Colleen Jones happy back on world stage

This is what the Colleen Jones rink has been playing for.

Following a perfect 7-0 showing in the round-robin at the World Senior Curling Championships following play Wednesday at the Lethbridge Curling Club, Jones and her rink of third Kim Kelly, second Mary Sue Radford and lead Nancy Delahunt from the Mayflower Curling Club in Halifax are making the most of their return to the world stage.

“It’s neat,” said Jones, who defeated Japan 4-3 Wednesday afternoon, scoring two in the eighth including a draw on her final shot with hammer to secure the come-from-behind win. “To play in a world championship is such a thrill. It’s something we didn’t think we were going to be able to do again. It’s a privilege to represent your country again. We’ve been building our whole year to be here in Lethbridge and having another chance at winning the worlds and we don’t want to let it go by. It’s awesome and the facility is awesome. The ice conditions are so perfect, so that’s a thrill.”

In their final game Wednesday, Jones had to deal with a Japan rink that Canada swapped singles with leading up to the final end.

Japan opened a 1-0 lead and, after a blanked second end, Jones drew even with a single.

The teams traded singles as Japan held a 3-2 lead after six ends.

After Canada blanked the seventh end, Jones took advantage of the hammer coming home, capitalizing on a Japan miss on their last shot to count for two and seal the win.

“I thought Japan played incredibly well,” said Jones. “They weren’t missing anything and they were just making it tough for us. I was glad to have hammer coming home to at least feel like you could generate a deuce. It was just a really interesting last end where, all of a sudden, if she makes her last shot, we’re forced to one and it’s an extra end. We’re happy to finish out the round-robin portion with a win. You want to keep that kind of feeling going.”

With the playoffs starting today with the women’s tie-breaker games at 8 a.m. and two qualifiers at 4:30 p.m., Jones brings ample world experience into the weekend with six appearances in 1982, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

“My first time was in 1982 and I learned a lot then and then we came back as almost a full team in 1999 and again in the early 2000s,” she said. “You recognize that at a worlds the games are intense and you don’t want to let them slip away and you learn you have to pay attention to every moment and every detail on the ice, keep learning from the last shot. It’s one of those things (where) your learning curve, no matter what your age, is still high. So we try to learn how to handle the pressure every time we’re on the ice and how to keep figuring out the ice and your weight. We keep trying to add that to our memory banks so when we are called upon, we can make a shot.”

Jones and her teammates are happy to be back at this stage.

“Playoffs are playoffs and it’s just a thrill to play in another playoff round at a worlds and it doesn’t matter to me that it’s seniors, that’s the beauty of curling,” she said. “It’s a life-long sport. We’ll just keep trying to enjoy the moment, enjoy the ride and make a lot of shots.”

In the senior men’s championship, Bryan Cochrane of Canada carried a 50 record into the late draw, in which he played Wales (3-2). Cochrane has already clinched a berth in the playoff round, as have Denmark, Sweden and Australia.

Tiebreakers, if needed, are scheduled for 12:15 p.m. today, with the first playoff round at 4:30 p.m.

See related story, page B5.