Jones claims 8th provincial title

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This article was published 15/01/2018 (3030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

KILLARNEY — Jennifer Jones now stands alone in the annals of Manitoba women’s curling history

Like she’s done so many times in the past, the 43-year-old skip from the St. Vital club came through in the clutch.

Jones drew to the button for a game-winning deuce in the 10th end of the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts final for a 7-6 win over Assiniboine Memorial skip Darcy Robertson at the Shamrock Centre late Sunday afternoon.

“I felt great with the speed, and I just got to throw it there,” she said. “It was one that I felt really good about and I liked it when I let it go, and as long as I had decent line it was pretty hard to miss it.”

The victory vaulted Jones into solo first all-time with her eighth provincial women’s title for any player at any position, breaking out of a tie with former teammates Janet Arnott and Cathy Overton-Clapham, who both have seven.

“To be honest a number doesn’t really matter to me, it’s just to have success with my girls is fun,” Jones said. “I like playing in big events in championship games when you come out and win. It’s what you train for and that’s really what means more to me.”

Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer — a former Brandonite — and lead Dawn McEwen won every game by at least four points, except for a 9-5 loss to Joelle Brown of the Charleswood club on Wednesday afternoon, prior to the matchup with Robertson.

And it looked like the fearsome foursome would coast to another trip to the national Scotties, which starts on Jan. 27 in Penticton, B.C.

However, up 5-2 playing the eighth end, Jones lost her shooter on a pair of hits and that allowed Robertson an open draw for three to square the game.

Then in the ninth, Jones flashed a hit that would have scored two or three. It resulted in a steal of one for Robertson, a 6-5 lead for the 52-year-old and gasps from the fans in Killarney.

“I was pretty disappointed with the eighth end but nine was actually pretty good and I had a hard shot to maybe get two or three,” Jones said. “We just missed it.”

All of a sudden it was advantage Robertson, but the three-time Manitoba women’s champion (2009, 2003, 1986) got into a drawing game in the 10th end with Jones after lead Theresa Cannon accidentally put up a pair of early guards.

“We just had to force them to one and maybe play the extra and unfortunately we got a couple of guards up but we needed them in the house,” Robertson said.

But Robertson, third Karen Klein, second Vanessa Foster, who battled through a right wrist injury all week, and Cannon, still had a shot to sit one with the skip’s last stone. However, it didn’t curl quite enough and opened up the four-foot area for Jones to draw for her first provincial crown in three years.

“I thought she’d make it because that was a pretty straightforward shot, a straightforward draw,” Robertson said.

Robertson beat Jones 8-6 in last year’s semifinal at the Eric Coy Arena in Winnipeg before eventually dropping the final by the same score to Michelle Englot.

But on Sunday, as Jones told the crowd during the closing ceremonies: “It was our turn.”

Robertson reached her second straight final by stealing four points, then scoring a 10th-end deuce on an open hit to oust Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul 9-7 in Sunday morning’s semifinal, but it was still a tough way to lose to Jones.

“It was disappointing for us, obviously,” Robertson said. “We didn’t play our best game but we had a few ends that didn’t really go our way and we got out of them, made a couple of good shots.

“I underthrew that last one, we had it in the bag but I underthrew that last one and it’s just too bad,” she continued.

Robertson needed an extra end in Saturday evening’s 2-vs.-2 Page playoff game to get by Brown 9-7, while Einarson surrendered four stolen points in a 9-5 loss to Jones in the 1-vs.-1 Page playoff game.

With her loss to Jones, Einarson remains winless in 16 all-time meetings with her archrival.

But with Jones’ Scotties win, Einarson will get the chance to battle former Manitoban Chelsea Carey in the national Scotties’ wildcard game on

Jan. 26 for the 16th and final spot in the field.

Nonetheless, the week belonged to Jones, who opened the game by drawing for a deuce to the four foot for two and scoring two more on a fourth-end in-off for a 4-1 lead.

“It would have been disappointing to not be in Penticton and we knew we had the CTRS spot but we really wanted to represent Manitoba and who knows how much longer we are going to curl for, so it’s nice to be able to represent our great province at least one more time,” Jones said.

With Lawes earning the right to represent Canada in mixed doubles curling at next month’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea, she will not be playing in Penticton. So Jones has to add someone to her lineup for that event.

Talks about who will fill in haven’t taken place yet.

“We can’t replace her. Either we play with three, but I think that would be a lot of sweeping for the front end,” Jones added. “We’ll sit down and figure it out.”

And she’s hopeful for more butterflies in British Columbia, just like she felt prior to the winning shot.

“If you don’t feel butterflies, why would you play? So of course you do, that’s what makes sport exciting,” Jones said. “If you didn’t have the heartbreaks and the disappointments, the ups wouldn’t be as fun and so the nerves and the excitement and the butterflies and the adrenalin rush is was sport is all about, and the moment that stops is the moment that I stop curling.”

EXTRA ENDS : Einarson, Brown’s third Susan Baleja, Officer and Cannon were selected as the Scotties all-stars by the Manitoba Curling Media Association … around 6,000 spectators took in the first provincial women’s curling championship in Killarney since Jill Thurston was victorious in 2010.

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