SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Rachel Homan has confidence, home ice and hammer heading into Sundays final at the Ford Womens World Curling Championship. She intends to turn those assets into gold. Homan, third Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle out of the Ottawa Curling Club will start the championship game against Switzerlands Binia Feltscher with last-rock advantage. Its Canadas reward for their 10-1 record to win the preliminary round and their 8-3 playoff win Friday over the Swiss. None of the other 11 countries at Saint Johns Harbour Station were as effective at scoring more than one point with hammer as Canada, so having it in the first end is an advantage. "Its huge," Homan said. "If you play your game properly, you can control the game." Canada last won a womens world curling title in 2008, when Winnipegs Jennifer Jones claimed it in Vernon, B.C. The wait hasnt been as long for Switzerland, as Mirjam Ott took the title two years ago in Lethbridge, Alta. With spectacular runbacks and raise takeouts, the Canadians drained Switzerlands offence Friday to win the playoff between the tournaments top two teams. That provided the host country a direct route to the gold-medal game, while Switzerland needed a 7-3 win over South Korea in Saturdays semifinal to gain a rematch. Russias Anna Sidorova and South Koreas Ji-sun Kim will play for bronze Sunday in what will be a first womens world curling medal for one of the countries. Homans team had Saturday off, so the skip watched the game in her hotel room and conducted interviews by phone in a raspy voice. "The rest will be good for me," Homan said. "Im glad the final is not today. "Its been a long week and we all need a bit of rest, so were glad that we put in the work and played really well and were able to get this bonus day off. We have some confidence we can take over into the final." Feltscher, 35, won an Olympic silver medal in 2006 playing third for Ott, but Sundays final will be the biggest game of her career as a skip. Third Irene Schori, second Franziska Kaufmann and Lead Christine Urech made their world championship debut in Saint John, so a 9-2 round-robin record and a berth in the final is a surprise. "Weve got nothing to lose tomorrow," Feltscher said via an interpreter. "It would be a great pleasure for us to put that gold medal around our necks." Switzerland was the only country to beat Canada in the round robin. Down 8-4, Homan shook hands after eight ends. Canadian Al Moore, husband of television curling commentator Linda Moore, is one of Switzerlands coaches. "I dont think their expectations were particularly high coming in," Moore said. "My goal coming in was to be in the playoffs. I really thought they could do that. The gold-medal game is a bonus." "They believe they can win. They believe if they go out and play their best, they believe they can win and really thats the difference." Jones and Brad Jacobs gave Canada double curling gold at the Winter Olympics in Sochi last month, with Jones going undefeated en route to the top step of the podium. Homan is on the verge of making it a dominant season for Canadian womens curling. "We have pressure on ourselves as well," Homan said. "You want that gold when it comes down to it. "Seeing Jones and (Brad) Jacobs bring home the gold from the Olympics, I really want to make it a clean sweep for Canada and make sure weve got gold everywhere." The average age of Homan and her teammates is just under 26, but they have big-game experience. Theyve won back-to-back Canadian titles, took bronze in their world championship debut last year in Riga, Latvia, and made it as far as the semifinal in Decembers Olympic trials. Homan was a shot away from making the final last year in Riga, but she missed a double takeout with her last throw of the semifinal to give up a steal and lose 8-7 to Scotland. The travel, time zone and arena were kinder to Homan this time. "Youre going to feel nervous and that comes with the territory and that comes with the sport," Homan said. "We love playing with the pressure and the home crowd. "A little bit different than Latvia. We had about five fans cheering us on. Theres a lot more energy this time around." Tim Hardaway Jersey . The Wizards announced Friday that Webster had surgery to repair a herniated disc in his lower back. The operation was performed Thursday in Los Angeles. Glen Rice Jersey . -- Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphias schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team. - The Clippers have signed guard Dahntay Jones to a second 10-day contract. Dwyane Wade Jersey . The Blue Jackets announced the injury through their official Twitter account Friday afternoon. Gaborik, 31, has scored five goals and six assists in 17 games with the Blue Jackets in 2013-14. Kelly Olynyk Jersey . Last July, F1 teams held in-season testing sessions at Silverstone to assess new tires provided by Pirelli after several blowouts on the same circuit at the British Grand Prix in June prompted a furious response from drivers and even a boycott threat the following week.WENGEN, Switzerland - Werner Heel of Italy was fastest in a relatively slow first training run on Wednesday for a World Cup downhill. One year after Frenchman Johan Clarey set a World Cup speed record of 161.9 km/h here, Heel hit 148.4 kilometres per hour through the Hanneggschuss straight. Heel timed 2 minutes, 39.04 seconds on the 4.4-kilometre Lauberhorn course, the longest in the World Cup, which was softened by fresh snowfalls. Peter Fill of Italy was second, 0.30 back. Patrick Kueng of Switzerland trailed Heel by 0.45 in third. Christof Innerhofer, the Italian defending champion, placed fourth, almost 10 seconds behind his 2013 winning time. Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Que., was fifth. Austrian Hannes Reichelt, who briefly held the speed record last year before Clareys run, said the course had been modified in the fastest section at the two-minute mark. "They made a little bit more turns at Hanneggschuss so there is no chance to get 160 (km/h))," said Reichelt who placed third last year.dddddddddddd Downhill standings leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was 10th. "That wasnt too convincing. I actually felt better here last year when I won the trainings," said Svindal, who has never finished on a Wengen downhill podium in eight attempts. Bode Miller of the United States, the Lauberhorn winner in 2007 and 08 and runner-up the following year, was 15th fastest. Svindal and Miller both start in a super-combined event on Friday — won by the American in 2010 — that is threatened by a forecast for snow during a training run on Thursday. The slalom portion will be run first in the morning to give course workers more time to prepare the shortened downhill course in the afternoon. The 84th Lauberhorn race meeting peaks with the classic downhill on Saturday, traditionally the most popular event on Switzerlands sports calendar. A slalom on Sunday completes the program. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '