Jones team has new skip lined up for 2024-25 season

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This article was published 20/04/2024 (724 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The curling world has waited patiently to hear what’s next for the now-former teammates of Jennifer Jones.

With the legendary skip from St. Vital retiring from women’s competition, third Karlee Burgess, second Emily Zacharias, and lead Lauren Lenentine have been forced to evaluate their careers.

Jones played her final event last week in Toronto at the Players’ Championship as the team went 1-4 to miss the playoffs.

There is, however, some clarity as the remaining trio confirmed to the Free Press they will be sticking together and already have a new fourth lined up. They’ll be making the announcement next week.

“I think over the last two years, we’ve shown not only the curlers in Canada but also the world that the three of us can compete with the best, and it doesn’t really matter about our age,” said Burgess, 25, in a phone interview.

“Jen has had so much experience and, obviously, she can compete with the best in the world, but I think the three of us have grown immensely in the women’s circuit. I think it’s really proven to everyone that the three of us are here to play and we want to win.”

Burgess was named a second-team all-star at February’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Calgary, as Team Jones came up short against Ontario’s Rachel Homan in the national final.

Her strong performance had many speculating whether or not a contender would make a pitch to her this offseason. Ultimately, there were few options as many teams remain intact at the midway point of the four-year Olympic cycle.

Importantly, with Burgess, Zacharias and Lenentine remaining united, they retain their Curling Canada points and ranking, which means their participation in next year’s Scotties in Thunder Bay, Ont., and Canadian Olympic Curling Trials is all but guaranteed.

“I did throw my name out to a couple people just to kind of see where their head was at, but ultimately, the responses I did receive was that most of them are staying together,” said Burgess, who’s originally from Nova Scotia, but now lives in Winnipeg.

“Obviously, the girls, Emily and Lauren, were always on my mind and I’d love to go on and curl with them in the future as well. But in this sport, you’re kind of your own agent and you have to put yourself out there.”

Mackenzie Zacharias skipped the group to world junior gold in 2020 and played second for Jones in 2023 when they fell to Kerri Einarson and Team Canada in the national title game.

Mackenzie stepped back from curling in 2024 and told The Canadian Press in late February she isn’t interested in coming back to fill their vacancy.

“Stepping back from the game and then coming back, I don’t think that would be in our best interest moving forward. I think she’s actually quite content with her life now and I think she actually said no to a couple opportunities to curl this year. I just don’t think it’s for her right now,” said Burgess.

“I just don’t know if elite curling and travelling on the road was what Mack envisioned it would be like. I think it was a little bit more challenging than she thought it would be.”

While Jones leaves massive shoes to fill, Burgess has a lot of confidence in the Olympic champion’s replacement.

“At the end of the day, we wanted to make sure we thought whoever we play with will match the three of us,” said Burgess. “There’s a lot of really good possibilities out there and opportunities that we could’ve had, but at the end of the day, we had to make sure we were content and happy with our pick moving forward.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31