Einarson, Jones to fight for curling supremacy

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This article was published 04/02/2018 (3093 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PENTICTON, B.C. — One way or another, a Manitoban is about to become the Canadian women’s curling champion.

Jennifer Jones and Kerri Einarson will duke it out in the Sunday evening final of the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. It’s a fitting end to a week which saw both Manitoba teams — two of three, here — soar over the field.

Einarson, who won her way onto the draw through the new wild card berth, clinched her place in the final with a wild 12-9 semifinal win over Nova Scotia veteran Mary-Anne Arsenault Sunday.

“I’m super-excited,” Einarson said, minutes after the win. “I can’t wait to get out there.”

The final will be a rematch of Saturday’s spectacular 1-vs-2 Page playoff. That time, Jones survived a ferocious challenge from Einarson, a game that pushed both teams into a series of dazzling shots and narrow misses.

The semifinal was entertaining too, though in a different way. It was a wildly high-scoring affair, after big misses and one game-breaking technical error by Arsenault: consider the fact Einarson was leading 9-6 by the fifth end break.

So how did this turn into such a roller-coaster?

A pretty raise in the first earned Einarson an opening deuce. But the East St. Paul skip gave that opportunity right back in the second, when her last shot ticked one of Arsenault’s guards into the rings to lie two.

That gave Arsenault a simple draw anywhere to the house for three, and a 3-2 lead. But in the third Einarson bit back, when a pair of Nova Scotia jams opened a chance for her to regain the lead with a three-spot of her own.

Was it over then? Not a chance. Another Einarson miss gave Nova Scotia another three ender, and a 6-5 lead.

So it looked like it would be a shootout, right to the end, but what happened next dragged Arsenault’s hopes away.

With her last stone in that end, Arsenault accidentally tapped the rock’s handle after the delivery. That technical violation took the rock out of play, and gave Einarson a huge opportunity: she threw a daring split to score four.

“I had that shot already lined up in my head, a few shots back,” Einarson said. “So I knew exactly where I wanted to put the ice, and where I needed to hit it.”

Arsenault had no idea that she had tapped the handle, at first.

“Basically, a hog-line violation cost us the game,” Arsenault said. “My bad. But it would have been interesting had they only gotten two that end, instead of four.”

For Arsenault, a five-time Canadian champion with Colleen Jones, it was a frustrating finish to her 13th Scotties. But her team has had a head-turning run here, and plans to look ahead to the 2019 Scotties in Sydney, N.S.

Whatever happens tonight, it’s a great story for the future of curling in Manitoba.

Einarson has exploded in Penticton. Not only did she finish the opening rounds in first place, but she smashed an old goose egg: she carried a career 0-17 record against Jones, before toppling her regional rival in this round robin.

Now, she will battle to do it again. The Scotties final kicks off at 6 p.m. CST today. The winner will represent Canada in March at the 2018 world championships in North Bay, Ont.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca