After four long years, the event every curler has circled on their calendar is finally here.

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Who will win the 2017 Roar of the Rings?

    The Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials start Dec. 2 from the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa as nine of the best teams in the country will compete to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, in February. 

    TSN has all your curling needs covered with coverage throughout the week in Ottawa.   

    On the women’s side, the favourites are clear. Defending Scotties champion Team Rachel Homan and defending Olympic gold medalists Team Jennifer Jones will be expected to face off in the final, according to many curling pundits and fans alike.

    Sure, they’ll be the favourites to reach the final game on Sunday, Dec. 10, but they’re far from a lock. Anything is possible in a one-game, winner-take-all contest – if you can get there.

    Let’s take a look at the teams competing at Canada’s Olympic curling qualifying tournament and who may have the best shot at beating either Homan or Jones in a final.

     

    Team Rachel Homan (Ottawa, Ontario)

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    Skip: Rachel Homan Third: Emma Miskew Second: Joanne Courtney Lead: Lisa Weagle

    Season Record: 21-9
    Events Won: 2
    Career Accolades: Three-time Scotties champion (2013, 2014, 2017), world championship (2017)

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – Carey
    Dec. 3 – Tippin
    Dec. 4 – McCarville, Englot
    Dec. 5 – Flaxey
    Dec. 6 – Scheidegger
    Dec. 7 – Sweeting
    Dec. 8 – Jones

    Anything less than Olympic gold will not suffice for 28-year-old Rachel Homan and her Ottawa rink.

    But first they have to get there.

    The defending Tournament of Hearts and world champions are the most popular team in the sport and will look to add to their legacy by winning the Roar of the Rings on home soil in the nation’s capital. 

    Team Homan, alongside Team Jennifer Jones, will be the favourites to represent Canada in South Korea.

    They were a top contender four years ago at the trials in Winnipeg as well, but lost to Team Sherry Middaugh, 10-4, in the semi-final. 

    Homan’s rink will have the home crowd support behind them at the Canadian Tire Centre. Time will tell if competing in front of their fans will propel them to the top of the podium as it did with Brad Gushue’s St. John’s rink at the 2017 Brier, or if the added pressure causes them to lose focus and fall short of their goal.

    Team Homan’s toughest day will come on Dec. 4 when they face both 2017 Scotties finalist Team Michelle Englot of Winnipeg and Thunder Bay’s Team Krista McCarville, who’s appeared in the Scotties playoffs the past two seasons. Homan battles Jones in the last game of the round robin which could decide who earns the bye straight to the final.

    Homan will be the youngest Canadian female skip in Olympic history if her team wins gold at the Roar of the Rings.

    The Homan foursome won two events this season, but they also missed the playoff round in two of the three Grand Slams and lost in the quarters to Team Casey Scheidegger at the National.

    All things considered, if they play to a level they’re capable of, Team Homan should be Canada’s representative in PyeongChang.

     

    Team Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

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    Skip: Jennifer Jones Third: Kaitlyn Lawes Second: Jill Officer Lead: Dawn McEwen

    Season Record: 37-11
    Events Won: 2
    Career Accolades: 2014 Olympic gold medalists, five-time Scotties champion (2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2015), 2008 world champ

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – Sweeting
    Dec. 3 – Englot, Flaxey
    Dec. 4 – Tippin
    Dec. 5 – Scheidegger
    Dec. 6 – Carey
    Dec. 7 – McCarville
    Dec. 8 – Homan

    Team Homan might be the biggest storyline going into this event, but at the end of the day anybody who wants to represent Canada at the Olympics will first have to go through Team Jones.

    The defending Olympic champions have played a ton this season, grabbing back-to-back Grand Slam titles with a perfect 14-0 record leading up to the Roar of the Rings. They’ve made the playoffs at every event they’ve appeared in and have lost a pair of finals. They’ve won 77 per cent of their games this season.

    This squad appears to be fired up after missing out on the Scotties Tournament of Hearts last year. 

    At the 2013 trials, they posted a 6-1 in the round robin and then doubled up Team Sherry Middaugh in the final, 8-4. The foursome then won the national championship in 2015, just a year after claiming gold in Sochi, Russia.

    If Team Jones is victorious in Ottawa, they’ll be the first curling team to represent Canada at two separate Olympics.

    Expect to see this Winnipeg crew near the top of the standings all week at the Roar of the Rings. 

