BRANTFORD, ONTARIO – It is one thing to win a major cashspiel, it is quite another to cap it off by meeting the father of Wayne Gretzky.
Rachel Homan and her Ottawa foursome of Emma Miskew, Alison Kreviazuk and Lisa Weagle experienced the daily double on Sunday after winning the $100,000 women’s event of The Rogers Masters at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre.
Homan’s team beat the Morden, MB foursome skipped by Chelsea Carey 8-3. The Ottawa team is now eligible for a $100,000 bonus if it wins the Players’ Championship, the final remaining event of the women’s Grand Slam, in Toronto, next April 16-21. If there is no sweep, the top three teams based on aggregate points will split a $25,000 bonus. The Homan team won $20,500 for the win and round-robin victories in the Masters.
The $100,000 men’s division was won by Edmonton’s Kevin Koe, who downed Vernon, B.C.’s Jim Cotter 7-5. Koe, the 2010 Canadian and World Champion, now has a chance to win a $1 million bonus if his team sweeps the remaining men’s Grand Slam events, which include The Canadian Open, Dec. 12-16 in Kelowna, The National, Jan. 23-27 in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., and the Players’ Championship. There is a $100,000 bonus for the top three point-scoring teams in the Slams if there is no sweep.
The bonuses were recently announced by Sportsnet, which took ownership of the Grand Slam of Curling earlier this year.
Immediately after it won the Masters, Homan’s team was joined by the senior Gretzky, who watched the tournament from start to finish. It had been the first time he had seen a tournament live.
"It’s just incredible, it’s amazing," Gretzky said, while watching the final from ice level. "Here’s the one thing that truly fascinated me: When they make a beautiful shot, nobody screams, ‘All right, we did it.’ They’re just very calm about the whole thing. It’s not like somebody scoring a goal in the NHL or hitting a home run in baseball. That’s what surprised me more than anything. I never noticed it on TV like I have in person. I didn’t realize it. It’s no big deal for them to make a good shot.
"To see it like this, to be right beside it all while it’s actually happening and see the curlers talking is truly different."
Homan and her team said it was "pretty cool" to meet the legendary father of the Great One.
"Him and Wayne, I guess have helped build this arena and I was really thankful we could play in this arena and have him watching. It’s quite an honour," she said. "He’s pretty much a legend in Canada. It’s just unbelievable to meet him. He’s like, ‘Oh, you guys are awesome.’ It’s a pretty cool thing to hear from Walter Gretzky."
"It was so fun to talk to him," added Miskew. "He thinks that we are so good."
This is the first Grand Slam win for the Homan team, which lost in the final of the 2011 Players’ Championship to Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones. Homan’s team won the 2010 Canadian junior championship, but lost in the final of the worlds. It won the Ontario women’s provincial championship in 2011, but lost in the final in 2012.
"We’ve got to keep going now. There’s no stopping," Homan said. "We’re just really excited right now to try and carry this into the Ontario playdowns and then hopefully the Scotties (national women’s championship) and the Players’ at the end of it."
Homan’s team has been reunited this season with longtime junior coach Earle Morris. Last year he coached Jones. They reached out to him after last season to help them at least on a part-time basis.
Koe shrugged when reminded of some of the tough defeats his team has experienced in the Slams. It won the 2004 Players’ final, but has finished second in six others. It also experienced a tough beat in last year’s Brier final.
"It’s nice to finally win one, it’s been a long time coming," Koe said. "It just feels really good. All the events are tough, but these (Grand Slam) events are probably the hardest because there’s so many good teams. Everybody knows the Alberta provincials are tough as well because you’re always going to have to go through Kevin Martin. The more big events you can play against good teams sets you up in the long run.
"Most teams put in their dues in this sport and we’re no different. We’ve had a lot of tough losses – Slam finals, provincial finals, Brier finals. You’ve just got to hope you learn a little from them and come back and play well in the next one."
Koe knows it will be tough to sweep the remaining three tournaments in the Slam.
"We have a chance, realistically probably not," he said. "No one’s won four in a season and we’ve been trying for years to win one. Hopefully they come in bunches, but we’re not going to worry about it too much. But, hey, it’s nice that we’re the only team with a chance."
Koe’s team is off to a great season, having won three cashspiels on the 2012-13 World Curling Tour. Koe said his team’s primary objective going into this season is to claim a spot in next year’s Olympic Curling Trials that will determine one women and one men’s team to represent Canada in the 2014 Games.