Instant chemistry pays off big time for Manitoba rinks

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/09/2022 (1452 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jennifer Jones and Reid Carruthers have 50,000 reasons to smile about their newly formed teams.

The two Winnipeg skips won the inaugural PointsBet Invitational, a single-knockout tournament featuring the biggest names in Canadian curling, Sunday in Fredericton, N.B., to bring home cheques for $50,000.

Jones, who heads into this quadrennial with third Karlee Burgess, second Mackenzie Zacharias, lead Lauren Lenentine and alternate Emily Zacharias, took down Casey Scheidegger’s team from Alberta, with Kristie Moore skipping for an absent Scheidegger, 7-4 at Willie O’Ree Place in the championship game.

Carruthers, who has returned to skipping after four years with Mike McEwen, guided his revamped roster featuring Jason Gunnlaugson at third, Derek Samagalski at second, and Connor Njegovan playing lead, to first place by beating fellow Winnipegger Matt Dunstone 8-4 in the final.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling, obviously,” Carruthers told the Free Press Monday. “Especially when you beat some of the top teams in the world, it makes it even more special and to do it with a new team, you know, it’s been a heck of a start for us.”

Carruthers beat Braden Calvert, Kevin Koe, and Brad Gushue en route to the final. It’s his first victory at skip since capturing the Karuizawa International in Japan at the end of 2018.

Jones got past Andrea Kelly and Selena Sturmay before edging out Kerri Einarson 9-5 in Saturday’s semi-final.

Both teams have found immediate chemistry as Carruthers reached the final of the Curling Stadium Alberta Series in Leduc before heading to the Atlantic coast. Jones has now won 12 straight games after also winning the Saville Shoot-Out in Edmonton earlier this month.

“Honestly, the team chemistry came instantaneously and I wasn’t sure (that it would),” Jones admitted.

“They were an existing team and how was it going to work with the five of us? But it just seems to have worked so easily and right away. We all seem to get along, we’re all on the same page, same work ethic and determination. We have really similar personalities in terms of how we are on the ice so it seems to be really easy and we’re just having so much fun.”

Jones, 48, is the head of a group that is only two years removed from the junior circuit. Playing with the 2020 World Junior Curling champions has had a positive impact on the two-time Olympian.

“Their energy is infectious. It’s super exciting to be around them and to see curling through their eyes. It reminds me of myself just a couple years ago,” said Jones with a laugh.

“I feel re-energized.”

The men’s side have a history with one another as Carruthers played with Gunnlaugson from 2005-08 and has more than a decade of experience with Samagalski. This is Gunnlaugson’s sixth season with Njegovan.

“I’ve played with all three of these guys before and know them pretty well,” Gunnlaugson said.

“Some of the new teams out there really just see each other on tour or have played against each other, but I’ve curled with all three of these guys so coming into it, I knew what to expect a bit more so it doesn’t feel quite as new as it probably is.”

In order for these teams to work, Mackenzie Zacharias and Gunnlaugson had to accept different roles. It’s been a challenging adjustment for both of them, but Zacharias and Gunnlaugson have no complaints.

“I think it’s really tricky now in the sport to balance having everyone live together so you can train to be the best and also get enough talent on the same team. To do that, people have to move positions,” said Gunnlaugson, who appeared at the last three Briers as a skip.

“But you know, in Manitoba, we have such a great example with the Einarson team. They kind of all moved to totally different positions and they’ve won three straight Canadian championships. When you have great examples like that right in your province, it’s pretty easy to see how this will be the way forward.”

Zacharias has had a bit more time to adjust as the Jones rink played their first event in August.

“That first event, throwing second stones, there were a lot of things I wasn’t used to, sweeping probably being the biggest thing. But I also wasn’t calling my own shots, someone else was calling it for me. And my pre-shot routine had to speed up a little bit to make sure Jen had time to throw,” said the 23-year-old Zacharias.

“And when we were playing on TV, there’s certain rules you have to follow, like where you can walk, and I had no idea. I never had to think about that stuff before. Honestly, it was just a bunch of little things that I had to work out. But the shots actually aren’t too far from what the skip usually has to throw so that’s kind of why I’ve been throwing the second stones.”

Team Carruthers will enjoy a week off before flying out to North Bay, Ont., for the Grand Slam of Curling’s Boost Nationals. There will be no rest for Team Jones as they’ll be competing in the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard later this week before making their way to North Bay.

Despite their big wins, Jones and Carruthers are happy they don’t have any more single-elimination events on the calendar.

“It was interesting and very stressful, for sure. A part of it was you’re flying out to the coast, a long trip to get to an event, knowing that it’s potentially one game and off you go home. It adds to the pressure, let alone you got some of the best teams in Canada obviously at the event,” Carruthers said.

“I found it stressful, but at the same time, it was great to play on arena ice for the first time this year. It was curling lots and what more can we really ask for as curlers?”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31