Jones edges Fleury to slide into wild-card spot

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This article was published 14/02/2020 (2365 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOOSE JAW, Sask. — Jennifer Jones has worn a lot of jackets to the Scotties. Eight times, she’s walked into the national championship wearing Manitoba’s buffalo jacket. A record-tying six times she’s arrived decked in a maple leaf as reigning Canadian champion.

Now, in her 15th Scotties appearance, Jones has a new jacket to add to her collection: the teal-blue Wild Card. 

Jones, vice Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jocelyn Peterman and lead Dawn McEwen seized their last-chance ride to the Scotties draw on Friday night, rising 8-7 over Tracy Fleury in front of a buzzing Mosaic Place crowd. (Attendance, one local reporter noted, was better than the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors have seen here for awhile.) 

The game came down to the last rock — Jones had to draw to at least the full eight-foot with hammer — and when it stopped, the skip was euphoric. This will be the first national championship she has contested since her dad, Larry Jones, died last spring, and that made the win all the more meaningful. 

“It’s awesome, it’s the first one my dad’s not here,” she said, blinking back tears.

“I know he’s looking down. I never, ever dreamed I’d be in one, never mind 15, so it’s pretty crazy. I’m just really happy that we got to do this. We were playing well enough to be here, and I’m happy that we’re here.” 

The game had all the drama one could ask for. It was the hotly anticipated rematch of the provincial semifinal of just two weeks before; it pitted Jones against a Fleury team now coached by iconic former Jones second Jill Officer. After the game was over, Officer and the Jones team shared a parting hug. 

It seemed to start well for Fleury, who controlled much of the play early and opened scoring with a steal of one in the second end. Jones replied with a deuce in the third, and made a pivotal move in the fifth end, when she capitalized on a Fleury miss to throw a little tapback for three, and a 5-3 lead going into the break. 

Fleury did get a shot of life in the ninth end, when a slew of Team Jones misses opened up a chance for Fleury to pick up three of her own to tie the game 7-7. But Jones held hammer coming home, which she wielded for the win. 

“It was a close game, which is what we expected,” Jones said.

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“It was really unfortunate we gave up the three, I felt like we had a really good game and it was kinda feeling a little like the provincial final all over again. But we finally managed to pull it off.”  

The last time Jones played at a Scotties in Moose Jaw was 2015, when she captured her fifth Canadian title. 

It’s a tough end to this year’s maple leaf chase for Fleury, who came into the Manitoba playdowns ranked No. 1 on the World Curling Tour. Even in the wake of that disappointment, the skip was still smiling after the loss; she tries to keep a smile on her face even in the most difficult situations, she agreed. 

“You’re playing some of the best teams in the world, so it’s tough,” said Fleury.  

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca 

Melissa Martin
Reporter-at-large

Melissa Martin reports and opines for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Every piece of reporting Melissa 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.