Rachel Homan, Brad Jacobs earned spots in the finals of the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials

HALIFAX — Kerry Anarsson’s puck went long and the skipper looked up at the ceiling and then at the ice, giving up a steal of two and giving the world’s No. 1 team a 7-4 lead.

After two ends, Rachel Homan held her flag in the air while the crowd roared as she and her reigning world champion team sealed a victory that leaves them just two wins away from earning the right to represent Canada at the 2026 Olympics.

Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Mischow and lead Sarah Wilkes moved straight into the finals of Canada’s best-of-3 Olympic Trials on Wednesday afternoon with their round-robin final win against the Manitoba foursome of Anerson.

Homan and company now get to rest on Thursday, while Anarsson and favorite Christina Black of Nova Scotia duke it out for another final berth in the only one-game semifinal that evening.

“Huge,” said a smiling Homan, after his team’s 7-6 victory, improving the Ottawa rink’s record to 6-1. “There’s no other way to say it.”

The rest is great, and you better believe they’ll see Blake and Enerson go toe-to-toe for the right to play them in the final: “We’ve looked at every draw we can as a team,” Homan said, indicating Thursday will be more of the same.

There will be many other eyes on that matchup here in Nova Scotia, as it features Blake’s home team. Blake’s jaw was basically on the floor as she described the feeling of reaching the finals of the trials, and for her team — third Jill Brothers, second Jennifer Baxter, lead Carly Everest and alternate Marley Powers — it’s a big bounce-back effort. They started 0-2 after facing Enerson and Homan in the first two games of the round robin.

“Oh my God, unbelievable,” said a teary-eyed Blake after his team made its way into the playoffs. “We came into this thing believing we could get third place in the playoffs and we never gave up.”

That third berth was very much up in the air by the end of the afternoon draw. Edmonton’s Selena Stormi and Winnipeg’s Caitlin Laws each have 3-3 records from Team Black, and a chance to make the playoffs. If all three teams won, Black was closest to the base on the button. If Sturmy won and Laz lost, then Sturmy was in because she beat Blake earlier in the round robin.

Stormy first won his game, then Black won his – and pumped his broom loudly in the air in celebration. But then Team Nova Scotia had to wait to see if Laws was going to win — and he did, on his last shot.

“I could barely see, I had to hold my breath,” Blake said, though he did watch, and he saw Laws’ teammates scrambling to see the shot go right off his hand and know it was a good one. “I literally jumped for joy,” Blake added. “We all did.”

As one appreciated on Wednesday afternoon.

Next, Blake Einerson will play in a rematch of the opener that the latter team won 12-5.

Inerson had his chances against Homan, scoring three in the bottom of the fifth to take a 4-3 lead, but both teams had some unusual misses. Eighth were not more valuable than Einarson. She faced a pull to the button to score a single and tie things up, and when the skipper walked past the guard on the top 12, her rock was heavy and long to give up a steal of two.

Homan has now won the last seven meetings against Enerson, whose team is ranked second in Canada.

A four-time Scots champion, Anerson is one win away from what would be his first Olympic Trials final.

The women’s play-offs are set, while on the men’s side, Brad Jacobs’ side have clinched the top spot and a bye to the final with Wednesday night’s round-robin final still to come.

Matt Dunstone, Brad Gushue and Mike McEwen are in all-important situations to clinch the other two playoff spots in the high-stakes evening draw. Jacobs is set to play Gusho in what is sure to be an epic battle, even though Jacobs has already earned a direct berth to the finale.

For Fleury, Homan’s third, it will be his second time in the finals at the Olympic Trials. She left a team out of Manitoba that missed winning Jennifer Jones four years ago.

“Just playing to not be afraid to lose,” Fleury said, of the lessons learned in 2021. “Be brave to go out there, make shots to make them, and if you lose, it’s going to be okay. We know that.”

Even the world No. 1 team Homan knows is just two wins away from a trip to the Olympics.

“We’re really, really excited,” Fleury said.