Jones’ rink sweeps all-star spots

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This article was published 25/02/2012 (5260 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RED DEER, Alta. — Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones made history at last year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts when her team — Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin — swept the all-star awards.

And the foursome has done it again this week.

The Jones sweep in 2011 was the first time a team had ever swept the awards since they began handing them out at the Scotties in 1982. And they’ve now done it two years in a row.

The all-stars used to be voted on by the media, but the system was changed recently and the awards are now handed out exclusively on the basis of shooting percentage during the round robin.

And Manitoba dominated:

Jones led all skips with an 83 per cent shooting percentage, four points above her closest competitor.

Lawes led all thirds at 85 per cent and Askin led all leads, with 89.

The only Manitoba player who didn’t outright lead in shooting percentage at her position was Officer. But she did finish in a tie for second at 83 per cent with Alberta’s Jessica Mair. The only second to finish with a higher percentage was Team Canada’s Jolene Campbell at 87 — but she only played six of her team’s 12 games, as a replacement for injured/ailing Tammy Schneider.

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The members of the Jones foursome are generally private people and so it was interesting to see them provide a rare glimpse into their personal lives the other day.

The Jones team filled out questionnaires for the in-house newspaper that comes out at the Scotties every day and we can now tell you that Jones’ favourite food is pizza and favorite off-ice activity is napping; Lawes would like to be a beach volleyball player if she wasn’t a curler and would invite Tiger Woods to a dinner party so “I can hear some of his juicy stories”; Officer’s favourite food is pasta and peanut butter — “but not together” — and her real last name is actually Officer-Hinchey; and Askin loves cheese and snacking, but cannot stand impatient drivers.

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Friday night’s Jennifer Jones-Kelly Scott matchup was just the latest chapter in a long history between the two women.

Jones and Scott — who lost the 1991 Canadian junior final as Manitoba teammates for skip Jill Staub — have faced each other nine times at the Scotties since 2005 heading into Friday night and Jones had a slim 5-4 advantage in the head-to-head matchups.

Jones beat Scott in the 2005 Page playoff 1-2 game en route to her first Canadian championship, but lost the 2006 final and 2007 semifinal to Scott.

Friday night marked the first time the two teams met in the playoffs since that 2007 semifinal, but they’ve met three times in the round robin since then and Jones won all three times.

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— — —

Rob Fowler has decided to keep it all in the family.

The 2012 Manitoba men’s curling champion has selected his father, Brian — the 1987 Manitoba men’s champion skip — as the coach for his Brier-bound team.

And Willie Lyburn — brother to Fowler third Allan Lyburn and a playoff skip himself at the recent Manitoba provincials in Dauphin — will be the Fowler team’s fifth when they head to Saskatoon next week for the 2012 Tim Hortons Brier.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca