Jones a comfortable 3-0

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This article was published 22/11/2021 (1565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SASKATOON — A leisurely Saturday had an adverse effect on Jason Gunnlaugson and his teammates 24 hours later at the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.

But a hectic Sunday proved quite beneficial for the Jennifer Jones fivesome from Winnipeg’s St. Vital Club, still unbeaten at the marquee event.

Gunnlaugson’s squad from Morris, arbitrarily given a bye on Day 1, had a sluggish start in its first Trials test at SaskTel Centre. Failing to earn the hammer during pre-game tosses to the button, the team immediately surrendered a big three in the first end to John Epping and eventually shook hands in eight ends following a 10-5 defeat to the Toronto foursome.

The 37-year-old skip, with Adam Casey at third, Matt Wozniak at second and Connor Njegovan at lead, has an opportunity to rebound on today’s 2 p.m. draw against Manitoba rival Mike McEwen of West St. Paul.

Team McEwen (1-0) enjoyed its lone day off Sunday at SaskTel Centre.

“(Giving up three) is not ideal. It was fun to be back in the building and feel that energy… (Epping) having played a game and us not, we definitely weren’t quite as settled in the first end,” said Gunnlaugson. “We lose the hammer by an inch and they score three, so it’s definitely going to make it tough.

“I think it’s always a disadvantage (to have an early bye). You do a lot of things to try and stay ready for it but you still — especially since we haven’t played in front of a big crowd in two years, and it was beautiful and probably the most fun after the first end or two — but it was different for us. We saw some teams weren’t absolutely sharp (Saturday) and we had the same thing happen to us (Sunday).”

Nine men’s teams and nine women’s teams are vying to represent Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. Each side plays a round-robin and the top three squads advance to the weekend playoffs.

In women’s play, Jones pulled a Houdini act, escaping with an 8-7 extra-end win over Laura Walker when the Edmonton skip’s eager sweepers made a major brushing error. Even third Kate Cameron came out to help the front end of Nadine Scotland and Taylor McDonald — but smiles turned to expressions of bewilderment when their yellow stone slid too far, giving the six-time Scotties winner the steal.

Lisa Weagle played lead in place of Dawn McEwen, not a particularly unusual move considering the five-player unit has done some rotating this season.

Jones, the 2014 Olympic champion, who crushed Jacqueline Harrison of Dundas, Ont., 10-2 on the morning draw, tops the standings at 3-0, while world’s No.1-ranked Tracy Fleury of East St. Paul moved to 2-0 with an 8-6 triumph over Kelsey Rocque of Edmonton (0-2),

Gimli’s Kerri Einarson, the two-time reigning Scotties national champion, is 1-2 after a disappointing split of Sunday contests. Her crew doubled up on Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta., 10-5 in the morning but blew a three-point cushion in the final two ends to Harrison to lose 7-6.

Einarson missed a last-rock hit in the 10th to give up a steal of two.

In an afternoon shocker, Brendan Bottcher of Edmonton was light on a draw to the four-foot to give up a steal of one in the extra end in a 6-5 loss to Tanner Horgan of Kingston, Ont. The reigning Brier national men’s champion is off to an 0-2 start, while Horgan, the younger brother of Fleury, is 1-1.

Horgan regained focus after botching an open hit for five earlier and settling for a single point earlier in the game.

Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L. (2-0) upended Calgary’s Kevin Koe 7-3. Koe fell to 1-1.

Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone, a former Winnipegger, dropped to 0-2 after a 7-6 defeat to 2014 Olympic champion Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie (2-0).

Dunstone accept full responsibility for the loss, saying he missed the mark on several deliveries after Dustin Kidby, Kirk Muyres and Colton Lott, from Gimli, puts rocks in good spots.

“We had plenty of chances for deuces and I didn’t capitalize. I still got a little bit to go,” said Dunstone. “The back end of the game, I started to feel really good but there’s no time for that out here, you gotta be good for 10 ends and I was good for five. That’s not going to cut it.”

The team was hit with some adversity a few days before Canada’s premier bonspiel began when regular third Braeden Moskowy chose not to compete “for personal reasons.” Lott was quickly recruited and has performed admirably, recording shooting percentages of 91 and 90.

“(He) might be the best third in the field… I would imagine he’s up there,” said Dunstone.

Meanwhile, Rachel Homan’s hopes for redemption at the Olympics are fading fast. The Ottawa group dropped to 0-2 after a 9-5 loss to Krista McCarville of Thunder Bay (1-2) in its only game of day.

Homan represented Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, but missed the medal podium, the first women’s team with that dubious distinction since the sport gained full status at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan.

The former two-time national Scotties champion and 2014 world champion has fallen to McCarville and Harrison, the two lowest-seeded teams after coming through the pre-Trials in Liverpool, N.S., in late October.

Still ahead are matchups with the trio of blue-chip teams from Manitoba.

No team with more than three defeats qualified for the playoffs in 2017, the year Homan’s crew lost its opener and then rattled off nine consecutive wins to book an Olympic berth.

“It’s never over ’til it’s over. You can’t really think about 0-2 versus anything else. There are a ton of great teams here, so other teams are gonna lose and good teams are gonna beat each other,” said third Emma Miskew.

“Every team here is so good. These two teams came out of the pre-trials, where they were obviously playing well, because they won there. They both showed that they can play very well. We just need to sharpen up a little.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell