It’s the hard way — or no way at all — for Jones

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 25/02/2012 (5268 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RED DEER, Alta. — And in the end, Jennifer Jones is going to have to do it the hard way after all. If she does it at all.

After cruising through the round-robin with a 9-2 record at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts this week, it was beginning to look like this final weekend was going to be a coronation for the four-time Canadian women’s curling champion.

But it has been a rarity in her remarkable curling career when Manitoba’s Jones has ever done things the easy way and this year will apparently be no different.

With a berth in Sunday’s Canadian women’s curling championship final on the line in the Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game Friday night, the Jones foursome chose the worst possible moment to author their worst performance of the week — a 7-5 loss to B.C.’s Kelly Scott that can only be described as a debacle.

The loss vaulted Scott — a two-time Canadian women’s champion — straight into Sunday’s final, while Jones will now have to play in today’s semifinal (5 p.m., TSN) against the winner of this afternoon’s 3 vs. 4 game (noon, TSN) between Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche and Alberta’s Heather Nedohin.

That’s bad enough. Even worse is that Jones has now given a huge boost of confidence to an opponent in Scott who has always been her most-competitive rival over the years. The two women now have a 5-5 record against each other at this event, but Scott holds the advantage in the biggest games, having now beaten Jones in the 2006 final, the 2007 semifinal and this year’s 1-2 game.

Sunday will be Scott’s first appearance in a final since 2007.

“It’s been a few years since we’ve been in this position,” said the Winnipeg native, “but somehow it feels like yesterday.”

But perhaps the most disturbing element of Friday night’s Jones loss was the manner of it. The entire Manitoba foursome got badly outplayed through the first five ends.

Second Jill Officer was nothing short of a disaster, shooting just 50 per cent in the first half of the game. Officer finished the game at just 65 per cent, 15 points less than her B.C. counterpart Dailene Sivertson, who shot 80.

Third Kaitlyn Lawes was almost as bad, firing just 60 per cent through the first five ends and getting Manitoba into all kinds of trouble end after end, even as B.C. third Sasha Carter was shooting lights out. Carter outshot Lawes 88-69 by game’s end.

Neither Officer or Lawes had an explanation.

“That certainly wasn’t my best game, that’s for sure,” said Officer.

“I was close on so many,” said Lawes, “but just couldn’t get the outcome we were looking for.”

The key battle, as always, was at skip. And you only had to look at the 18-point disparity between what Scott shot through the first five ends — 83 per cent — and what Jones shot — 65 per cent — to understand why Manitoba trailed 5-2 heading into the fifth end break.

Jones had tough shots — and she didn’t make them. But true to form, she was looking on the bright side of doing things the hard way.

“It’s never a bad thing to be on the ice,” said Jones. “You get to play and it’s fun. If you win, you have some momentum going into the final.”

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Jones battled back in the second half to make a one-point game of it coming home, but really, the final score flattered Manitoba in a game in which the outcome was never in doubt after the fifth end.

Friday night’s loss marked the first time Jones has ever lost the 1-2 Page playoff game. She had appeared in the 1-2 game three times previously — including in each of the past two years — and won all three times.

While they wouldn’t admit it Friday night, the Manitobans would clearly prefer to play Quebec tonight. They beat Quebec during the round robin, while one of their only two round-robin losses came to Alberta.

And Alberta would surely have a loud and boisterous crowd cheering for them — and against Manitoba — should that matchup materialize tonight.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca