Must win means she can't lose

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Three members of Canada's cardiac curlers, sweepers Jill Officer (left) and Dawn Askin and skip Jennifer Jones play Sweden in a do-or-die game Friday. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Their backs are to the wall. They cannot afford another loss in the next three games. And two of the teams they must beat have already beaten them this week, including their next opponent, Sweden's Anette Norberg and her reigning Olympic gold medallist squad.

Put it all together, and the odds are clearly stacked against them. Big time.

And that can mean only one thing, of course -- Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones has them exactly where she wants them right now, as the queen of cardiac curling attempts to yet again pull one out of the fire in Korea this weekend in her bid to win her second straight world women's curling championship.

It is, of course, precisely what Winnipeg's Jones and her teammates -- third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin do best. Their maddening knack for digging themselves into holes is matched only by their uncanny ability to escape at precisely the moment all hope seems to be lost.

They did it in the final of the Canadian women's curling championship in 2005, with Jones authoring what is widely considered the greatest walk-off shot in a national curling championship ever -- her famous in-off for four to sink Ontario's Jenn Hanna.

Then last year, they became just the second team in Canadian women's history to sneak into the playoffs through a tiebreaker and then go on to win it all, en route to a world title. And then last month, they became just the third team to do it, taking that same tiebreaker route to their third Canadian title in four years.

Far from being unnerved by their sudden-death situation in the Korean beach resort of Gangneung this weekend, the Jones foursome were laughing and joking Thursday about the prospect of playing Sweden in tonight's 3 vs. 4 Page playoff game.

One of two high-octane teams will head home bitterly disappointed after tonight's clash -- and it would be particularly bitter if it's the Jones team, who have a rare opportunity this weekend to cement their reputation as one of the game's all-time greats if they can become just the fifth women's team ever to win back-to-back world titles.

The other four? All Hall of Famers -- Norway's Dordi Nordby, Sweden's Elisabet Gustafson and Norberg and Canada's Sandra Schmirler.

So there is a lot on the line in tonight's sudden-death clash with Sweden. And the Canadians? True to form, they were laughing about their situation during a phone interview Thursday.

"Hey," said Overton-Clapham, "at least we're not in the tiebreakers again."

And there is also the fact, points out the skip, that her squad is perhaps better equipped than any other anywhere to deal with precisely these kinds of pressure situations. They have, she says, a proven formula.

"We've proven that we can do it," Jones said. "And at the end of the day, we always say if we go out there and do our best and lay it all on the line, we'll have no regrets. And I have every confidence that we're going to do that on Saturday. And hopefully that's good enough. And if not, we'll have had a great championship."

Jones and company avoided yet another trip through tiebreakers by winning both of their final two round-robin games Thursday, 10-7 over Switzerland and 8-5 over Italy.

The wins mean Canada finished the round-robin at 9-2, the same record as second-place Denmark. But because Denmark beat Canada in the round-robin on Wednesday, they get to play in today's 1 vs. 2 game against 10-1 China, with the winner advancing to Sunday's final while the loser gets a second chance in the semifinal against the winner of Canada-Sweden.

This Jones team has always taken the difficult road to glory. If they can navigate it just one more time this weekend, they will go down, quite simply, as one of the greatest women's curling teams ever.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

 Page game not on TV; live semifinal for early risers only

What: Canada's Jennifer Jones versus Sweden's Anette Norberg, Page playoff 3 vs. 4 game

Where: 2009 World Womens Curling Championship, Gangneung, South Korea

When: The game is being played at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Korea, which is midnight tonight here.

TV coverage: There is none. There was some suggestion Thursday that TSN might consider adding the 3 vs. 4 game to the coverage they're already doing of Saturday's semifinal and Sunday's final, but a network spokesman told the Free Press that will not happen.

And even the two games TSN is showing this weekend will be tough to catch -- at least live. Saturday's semifinal will air live on TSN at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m., although the network will re-air the program Saturday evening at 6 p.m.

The final game will be televised live Sunday at 1 a.m., but it will only air live on TSN2, the network's digital affiliate. A spokesman explained regular old-fashioned TSN is broadcasting the Australian Grand Prix live at that same time. If you don't get the digital TSN2 -- and many people in this city don't -- you can catch the repeat of the final Sunday evening at 6.

The stakes: The winner of Canada vs. Sweden advances to Saturday's semifinal, the loser is eliminated. The Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game, being played today, will be between China and Denmark. The winner of that game advances to the final, the loser goes to the semis.

Sweden facts: Norberg is the 2006 Olympic gold medallist, a two-time world champion and a seven-time European champion.

Head-to-head: Norberg beat Jones during the round-robin, 7-4, handing Jones what was her first loss of the event at that time. Jones went on to finish the round-robin at 9-2, while Norberg limped in at 7-4.

What Jones says about Sweden: "Their record speaks for itself. They're a great team."

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 27, 2009 C1