Rachel Homan and her Ottawa-based team have been selected to represent Ontario at the upcoming Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
CurlON made the announcement on social media Friday.
The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is set to run Jan. 28-Feb. 6 in Thunder Bay, Ont.
The Ontario women's provincial championship, which was slated to take place Jan. 5-9 in Thornhill, Ont., was suspended earlier this week after the provincial government announced new restrictions due to the rise in COVID-19 cases.
Team Homan — which also includes third Emma Miskew, second Sarah Wilkes and lead Joanne Courtney — may not end up wearing Ontario colours, however. Homan also plays mixed doubles with John Morris and is in the running to represent Canada at the Beijing Winter Olympics in that discipline. Curling Canada has yet to announce its Olympic mixed doubles team and should they pick Homan, Hollie Duncan's team from Woodstock would then get Ontario's berth to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Team Homan is the top-ranked Ontario club on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) in fifth place with Team Duncan right behind them in sixth.
The Ontario Scotties event was also cancelled last year due to the pandemic and Homan was chosen to represent the province as the defending champion. Homan, who was eight months pregnant at the time, earned a third consecutive silver medal at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in the Calgary bubble.
The Ontario Tankard, the men's provincial championship to determine Ontario's representative for the Tim Hortons Brier, is still scheduled for Feb. 9-13 in Port Elgin, Ont.
Meanwhile, Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay will represent Northern Ontario on home ice at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The Northern Ontario Curling Association, which also cancelled its women's playdowns, made the announcement Friday also based on CTRS rankings with Team McCarville 10th in the nation.
New Brunswick's Andrea Crawford, P.E.I.'s Suzanne Birt and Northwest Territories' Kerry Galusha were also selected by their respective curling associations based on CTRS points.
Manitoba's Mackenzie Zacharias, Nova Scotia's Christina Black and Nunavut's Brigitte MacPhail won their provincial and territorial championships last month.
Double defending champion Kerri Einarson will return to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with the Team Canada auto-berth.
