Rachel Homan repeats, Mike McEwen takes revenge on PointsBet Invitational

CALGARY – Mike McEwen got a measure of revenge and Rachel Homan emerged as a repeat winner at Sunday’s curling PointsBet Invitational.

McEwen beat Brad Gushue 8-3 in a rematch of the Canadian men’s championship final in March, and Gushue won his sixth Brier.

Homan defeated Kayla Skrlik 8-3 in the women’s final at WinSport Arena in Calgary; Homan also won the national women’s title at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts seven months ago.

“I hope to see more events coming here,” Homan said.

McEwen, third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and leader Dan Marsh of Saskatoon’s Nutana Curling Club won all four of their matches in the one-knockout tournament and collected $50,000 in prize money.

“This is the biggest one for me and probably the biggest one for the team, the players and the tour cheque,” ​​McEwen said. “It’s a great event to win.”

Homan, vice president Tracy Fleury, runner-up Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes of the Ottawa Curling Club are 12-0 this season after claiming $50,000 for the second straight year.

“This event is amazing. It’s been great for us the last few years,” Homan said. “The team played really well and takes pride in playing a really solid game.”

McEwen’s quartet has been on the ice since August. It was PointsBet’s fourth event win to start the season and their third straight win in September.

Gushue’s team hasn’t yet been to St. Louis. St. John’s does not have ice in the NL and played one event.

McEwen believes his team is closer to mid-season form than Gushue or Brad Jacobs, whom McEwen beat in the semi-finals.

“We really honed our skills in September, but playing with two Brads, Brad Jacobs and Brad Gushue, whenever you take a small step forward in the season, head to head, you have to take it,” McEwen said.

“Hopefully more will come, but yes, these teams will start working. It’s still early days. We’re playing like we’re in the middle of the season and now they’ll be dying to come after us.”

McEwen scored four runs in the first end and three in the sixth before getting a steal in the seventh. Gushue shook hands after eight.

“I never felt comfortable putting the broom down on any of the shots, and Mike and his crew seemed totally on board,” Gushue said. “It was a difficult match for us.

“We’re coming into these events pretty fresh as we’ve been off all summer trying to work out the technical kinks, so I can’t put too much pressure on us. We got to the final but it wasn’t a perfect week of play for us by any means.”

PointsBet’s hook is the single-elimination format and the chance to pull off a major upset with Canada’s best teams as well as the under-25, university, college, junior and club champions in the field.

Jordan McDonald’s 13th-seeded men’s team, which won the under-25 national championship last month, held off No. 6 Reid Carruthers and No. 5 Kevin Koe before edging out Gushue in the semi-finals.

However, Canadian junior women’s champion Allyson MacNutt shocked the tournament by knocking out four-time Canadian champion Kerri Einarson in the round of 16.

“It allows you to play under immediate pressure,” Wilkes said. “Having to play under pressure is never a bad thing.”

Each of the 32 teams in the field received $5,000 to cover travel expenses. A quarterfinal victory was worth $3,000, a semifinal victory was worth $12,000 and the final victory was worth $24,000.

Homan, the reigning women’s world champion, stole a single point in the second and third places, and stole three more points on the seventh Sunday. Calgary’s Skrlik shook hands after eight rounds.

“I would like to take some of my shots back in the early part and try again and I think it will be a much closer game, but we attacked Rachel a little bit early and it’s really hard to fight against that team,” the 27-year-old Skrlik said.

“This is the furthest we’ve gone in this event and we’re seeded 10. It’s exceeded all our expectations. “We’ve played Rachel twice this season, which is quite a lot considering September.

“If we’re lining up against Rachel, we know we’re doing something right.”

The fourth edition of PointsBet returns to Calgary in 2025 at WinSport Arena from September 30 to October 5.

Homan, Skrlik, McEwan and Gushue were among the teams heading to the HearingLife Tour Challenge, the first Grand Slam of the season, which begins Tuesday in Charlottetown.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2024.