Jones, McEwen masters of Morris

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This article was published 21/11/2016 (3485 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MORRIS – Jennifer Jones ran perfect all weekend and successfully defended her crown at the 2016 Dekalb Superspiel Monday.

Jones and her rink out of the St. Vital Curling Club needed just seven ends to dispatch Winnipeg transplant Michelle Englot in an 8-3 win at the Morris Curling Club for her second win in the event in as many years.

“We had a pretty good week,” Jones said. “We didn’t start out as good as we would have liked. We won some games but we weren’t playing as well as we’d have like. I thought we turned it up in the playoffs and hopefully that bodes well for the Canada Cup (next weekend in Brandon).”

The 42-year-old, who is now undefeated over the past two years in the event, beat American Erika Brown in last year’s final and lost a tight championship game the year before that to Ontario’s Tracy Fleury.

“It’s hard to win any time,” Jones said. “I’m proud of the girls. We’ve had a bit of the quarterfinal blues over the past couple of events so it was nice to actually make it to the finals and win.”

The world No. 2 took an early 1-0 lead in the first end after being forced to hit and stick for the single. Englot tied the game with a single of her own in the third after blanking the second.

But the floodgates would soon open for Jones, who set herself up for an easy deuce in the fourth and then stole three in the fifth for a commanding 6-1 lead.

Now 6-3 in the seventh, Jones’ confidence continued to ooze on a masterful triple takeout that left her with a draw for two and the win.

Luck on McEwen’s Side

On the men’s side, Mike McEwen and his Fort Rogue rink exacted a bit of revenge in a 9-4 win against 2012 champ William Lyburn out of the Granite Curling Club.

Lyburn beat McEwen in the A-side qualifier on Saturday, making sure he’d have Sunday off and McEwen would have to battle his way into the playoffs.

But it was 36-year-old McEwen who had the last laugh Monday night in Morris, with a little bit of help from Lyburn.

“We played a really good game… in the first end we made seven out of eight shots, but we got a huge break,” McEwen said.

Lyburn, who was undefeated heading into the final, dug a hole early after allowing McEwen to steal two in the first end.

“Willy was playing a double for at least four and he was already one,, so he didn’t have to make the double to score, but it was a bad throw and it ticked a guard, hit another one and then hit his own out and we stole two,” McEwen said. “That’s massive. You don’t get breaks like that too often. That was fortunate… sometimes you need one of those in a little run of wins. That was a huge momentum change.”

After allowing McEwen to steal a single in the third, Lyburn got back on track in the fourth end after McEwen missed on a double takeout attempt on his final shot, setting up an easy draw for two for Lyburn.

But McEwen stemmed the bleeding in the fifth, hitting and sticking for three for a 6-2 lead. Now 6-4 in the seventh, McEwen made an improbable triple takeout, setting himself up for another three points and a 9-4 win.

A Marathon Finish

It was a marathon day for all four finalists, but maybe none longer than McEwen’s road to his $11,000 winners’ cheque.

McEwen’s 2 1/2 hour semifinal match with Reid Carruthers afforded him just enough time to find the nearest washroom and down an energy bar before his name was called to throw warmup stones head of the final.

“Oh, geez,” McEwen said, still trying to catch his breath. “We haven’t played three games in a row for a long time, probably because we haven’t been winning three games in a row for a long time. It was good to stay focused because that semifinal almost took everything out of us. That was a tremendous ending, just to get through that one.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @scottbilleck