Olympic curling dreams still alive for Jennifer Jones after extra-end win

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This article was published 06/01/2018 (3131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE — Jennifer Jones and her dream of representing Canada at a second consecutive Winter Olympics ended here Saturday afternoon at the Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.

Jones, the 2014 gold medal winner in Sochi in women’s curling, and her doubles partner, Newfoundland’s Mark Nichols, were eliminated here with a 5-4 loss to Jocelyn Peterman/Brett Gallant in the 2 vs 2 game.

“Obviously we’re hugely disappointed,” Jones said afterward. “We came here to win. But I’m proud of how we played. Mark was a great teammate and I’m proud of what we’ve done.”

With the win, Peterman/Gallant advance to the semifinal here Saturday evening.

Jones and Nichols struggled early in this game, surrendering a deuce in the first end and then steals in the second and third ends to go down 4-0.

But they battled back, getting on the board in the fourth end with a single and then stealing the fifth, sixth and seventh ends in succession to tie the game 4-4 coming home.

A wild eighth end saw Jones throw her final rock with just seven seconds remaining on her team’s clock. Her shot didn’t quite curl enough and Peterman needed only a quiet tap with the final rock of the game to score the game-winner.

Jones was asked if time was an issue in her execution of that last shot. “Not at all. We’re an eighth of an inch from making it perfect. I was happy how I threw it and unfortunately it needed to curl just a little bit more.”

Jones/Nichols advanced to the 2 vs 2 game with a 9-7 extra end win earlier Saturday over Chelsea Carey/Colin Hodgson. Peterman/Gallant advanced with an 8-5 win over Jill Officer and Reid Carruthers.

The losses Saturday morning eliminated both Carey/Hodgson and Officer/Carruthers.

Still to come Saturday afternoon is the 1 vs 1 game between longtime Jones third Kaitlyn Lawes and her partner John Morris against Brad Gushue and Val Sweeting.

The winner of the 1 vs 1 game advances straight to Sunday afternoon’s final, while the loser gets a second chance in the semifinal against Peterman/Gallant.

The winner of Sunday’s final will represent Canada in mixed doubles curling at next month’s Winter Olympics in Korea.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek