Ultimate honour for Team Jones

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This article was published 15/12/2020 (1919 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Being named Manitoba’s curling team of the year would be an impressive feat.  Getting acknowledged as the team of the decade would be even sweeter. But getting voted as the province’s team of the past century and a half? Sheesh. Now that’s really something.

On Tuesday, the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame (MCHOF) announced Jennifer Jones and her St. Vital Curling Club team as the most notable in Manitoba’s 150-year history. 

Team Jones, whose crowning achievement was an undefeated run to the 2014 Olympic gold medal, was voted No. 1 by a committee of curlers, media, volunteers and fans.

“It’s absolutely mind-blowing, to be honest,“ Jones told the Free Press in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon.

“It actually made me a little bit emotional. We’re so proud to represent Manitoba on the world stage. To be recognized in Manitoba for being a great team, and we’ll always be remembered in the history of Manitoba curling, that’s something you don’t even dream about. It doesn’t seem like something that could be real. To be voted as the most notable team in Manitoba curling history, it’s just really hard to put into words.”

The team has been dominant since 2005, largely with the same group as only nine people have been on the squad in the past 15 years. In that time span, Jones has won a record-tying six Scotties Tournament of Hearts national women’s titles and two world championships.

“I think at the end of the day, it’s just been great team dynamics,” said Jones.

“All the people I’ve had the fortune to play with have all truly loved the game of curling and loved being on the ice and having that competitive spirit and the feeling and joy of just curling. That’s led to a lot of wins and fun along the way. We’ve always said standing on top of the podium is just an added bonus because we’re doing what we love to do.”

The No. 2-ranked team on the list is Don Duguid, who won the Air Canada Silver Broom trophy — now known as the world championship — in 1970 and 1971. The third spot belongs to Kerry Burtnyk’s 1995-2001 squad. Burtnyk made history in 1995 in Brandon when he became the first Manitoban to win a world championship in the Keystone Province.

The MCHOF started out with a list of 150 teams before creating a ranking of the top 25 in honour of the province’s 150-year anniversary.

“Ranking Team Jones No. 1 recognizes a decade and a half of excellence,” said MCHOF president Peter Nicholls in a statement.

“When we identified the teams on our list of 150, we identified teams who had changed no more than one person year-to-year and whose major accomplishments were no more than five years apart.”

Jones’ squad is one of only two active teams that made the top 25. Gimli’s Kerri Einarson, whose team won the Scotties earlier this year but didn’t get a chance to play at the world championship as it was cancelled owing to COVID-19 concerns, is ranked 19th.

“It’s an honour no matter when you get it and hopefully we can still add a few more titles to our legacy,” Jones said.

“But at the end of the day, I still can’t believe the things we’ve accomplished together. I still pinch myself every time we win something else.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31