Someone monkeyed with the script

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/12/2009 (6110 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — This isn’t how the script was supposed to play out in Jennifer Jones’ quest for Olympic glory. Not in the very least.

Not with two- and three-game losing streaks in a seven-game event. Not with easy draws sailing through the house. Not with one of the most accomplished skips in the country and the rest of her team struggling from virtually the first moment they stepped on the ice for the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

And most certainly not with the No. 1 seed at the Roar of the Rings — the poster girl for the event — sporting a 2-5 record and missing the playoffs.

"Things just didn’t go our way," began Jones Thursday after falling 10-9 to Shannon Kleibrink in an extra end.

"Sometimes I just think things aren’t meant to be. It just didn’t work. We didn’t play as well as we’d like… I don’t know why. If we knew why we would have prevented it. If we rack our brains and try to figure it out I think we’ll drive ourselves crazy. We’ll just have to say it wasn’t our week, move on and enjoy curling like we always do.

"Going to the Olympics was what it’s all about for us. I’d love to go. But there are so many other things we play for and we’ve got a few more big things to play for this year and get excited about and it won’t be hard to do.

"But, obviously, this is a big disappointment for us."

No kidding. Self-admitted ‘Olympic junkies,’ representing Canada in Vancouver in February was atop the to-do list for Jones, third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin. Now the two-time defending Canadian champions and 2008 World champions will regroup and reload for the rest of the 2009-10 curling calendar — including the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in early February and, if things go according to plan, the World Women’s Championship in Swift Current, Sask., in March.

"We’ll relax and enjoy the holidays and I’m sure we’ll find some events to play in like we normally do," said Jones, who was very gracious in defeat Thursday and throughout the week. "We know we’re still going to play in a great event, so there is some silver lining behind all this."

Statistics don’t always tell the true story in curling, but they are pretty revealing in the case of Jones and her squad. Jones finished with the sixth-best percentage among the eight skips (76), Overton-Clapham was fifth among thirds (78) while Officer was fourth among seconds (80). Askin topped all leads with a percentage of 88.

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And four times in this event Team Jones gave up a whopping four points in one end.

"We had one bad end every game we lost and unfortunately it cost us," she said. "It’s not just about (curling well) in one week, it’s going to come down to one game on Saturday. You gotta be good this week, that’s how our format works. Unfortunately for us we weren’t very good this week.

"But I’m sure whoever goes and represents Canada is going to do a fantastic job."

Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard finished first with a 6-1 record and advances right to Saturday’s final. Kleinbrink’s rink, also from Calgary, finished second at 5-2. Three teams finished with 4-3 records and will play tiebreakers today: Krista McCarville will face Stefanie Lawton at 9:30 a.m. with the winner meeting Amber Holland at 2 p.m. The winner of that game advances to face Kleibrink in the Friday semifinal at 7 p.m.

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca