Close call gives Jones momentum

4-3 after six when Jones nudged a shot next to the red and yellow rocks that were already covering part of the button. When the measurement proved it was a scoring shot, the crowd started its loudest and most consistent “Go Canada Go” chant of the week.

Jones went on to steal one in the eighth and two in the ninth.

“Jennifer Jones is a world champion and an Olympic gold medallist and she was making incredible shots,” Korean skip Eunjung Kim said through a translator.

“And she has a lot of control. But also we were doing the best that we could.”

Kim claimed she’s unconcerned that the two losses put her in peril of failing to grab a top 2 spot.

The first tiebreaker is head-tohead meetings.

“The number of losses isn’t that big of a deal,” said Kim. “We played really hard and we played well. Now what we’re going to be focused on is the next game and everything ahead of that.”

She did note that the ice “changed” after six ends and with that, she’d get no argument from Jones.

From a Korean steal in the first end, the game went back and forth until Jones’ shotmaking grabbed control for Canada.

When asked if she thought it was her team’s best game of the tournament, however, she did not play along.

“Not really,” said Jones. “Early we kind of struggled a bit with the draw weight. But I thought we again finished strong. We’ve just got to get those starts a bit better.”

There could be no denying Canada’s hold in the last three ends.

“We figured out the draw weight, which really helps,” said Jones. “We just made some big shots when we had to. It really changed the game.”

In the morning draw, U.S. skip Jamie Sinclair had the chance to do her team and Canada a big favour with last rock in the extra end against Korea, but she was heavy with her shot and suffered a 9-8 loss that dropped the Americans to 3-4.

“It was a good game,” said Sinclair, who was born in Anchorage, Alaska, but grew up just outside of Ottawa. “Obviously, the extra end didn’t go as we planned and we had a rough (third) end where we gave up three. So it was a good battle back.

“I think it’s really just about parking the emotions of that game and moving on to the next one. It’s a really short turnaround.”

Indeed, the Americans were right back at it in the afternoon, with a crucial game against China. An 8-4 win evened their record and kept their playoff hopes alive.

Sinclair noted the parity of the tournament.

“This is our first world championship and we feel we have a shot against any team,” she said.

“I think it’s anybody’s game, whoever shows up at that time.”

The way things are setting up, the Canada-U.S. showdown in the last draw of the round robin could have serious consequences.

“That’s going to be quite the game,” said Sinclair.

“It’s Friday night, it’s going to be packed. Canada vs. U.S., it’s Military Appreciation (night), and the base here is both Canadian and American, so a bunch of them are going to be coming out.

“It’s going to be an insane atmosphere. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”