Homan wins, Dunstone surprises to start curling’s PointsBet Invitational – Winnipeg

Gabby Wood says her curling team is ready for anything this season after playing against the best women’s team in the world.

The Canadian women’s college champions took on Rachel Homan in the opening round of the PointsBet Invitational by one knockout on Wednesday.

Wood’s Edmonton quartet was hammered in an 11-2 loss and will also gain experience playing on ice and on television against the reigning Canadian and world champions.

“It’s a crazy first game of the season so to be honest none of our opponents will look scary after this,” said the 20-year-old Wood.

The PointsBet Invitational, which officially kicks off the Canadian curling season, offers more than $350,000 in prize money, including $50,000 for the men’s and women’s winners, to a diverse field of 32 teams.

There is an FA Cup element to the football as underdogs such as junior, college, university, under-25 and club champions attempt to defeat and send home early the likes of Homan and reigning Canadian men’s champion Brad Gushue.

And 13th-seeded Jordon McDonald provided the fireworks on Wednesday, knocking out fourth-seeded Matt Dunstone 8-5 in an all-Winnipeg match.

“It means the world,” McDonald said. “It was an incredible experience today.”

Kaitlyn Lawes, who finished last season ranked fourth in Canada, defeated recently crowned national women’s under-25 champion Taylor Reese-Hansen 5-2.

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“Every time we play on arena ice, we’re really excited and playing against a top team, that’s what we want to do. That’s where we want to be,” Reese-Hansen said. “These are the teams we want to play against and see how we perform, so it’s super valuable.”

National number 8 Corryn Brown defeated university women’s champion Serena Gray-Withers 8-4 in the opening round.

“It just makes us hungrier for more, honestly, because we’re just so blessed here with great ice, great rocks and great conditions, so we just want to come back for more,” Gray-Withers said.

Selena Sturmay defeated Ashley Thevenot 8-7 in the other women’s match to kick off the five-day cash game at WinSport Arena in Calgary.

In the men’s event, Gushue defeated Canadian club champion Dan Sherrard 12-4 on Wednesday evening.

Kevin Koe, playing with three men after dismissing runner-up Jacques Gauthier the day before, defeated men’s university champion Josh Bryden 8-4. Rylan Kleiter defeated Sam Mooibroek 5-2.

McDonald, who won the national championship for players under 25 last month, kept Dunstone under pressure with targeted draws and timely runbacks.

Dunstone attempted a difficult corner raise to score one point and send PointsBet’s decisive draw to the button, but missed a steal of two.

“It’s a really big experience for us to play a team like this,” said McDonald, who said his team took confidence from playing with Reid Carruthers and Mike McEwen last year. “We feel like we can hang with these teams a little bit better.”

Matches scheduled for Thursday include reigning men’s champion Reid Carruthers taking on Felix Asselin, national women’s under-21 champion Allyson MacNutt taking on four-time Canadian champion Kerri Einarson, and men’s under-21 champion Kenan Wipf taking on McEwen, the 2024 Brier runner-up.

“We’re just so thankful that they’re bringing the college champions, the university champions,” Wood said. “We don’t get a lot of opportunities to play on arena ice, and that makes a huge difference in development.

“To have the opportunity to play on the ice in the arena, on this big stage, alongside our national athletes, and experience a little bit of what the pros experience, is just very exciting and very inspiring.”

Seven months after winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts title on the same WinSport ice, Ottawa’s Homan opened the defence of her PointsBet title by scoring four times in the second end en route to victory.

“It’s great to get them on these kinds of stages, on a national platform, and getting experience on the ice is really essential for the next generation to get as much experience as possible,” Homan said.

“They can definitely get a lot out of it. A lot of great throws and I thought they communicated well.”

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