Ottawa's Rachel Homan eyes the broom as she releases her shot in the championship game against Woodstock's Hollie Duncan Sunday at the Port Elgin Chrysler 23 Ontario Tankard and Scotties presented by Bruce Power. Hub photo

Hub Staff

The Port Elgin Chrysler 23 Ontario Tankard and Scotties presented by Bruce Power has come to a close and organizers say it was "nothing short of phenomenal."

Ottawa Curling Club's Rachel Homan took home the women's title while Royal Curling Club of Toronto's Mike McEwen took home the men's.

The finals were played on Sunday at the Plex to a sell out crowd. Team Homan defeated Woodstock's Hollie Duncan in a 9-2 victory in eight ends and McEwen made their way to an 8-3 win in seven ends against Penetanguishene's Glenn Howard.

Organizers said that estimated attendance for the week topped 10,000 and estimated viewership of the CurlON TV broadcasts exceeded an audience of 1 million worldwide.

"There's a whole long season that's gone into the work for all these teams," said Dave Middleton, Marketing Committee Chair for the Tankard Scotties when we caught up with him at the tournament. "A lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of not seeing your family, just for the sole purpose of trying to represent the province of Ontario," he said.

The 2023 event was a joint effort between the Port Elgin Curling Club and CurlON and volunteers from 13 area curling clubs aided in the running of the event including ticket sales and ice making.

Anyone who follows the sport of curling knows that the ice quality can make or break an tournament. Middleton said that CurlON provided a team of ice makers for the week long event and that they were subsidized with ice makers from local clubs which allows local ice makers to learn under those who make ice on a more professional level, thereby improving the ice conditions at local clubs.

The Port Elgin event also provided funding to curling clubs in the region. Anyone who purchased tickets through presales was able to credit their local club, resulting in 25% of that sale going to that club. "We raised between $11,000 and $12,000 for area clubs," said Middleton.

All told, over two dozen teams came to Saugeen Shores from clubs across Ontario to compete for the 2023 provincial men's and provincial women's titles.

Team Homan will go on to represent Ontario at the national 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts next month in Kamloops, British Columbia while Team McEwen will compete for the national title at the Tim Hortons Brier in March in London, Ontario.

Team McEwen from the Royal Curling Club in Toronto curled their way to a 8-3 victory over Penetanguishine's Team Howard January 29. Hub photo

Glenn Howard takes a shot in the fifth end of the championship game Sunday against Team McEwen at the Plex. Hub photo

Sarah Wilkes, Rachel Homan and Emma Miskew from Team Homan discuss game play January 29 in Port Elgin. Hub photo

Team McEwen will go on to compete at the Tim Hortons Brier in March in London, Ontario. Tankard Scotties photo

Team Homan took home the provincial title and will go on to compete in Kamloops, British Columbia next month for the national Scotties competition. Tankard Scotties photo