     

    Team Michelle Englot (Winnipeg, Manitoba)

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    Skip: Michelle Englot Third: Kate Cameron Second: Leslie Wilson-Westcott Lead: Raunora Westcott

    Season Record: 22-20
    Events Won: 1
    Career Accolades: 2017 Scotties silver medalist

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – McCarville
    Dec. 3 – Jones
    Dec. 4 – Homan
    Dec. 5 – Sweeting
    Dec. 6 – Tippin
    Dec. 7 – Flaxey, Scheidegger
    Dec. 8 – Carey

    Longtime Saskatchewan curler Michelle Englot joined forces with a Manitoba rink last season and it’s fair to say they quickly found some chemistry.

    Englot, 53, made her first Scotties final in 2017, losing to Team Homan in an extra-end heartbreaker.

    The Winnipeg rink returns this season and will have redemption on their minds at the Roar of the Rings.

    Team Englot won the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic in September and made the final of the Crestwood Ladies Fall Classic (losing to Russia’s Victoria Moiseeva), but they missed the playoffs in two of three Grand Slam events and sport a record just above .500.

    They won’t have time to get warmed up in Ottawa as their schedule to kick off the Roar of the Rings is exceptionally difficult. Team Englot will face McCarville, Jones, Homan and Edmonton’s Val Sweeting over the first four games of the tournament. If they struggle early, this rink could be out of contention fairly quickly.

    Englot competed at the 2001 Olympic trials, just missing the playoff round.

    This foursome will need to rekindle some of that magic they found in St. Catharines in order to be playing in the second weekend in the nation’s capital.

     

    Team Krista McCarville (Thunder Bay, Ontario)

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    Skip: Krista McCarville Third: Kendra Lilly Second: Ashley Sippala Lead: Sarah Potts

    Season Record: 19-13
    Events Won: 1
    Career Accolades: 2016 Scotties silver medalist, 2010 Scotties bronze medalist

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – Englot
    Dec. 3 – Scheidegger
    Dec. 4 – Homan
    Dec. 5 – Tippin
    Dec. 6 – Flaxey
    Dec. 7 – Jones
    Dec. 8 – Carey, Sweeting
     
    Aside from nationals and a handful of WCT events, Team McCarville is not a team you’re going to see a lot throughout the year. However, they seem to be a top contender in every event they attend.

    Team McCarville qualified for Ottawa by being the first winner at the Road to the Roar Pre-Trials in Summerside, P.E.I., earlier this month. It’s the only event they’ve won in 2017-18, with their second-best finish coming at the Shorty Jenkins Classic in Cornwall, falling to USA’s Team Jamie Sinclair in the final. They’ve haven’t played in any of the Grand Slams this year.

    Still, this Thunder Bay rink has to be considered one of the best in the game since McCarville’s return to curling in 2015-16 after taking time off. Their performance at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts over the past two years is evidence of that.

    McCarville, 35, lost to Shannon Kleibrink in the semi-final of the 2009 Olympic trials.

    Team McCarville will be the ultimate dark horse at the Roar of the Rings.

     

    Team Val Sweeting (Edmonton, Alberta)

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    Skip: Val Sweeting Third: Lori Olson-Johns Second: Dana Ferguson Lead: Rachel Brown

    Season Record: 23-12
    Events Won: 1
    Career Accolades: Two-time Scotties silver medalist (2014, 2015)

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – Jones
    Dec. 3 – Tippin, Carey
    Dec. 4 – Flaxey
    Dec. 5 – Englot
    Dec. 6 – Scheidegger
    Dec. 7 – Homan
    Dec. 8 – McCarville

    Since breaking out with back-to-back Scotties final appearances in 2014 and 2015, Team Sweeting has been upset at the Alberta provincials the past two seasons and has been forced to watch the biggest event of the year from the sidelines.

    Now the Edmonton crew can make up for it all by making a run at the Olympic trials.

    Team Sweeting defended their Tour Challenge title earlier this season on the Grand Slam circuit, but has since failed to get past the quarter-final round at any event. 

    They won’t have the pressure of being the favourites in Ottawa which could turn out be advantageous. It will be interesting to see if Team Sweeting can stay in the mix all week in the nation’s capital.

