‘Then all of a sudden it was over’

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This article was published 26/02/2024 (888 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — The odds were stacked against Jennifer Jones having a fairy tale ending.

Ontario’s Rachel Homan was just too good and too dominant all year long that not even the greatest women’s curler in Canadian history was going to stop her from winning the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Don’t tell that to the curling icon from Manitoba. She remained confident till the very end that her 18th and final appearance at women’s curling nationals was going to go her way.

“I really thought we were going to win,” said Jones, who fell 5-4 to Homan late Sunday night in Calgary before leaving the ice one last time.

The better story lost, but the better team won.

Not only did Homan finish a perfect 11-0 in Calgary, but she was also 6-0 against Team Jones — which features third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias, and lead Lauren Lenentine — this season (with three of those wins coming at the Scotties) and boasted an incredible 49-5 overall record.

Against Manitoba’s big four — Jones, Kerri Einarson, Kate Cameron and Kaitlyn Lawes — Homan went 15-1.

Homan, third Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, and lead Sarah Wilkes are Canada’s best hope at winning at gold at the world women’s curling championship in Sydney, N.S. (March 16-24). Homan, Fleury and Miskew were all first-team tournament all-stars, while Wilkes was named to the second-team.

That just didn’t feel as important on Sunday. The St. Vital Curling Club product’s teammates were so determined to send their 49-year-old skip off on the ultimate high, and when it ended in the 1oth with Jones missing on a challenging draw, they were crushed. Not for themselves, not for the fact that it’s their second year in a row losing the national title game, but for Jones.

Burgess and Lenentine were flooded with emotions after the game and needed a moment to compose themselves to put into words what Jones means to them.

“We’re very lucky. She was very appreciative of us and I really can’t thank her enough,” said Burgess.

“She says thank you to us all the time, but it’s like she doesn’t realize what she did for us.”

Most young curlers wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure and the attention that came with the retirement news, but it never got to this group.

“We don’t let the outside things bother us. So, although that was a big deal in the media and obviously it’s a big deal for all of us, we were able to park it and come out on the ice and give it our all,” said Lenentine.

“We wanted to do it for Jen and each and every one of us.”

Whether Burgess, Zacharias, and Lenentine recruit a new skip or go their seperate ways next season remains to be seen. They’ll have options, especially Burgess who was named a second-team all-star third in Calgary, but none of that was on their mind this weekend.

“We honestly haven’t had time to think about it,” said Lenentine. “We decided that when Jen told us she was going to retire that we were just going to focus on the Scotties and trying to get through this.”

In an initial scrum with reporters, Jones said her daughters are asking her to keep playing and that “We’ll see.” It’s evident she still loves the game (she will continue playing mixed doubles with husband Brent Laing), but when later asked to clarify the comment, she officially closed the door on coming back for another run at the women’s level.

“I think it’s hard when my kids are so sad and they really like it, but I really do want to be there for them,” said Jones.

Before Homan went to carry on the celebration with her family and teammates, she shared a long hug with Jones after the cameras stopped rolling.

“You saw the three games that we played against each other. It was just phenomenal curling back and forth. Not many shots missed,” said Homan. “She’s just always a fierce competitor. We know we have to bring our absolute best and can’t blink when we play her. She’ll be very missed on the ice.”

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Even though the final result didn’t go their way, they soaked in every second. After the 3,195 fans left the WinSport Event Centre, workers quickly began to tear things down to get the facility back to normal. Jones, a six-time Scotties champion, and her family — featuring mom Carol, Laing, and daughters Isabella, 11, and Skyla, 7, were still there and ended up being the very last to leave after taking pictures with the rest of the team.

“I was just so in the moment. And then all of a sudden it was over, and it was like ‘Oh boy, it’s over,’” said Jones.

“I didn’t think about it before I threw (my last rock). I didn’t really dream of it being in the final. It kind of all just happened in a magical way. Obviously, it would’ve been nice to win but it was just all pretty special.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.