PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA—As the game wore on and the pressure got more palpable, a group of fans clad in red and white broke the tension at the Gangneung Curling Centre by breaking into a chant that echoed through the otherwise quiet venue.“Let’s go Canada, let’s go!” hollered the small assemblage of flag-toting supporters.Bellowed one fan to punctuate the rallying cry: “Weee Arrre Canadiannn!”For the past 20 years, being Canadian at an Olympic curling event meant you were likely either winning a medal or celebrating one. But Canada’s remarkable Olympic curling medal streak ended Wednesday morning here when Rachel Homan’s rink dropped a 6-5 decision to Britain’s Eve Muirhead-skipped team. The loss dropped Canada’s win-loss record to 3-5, eliminating Homan from medal contention in the women’s draw and extinguishing a long-time hot streak.Leading 5-4 into the 10th end, Homan’s rink piled mistake upon mistake as Muirhead, holding the hammer, stocked the house with yellow stones. Britain was lying four when Homan threw her penultimate stone, a takeout that reduced that number to two. But after Muirhead countered, Homan needed to make a difficult draw to extend the match. She came up short, and with that, an era ended.In the five Olympics since curling was added to the Winter Games program in 1998, Canada hadn’t failed to win both a women’s and a men’s curling medal, winning five of a possible 10 golds combined over the span. But the dominance is no longer.As Colleen Jones, the two-time world champion turned TV analyst, pointed out the other day, “parity” has finally arrived on the sheet.“There’s parity and everybody can play, which is great,” Jones said. “That’s exactly what curling needs. I mean, Canada now needs to win.”Homan’s rink has won, many times, of course. Last year she and teammates Emma Miskew, Joanne Court ...
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