after winning the 2013 & 2014 scotties, rachel homan returns again as skip of team canada, this time with a new teammate in joanne courtney at second. she replaces alison kreviazuk who moved to sweden to be with her partner, fredrik lindberg. courtney played in the 2014 scotties for alberta's val sweeting rink who returns with a new third in lori olson-johns. they were the silver medalists last year after having lost to homan in the final. after missing the scotties last year for the olympics, where she received a gold medal, jennifer jones and her team from manitoba look to capture her fifth scotties title. the other favourite is team stefanie lawton, representing saskatchewan. although they have never won the scotties, they have placed 4th four times in previous scotties tournaments. they are also three-time canada cup winners, four-time grand slam winners, and are playing on home ice in saskatchewan.