Carey clips Jones to reach final on Sunday

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This article was published 03/12/2011 (5405 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CRANBROOK, B.C. — It was just a round-robin game, but it was so much more for Winnipeg’s Chelsea Carey on Friday afternoon at the Capital One Canada Cup of Curling.

It produced first place in the standings; it produced a berth in Sunday morning’s championship game. And it produced a massive jolt of confidence between the collective ears of the Carey team, considering it fell behind early and than rallied to beat none other than fellow Winnipegger and four-time Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Jennifer Jones 8-7 at the RecPlex.

“If it’s not the biggest (win in the team’s history), it would certainly be in the top two or three,” said Carey, 27. “I mean, winning this thing would obviously be the biggest. The Grand Slam title we won last year (in Winnipeg) is the only other one that comes close, but this was arguably as important.”

That’s because it left Carey, third Kristy McDonald, second Kristen Foster and lead Lindsay Titheridge to within one victory of the first berth into the 2013 Tim Hortons Olympic Trials in her hometown. But it also proved that after a breakout 2010-11 season, Carey can play with the game’s top teams, and while it wasn’t always pretty against Jones (who took a 3-0 lead through two ends), she made enough shots down the stretch, and took advantage of some crucial Jones misses (two jammed takeouts in the 10th end stood out) to draw for a winning deuce in the 10th. Previous to Friday, Carey had lost five of her past six tests against Jones.

While Carey, 5-1 after the round-robin, has clear sailing to the final the picture behind her was anything but clear heading into the late-finishing evening draw.

Calgary’s Shannon Kleibrink (4-1) had locked up second place and a berth in this afternoon’s semi regardless of her late result against Ottawa’s Rachel Homan (2-3), but Homan needed a win to get into a tiebreaker early today against the winner of the game between Jones and reigning Scotties champ Amber Holland of Regina.

On the men’s side, 2010 Olympic gold-medallist Kevin Martin wrapped up first place and a berth in the Sunday final by taking two in the 10th and stealing one in the 11th for a 7-6 win over world champ Jeff Stoughton of Winnipeg in a battle of unbeaten teams.

— Postmedia News