     

    Team Chelsea Carey (Calgary, Alberta)

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    Skip: Chelsea Carey Third: Cathy Overton-Clapham Second: Jocelyn Peterman Lead: Laine Peters

    Season Record: 28-12
    Events Won: 0
    Career Accolades: 2016 Scotties champion, 2017 Scotties bronze medalist

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – Homan
    Dec. 3 – Sweeting
    Dec. 4 – Scheidegger
    Dec. 5 – Flaxey
    Dec. 6 – Jones
    Dec. 7 – Tippin
    Dec. 8 – McCarville, Englot

    Despite having zero event wins this season, Chelsea Carey and her new-look rink are playing well.

    The 2016 Canadian champions invited veteran vice Cathy Overton-Clapham to the fold as a replacement for the retiring Amy Nixon this season and the results have been pretty solid.

    Team Carey own a .700 winning percentage and have made the playoffs in all six of their events, including semi-final appearances at the Grand Slam’s National (lost to Jones) and the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Classic (lost to Homan). They also fell to Kerri Einarson in the final of the Tour Challenge Tier 2 on the Grand Slam circuit.

    Overton-Clapham, 48, who won four Scotties titles with Jones, appears to be meshing well with her new teammates and could be the X-factor for this Calgary rink going forward.

    Team Carey will be a dangerous team in Ottawa if they figure out how to reach the next level.

     

    Team Casey Scheidegger (Lethbridge, Alberta)

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    Skip: Casey Scheidegger Third: Cary-Anne McTaggart Second: Jessie Scheidegger Lead: Kristie Moore

    Season Record: 17-12
    Events Won: 0
    Career Accolades: 2017 Canadian Open

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – Flaxey
    Dec. 3 – McCarville
    Dec. 4 – Carey
    Dec. 5 – Jones
    Dec. 6 – Sweeting, Homan
    Dec. 7 – Englot
    Dec. 8 - Tippin

    Team Casey Scheidegger qualified for the Olympic trials thanks to their breakout campaign on the WCT last season, which was highlighted by their first Grand Slam victory at the Canadian Open in early January.

    The Lethbridge rink hasn’t won in 2017-18, but made the final at the National on the Grand Slam circuit (losing to Jones) in their last tournament before the Roar of the Rings. Team Scheidegger is warming up at the right time.

    This will be the biggest event the 29-year-old skip from Red Deer has competed in during her nine-year pro career.

    Chances are you’ll know Team Scheidegger a lot better by the end of the week.

     

    Team Allison Flaxey (Caledon, Ontario)

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    Skip: Alli Flaxey Third: Clancy Grandy Second: Lynn Kreviazuk Lead: Morgan Court

    Season Record: 12-21
    Events Won: 0
    Career Accolades: 2016 Masters champion

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 2 – Scheidegger
    Dec. 3 – Jones
    Dec. 4 – Sweeting
    Dec. 5 – Carey, Homan
    Dec. 6 – McCarville
    Dec. 7 – Englot
    Dec. 8 – Tippin

    After picking up their first Grand Slam victory last season, Team Flaxey struggled in 2017-18 leading up to the Roar of the Rings.

    The Caledon crew won just 36 per cent of their games and made the playoffs in just one of seven events. They own a 2-10 record in three Grand Slams.

    Team Flaxey might be in tough in the nation’s capital, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly. 

     

    Team Julie Tippin (Woodstock, Ontario)

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    Skip: Julie Tippin Third: Chantal Duhaime Second: Rachelle Vink Lead: Tess Bobbie

    Season Record: 28-15
    Events Won: 3
    Career Accolades: 2017 StuSells Toronto Tankard champion 

    Roar of the Rings Schedule

    Dec. 3 – Sweeting, Homan
    Dec. 4 – Jones
    Dec. 5 – McCarville
    Dec. 6 – Englot
    Dec. 7 – Carey
    Dec. 8 – Scheidegger, Flaxey  

    If momentum in sports exists, Woodstock’s Julie Tippin should be feeling pretty good heading into the Roar of the Rings.

    Team Tippin won their final three games at the Road to the Roar Pre-Trials earlier this month to grab the ninth and final spot in Ottawa.

    The third-year team also won the KW Classic with a 7-0 record and the StuSells Toronto Tankard this season. They posted a 1-3 record at the National and missed the playoffs.

    Team Tippin will probably not make the playoffs, but competing at the Olympic trials will be a good opportunity to make a name for themselves on the national stage.