Jones juggernaut earns call to curling Hall of Fame

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This article was published 12/02/2015 (4252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

JENNIFER Jones’s 2014 Olympic gold medal team is adding an induction into the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame to the squad’s long list of honours.

The Jones team — skip Jennifer Jones, third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer, lead Dawn McEwen, fifth Kirsten Wall and coach Janet Arnott — will be formally inducted at the 28th annual Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame induction ceremony and dinner on May 3 at Canad Inns Polo Park.

The announcement of the team’s induction, which is unusual simply because it is taking place so soon after the accomplishment for which they’re being honoured, was made at a news conference Wednesday at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

The Jones team is being joined by fellow 2015 inductees: wheelchair curler and 2014 Paralympics gold medallist Dennis Thiessen; former Curl Manitoba president Lorne Hamblin; longtime curling coach Tom Clasper; and curling supplies entrepreneur Arnold Asham.

The Jones team is en route to Moose Jaw, Sask., this week, where they will represent Manitoba at the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, but Officer and Arnott were on hand Wednesday for the announcement of their induction.

“It blew me away that they acknowledged such a recent accomplishment as part of the curling Hall of Fame,” Officer said. “We were really thrilled and honoured, and most thrilled that the whole team, including our coach, Janet, was going to be a part of this induction.”

The induction of Asham in the builder category, meanwhile, was long overdue. Asham is pioneer of much of the modern curling equipment used throughout the game today and has returned no small percentage of his profits over the years back into the game in the form of sponsorships at every level of the sport.

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Asked yesterday if he was surprised it took this long for him to be inducted, Asham deadpanned: “No, they usually wait until you’re dead for this thing, don’t they?”

Sanford’s Thiessen spoke at Wednesday’s news conference via a Skype link from Lohja, Finland, where he has been competing at the World Wheelchair Curling Championship this week as the third on Canada’s national team.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Thiessen. “I’m very grateful and very honoured.”

The honour came on a bittersweet day for Thiessen, whose team lost both their final round-robin games yesterday at the worlds to finish with a 4-5 record and out of the playoffs.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter:@PaulWiecek