-2.
Ottawa's Homan missed the playoffs in each of her two previous Olympic appearances in 2018 in the women's event and 2022 in mixed doubles.
The semifinals will take place Friday, with the gold-medal match set for Sunday.
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