Jones two wins away

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This article was published 25/02/2011 (5522 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHARLOTTETOWN — Cathy Overton-Clapham won the battle Wednesday evening, but Jennifer Jones is perfectly positioned this morning to win the war.

With a pair of victories here Thursday — 8-5 over Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink and 9-4 over Nova Scotia’s Heather Smith-Dacey — Jones and her Team Canada foursome finished the round robin Thursday night in second place with an 8-3 record and are now just two wins away from winning their fourth straight Canadian women’s curling championship.

Jones advanced to the page playoff 1 vs. 2 game here tonight against Saskatchewan’s Amber Holland, who finished first overall with a 9-2 record but limps into tonight having lost two of her last three games — including a debacle to B.C. last night in which Holland surrendered steals in five straight ends to squander a 5-1 lead and lose 8-5.

The Saskatchewan skip has never played in the playoffs at a Scotties Tournament of Hearts before and did not take kindly to an inquiry Thursday about whether she was concerned about her team’s recent troubles heading into a game tonight against a team in Jones who are 10-0 in the Scotties playoffs since 2007.

“That’s a dumb question,” Holland spat. “It doesn’t concern me at all. We’re where we need to be, we’re into the playoffs. We just didn’t execute as well out there. It’s fine. It is what it is.”

Jones also didn’t sound concerned last night — but it sounded less delusional coming from a woman who is 5-1 in her last six games and has won the last three Canadian titles.

“I thought we had a great day today,” said Jones. “We had a great last five games, actually. We’re just really happy with that. We had just such a fun day today, we were really relaxed. And obviously the 1-2 game is really nice.”

The 1-2 game is also forgiving. The winner of Jones-Holland tonight (TSN, 5:30 p.m. CT) advances straight to Sunday’s Canadian final, while the loser will get a second chance in Saturday night’s semi-final.

The other team in that semifinal is still quite a way from being determined. Ontario’s Rachel Homan also finished at 8-3, but was dropped to third place because she lost the round-robin game to Jones.

That gives Homan a berth in Saturday afternoon’s 3 vs. 4 page playoff game, but who she will face in that game won’t be decided until this afternoon when BC’s Kelly Scott and Nova Scotia’s Smith-Dacey — who both finished at 7-4 — face off in a playoff tiebreaker game to determine the fourth and final playoff spot.

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While the Jones team has had their stumbles this week — most memorably in an 8-6 loss Wednesday evening to Overton-Clapham and Team Manitoba — they have been the most consistently dominant squad in this field.

For the first time in memory, all four players from one team — Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin — finished first statistically at their position, testimony to just how good this team is playing as they pursue what would be a record-tying fourth straight Canadian women’s curling championship.

While they have a chance to make history this weekend, Jones said she feels she’s already accomplished her goal.

“Obviously with playoffs there’s a little more on the line,” said Jones. “You try to turn it up a notch and hopefully we can do that. But I’m pretty happy to make the playoffs and now everything is a bonus.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca