Ottawa Curling Club 'thrilled' with Team Homan rink's world championship
With a start time of 3 a.m. ET, it's possible some members of the Ottawa Curling Club watched their team of Rachel Homan, Emma Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle win the world women's curling championship for the first time during an afternoon repeat showing.
But not Lesley Dawes.
"I got up at three o'clock this morning to watch the game ... I cried. I'm elated," said the longtime curler.
"They're just a fantastic team. They've worked really hard. Rachel and Emma have curled with each other since they were kids … They really deserve this win. We're absolutely thrilled for them."
Curler Andrew Denny, who also works as a bartender at the O'Connor Street club, said they were "dominant" during their tournament that ended with an 8-3 win over Russia — the first ever undefeated record in world women's championship history.
"It's huge for the club, it's huge for the community in Ottawa and it's huge for the team," he said.
"They work so hard, they're without a doubt the best team in the city, in the country, they deserved to win and they went out and did it."
Another banner
Denny said the team is at the club almost daily to practice when they're not on the road, which shows in their record: three Canadian championships leading to a silver and bronze medal in their two previous world championships, all displayed on a banner in front of the club.
"We have a good problem in this club having too many banners. Provincial, national, now world champions ... it solidifies Homan's legacy as one of the true greats," Denny said.
"They played at a much higher level than the rest of the field in the worlds this year," Dawes said.
"They've got a fantastic front end with Joanne and Lisa, great sweepers, and Rachel has really grown as a skip. She's become a really good leader of that team. Very strategic."
Team eager to get home
From Beijing, Weagle said the team's excited to get back to Ottawa and see all the people that had been cheering them from afar.
"It was nice to have a little bit of family here cheering us on in Beijing and we can't wait to get home and see everyone that's been cheering us on," she said.
"We really share these medals right here with all of them."
Just before her flight back home, vice-skip Emma Miskew said they're glad to have gone through undefeated.
"It's a pretty surreal feeling and it keeps kind of hitting me at different times," she said.
"I didn't actually think that I would get emotional. We kind of had control of the game the whole way, but when they actually conceded the game it was just this moment of pure happiness. We worked so hard for so long and put so much time into this and made a lot of sacrifices, so when it all comes together finally, there's no feeling better than that."
'On another level'
Coach Adam Kingsbury said the team have been playing so well he's trying to stay out of their way.
"Since that final in the provincials to even get to the Scotties, this team has been kind of on another level," he said.
"So what do you do in that situation, when everyone's playing that well? You kind of just stay out of everyone's way and make sure that they have everything that they need to do what they do best."
Some team members are expected back at the Ottawa International Airport around 9 p.m. Monday after a day-long flight back from China.
Denny said Sunday the club should soon be hosting a celebration for their world-beating team.
