By Canadian Press

Name Game: Team Fleury name iced at PointsBet Invitational in favour of Team Homan

Sep 22, 2022 | 12:50 PM

The name game was played before Thursday’s opening draw at the PointsBet Invitational as the Team Fleury name was iced in favour of Team Homan.

The team asked event organizers to make the switch and Curling Canada agreed to the change for this event, a federation spokesman said in an email. 

Tracy Fleury joined the powerhouse rink in the off-season and is serving as skip while throwing third stones. Rachel Homan, who skipped the team last season, still throws last rock on a rink that includes second Emma Miskew and lead Sarah Wilkes.

Curling teams are traditionally named after the skip’s surname.

However, making things confusing for curling fans was that the Ottawa-based team was called Team Fleury in the lead-up to the Season of Champions event in Fredericton. 

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World curling rankings also use Team Fleury, as does event sponsor PointsBet Canada.

Rights-holder TSN has used both names in its preview content and television graphics. The network used Team Homan for the third-seeded team’s 8-4 victory over No. 14 Suzanne Birt on Thursday afternoon.

Team Homan was the name of choice for the squad’s season-opening bonspiel earlier this month at the Saville Shootout in Edmonton. The Grand Slam of Curling Series circuit is also using Team Homan. 

If the team qualifies for the national championship – the Feb. 17-26 Scotties Tournament of Hearts — it will be called Team Fleury, a Curling Canada spokesman said.

It wasn’t the only name game wrinkle at the inaugural PointsBet Invitational. 

Some of the 32 teams in the field are sponsored by competing sportsbooks and are not referring to the event by its actual name.

Team Homan, which has CoolBet has a sponsor, calls the competition the Curling Canada Invitational on its website.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2022. 

Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press