Homan's medal hopes take a hit with loss to China
Canadian rink had been riding 3-game winning streak
By CBC Sports
Canada's women's curling medal streak in the Olympics now hinges on the team winning its final two round-robin matches as Rachel Homan's rink fell to China 7-5 on Tuesday in South Korea.
The Canadians entered the match having won three straight to pull their record even, but now sit at 3-4.
China, which improved to 4-4, stole two in the second, but Canada got one back in the third and then stole two in the fourth to pull ahead 3-2.
However, China responded with a three in the fifth to regain a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.
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Canada pulled within a point, making it 5-4 after the sixth, but were in tough when China held onto the hammer following a blank in the seventh end.
Homan's rink narrowly missed scoring three in the ninth end, and could only manage a single to trail 6-5 heading into the tenth.
China was then able to draw for one in the final end to secure the win.
'We've definitely grinded it out before'
It's a stressful position for a team that ran the table to go unbeaten and win the 2017 world championship, but not unfamiliar, according to third Emma Miskew.
"Everyone thinks it's unknown territory for us, but we've definitely grinded it out before," she said. "We control or our destiny. If we can come out tomorrow and win, then we're in a decent spot."
The Canadian women control their own destiny only insofar as winning the last two games would get them into a tiebreaker game.
Since curling returned to the Winter Olympics in 1998, a Canadian team has never finished out of the medals in men's or women's curling.
Canada finishes the round-robin against Great Britain (Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. ET) and the Olympic Athletes from Russia (Wednesday at 6:05 a.m. ET).
With files from Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press