This team really rocks

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This article was published 02/03/2009 (6272 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VICTORIA — This time there was no last-end drama. This time there was no last-rock dramatics. This time there was no need for any miracles.

Because this time, Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones — and the rest of her St. Vital foursome — simply outhustled, outmuscled and outplayed their opponent, defeating B.C.’s Marla Mallett 8-5 in the final Sunday night.

And the result is Jones, third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin successfully defended their title here at the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts to become just the sixth team in Canadian history to win back-to-back Canadian women’s curling championships.

Just like last year, they did it the hard way, winning five must-win games in a row to capture a title that looked to be slipping away just a few days ago.

"I’ve dreamed about this since I was a little kid. It’s unbelievable," said Jones, who shot 89 per cent in the final and was named MVP. "It’s so very special to us right now.

"The satisfying part is we had so many bad breaks early in the week. We weren’t playing bad and everything wasn’t going our way. But we never get down and we always dig deep and we played great in the playoffs."

Jones, Overton-Clapham and Officer also have a third Canadian title to their credit, won in 2005. And Overton-Clapham has a fourth Canadian championship, won with Connie Laliberte in 1995. Sunday night’s victory puts Overton-Clapham in exceedingly rare company, joining just seven others with four or more Canadian women’s championships.

"I haven’t really thought about the big picture," said Overton-Clapham, who was named a first-team all-star for her stellar play duing the round-robin. "We had a great week as a team."

But with her kids standing on the ice next to her Sunday night, Overton-Clapham also had to admit a certain personal satisfaction.

"I practise every day and spend time away from the family and it’s all kind of paid off. It’s unbelievable."

But even while they were savouring their history-making win, the Jones rink was already talking about the challenge still ahead of them at the Women’s World Curling Championship in Gangneung, Korea, March 21-29.

The Winnipeg foursome won a world championship last year on familiar ice and in familiar conditions in Vernon, B.C. It was a very different story, however, when they played at the worlds in Paisley, Scotland in 2005, when a befuddled Jones playing at a hopelessly mismanaged event failed to adapt and became one of the few Canadian teams ever to miss the playoffs at a worlds.

The Canadians, suffice to say, are hoping for more Vernon and less Paisley this time around in Korea.

"I think having been exposed to Paisley," said Officer, "can only help us going over to Korea.

"Everything happens for a reason, right?"

It was the simplest of mistakes that put the Canadians over the top Sunday night in what was otherwise an exceptionally well-played game. With Canada lying two, Mallett needed to draw just the eight-foot with the last rock of the seventh end to score her single and send the game to the eighth tied at 5-5.

But she pulled the string and the rock barely made the 12-foot before crashing and yielding Canada a steal of two that removed all doubt.

"It was just a little soft out of my hand and on this ice if you let it go soft, it’s going to grab the curl and go. And that’s what happened," said Mallett.

Mallett might get a pretty good consolation prize yet. If Jones goes on to win the Trials in Edmonton in December and represents Canada next February at the Winter Olympics, Mallett will get to be Team Canada at next year’s Scotties because Jones would be tied up with preparations for Vancouver.