Maritime disaster

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This article was published 18/02/2019 (2621 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SYDNEY, N.S. — There is a sort of hush that falls over a Scotties crowd, when Jennifer Jones is losing games that common sense and experience dictates she ought to be winning. It’s almost as if, even as one shot after another fizzles out, the fans in the stands can’t quite believe what they’re seeing.

There was a lot of that eerie hush, in Sydney’s Centre 200 arena on Monday, as the defending Canadian champion skidded to one of her worst Scotties days in memory, and maybe even ever. Two games against low-ranked seeds, two anemic losses, and suddenly the champs’ hopes for a repeat were teetering on the edge.

It started in the morning, where Jones fell 8-6 to Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt (3-1). It continued through at night, where she quickly fell behind against New Brunswick’s Andrea Crawford (2-2). The good news there, if there was any, is that Jones nearly climbed out of a five-point hole before falling just short at 9-6.

Why is Team Canada struggling so much, and so early? Maybe it’s the ice, except Crawford seemed to get the hang of it; the New Brunswick skip shot well for most of the game. Or maybe it’s just one of those slumps that strikes even the best curlers in the world, sometimes, and can’t necessarily be explained.

“We just not as sharp as we need to be,” Jones said, minutes after the night loss. “You can’t really lose two in a row at the Scotties, so we put our backs against the wall here, but it’s not over yet. So we’ll come out grinding tomorrow.”

The problems didn’t start with the skip, but by virtue of the position she wears them most heavily on her shoulders. She didn’t play well. In the morning, Jones shot 58 per cent; against New Brunswick, she finished at 63. Some of those misses were oh-so-close, but to keep in the mix here in Sydney, they’ll need to be closer.

“I think I’ve feather ticked about 10 guards this event so far,” Jones said. “I get those by, it’s a different story. I’ve just got to find a way to get those by, and that’s how you win events.”

Before Monday, Jones had lost just five Scotties round robin games since 2013, a span that included five previous national appearances and two Canadian championships. Her round robin record in that time was a whopping 35-5.

She did suffer a two-loss day once in those six years, that being the last day of the round robin in 2018. That time, the situation was different: she fell to soaring wild card Kerri Einarson and a desperate Tracy Fleury, then skipping Northern Ontario. Jones still advanced to the 1-vs-2 Page game, with a 9-2 record.

So the tournament isn’t over for Jones, not yet, not with so many games yet to play. She’s rebounded from difficult positions before: for instance, she is one of only two skips in Scotties history to ever win the whole shebang coming out of a tiebreaker. Still, to have a chance here in Sydney, she’ll need to be almost perfect.

Jones has just one game to play on Tuesday, when she takes on Yukon (0-4) at 12:30 p.m. CST.

By the way, the last time any Prince Edward Island team defeated Jones at a Scotties was all the way back in 2011. Birt was at the helm that year as well, and led her foursome to a thrilling 8-6 win in their hometown of Charlottetown.

There was one spot of bright news on Monday for Manitoba fans. In the afternoon draw, provincial champ Tracy Fleury returned to form, cruising to a steady 9-4, nine-end win over Nova Scotia’s Jill Brothers, who slipped to 0-4.

Manitoba had a tough start to the week with two straight losses, including a Sunday upset to British Columbia. But against Brothers — who’s lost her voice due to a cold — the East St. Paul team was strong; Fleury shot 88 per cent.

That lifted the Manitobans to 2-2 on the week. They’ll be back in the hack for two games Tuesday, and it starts with a bang: they’ll be facing Rachel Homan in the morning draw at 7:30 a.m. CST. At night, they’ll go up against Nunavut.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca