Swede redemption?
Canada’s Jones faces Olympics winners today for world championship
What better way to bury the disappointment of failing to qualify for the Olympics than to beat the gold medal winner of said Games for another prestigious title a month later?
Canadian skip Jennifer Jones will have that opportunity when she faces Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg for all the marbles in the World Women’s Curling Championship here on Sunday afternoon.
Jones continued a week-long run of perfection when she defeated Jamie Sinclair and her U.S. team, 9-7, in a nail-biting semifinal played before 3,797 fans at a sold-out Memorial Gardens on Saturday night.
“Just the opportunity to play in a gold medal game in a world championship is really what every athlete dreams of. We’re just so thrilled to do it in front of this amazing crowd in North Bay,” Jones said.
“All I ever say is we can guarantee we’re going to give it our all, and leave it all on the ice. We know Hasselborg is tough and we’re going to have to be at our very best to beat them.”
Canada jumped out to a 3-0 first-end lead and had it up to 5-1 after three ends. The U.S. chipped away, however, with two in the sixth and two in the eighth, then pulled even with a steal of one in the ninth to make it 7-7.
Canada played it by the book in the 10th, holding the hammer, and Jones’ routine takeout with her final shot sealed the victory.
“It was a grind,” said Jones. “It’s really hard to get a lead and try to maintain that lead.
“We knew with the early lead there was lots of game left. I wish I could have a couple of those draws back. I threw what I wanted to throw and we guessed wrong. We’ll just have to guess a little bit better (Sunday).”
U.S. skip Jamie Sinclair bemoaned falling behind the way her rink did, but said there was nothing to be disappointed about.
“It wasn’t the start we had hoped for, but it was a heck of a game, heck of a battle and super proud of the girls for hanging in there,” she said.
So what was the discussion when you were down 5-1?
“In one of our end meetings, we said if we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down in flames,” Sinclair said. “We just had to give it all ... all the rocks in play, try to generate as much offence as we could, realizing we might give up another big end but that’s the only way that you’re going to come back and win the game. It was a little bit scary but that’s what we decided to do.”
The bronze medal game on Sunday morning will feature the Americans against the Russians, who beat the Czech Republic 7-3 in a qualification match Saturday morning.
The Swedes advanced to the final by beating Russia 7-6 Saturday afternoon.
“Today we won a silver, and I want to win a gold tomorrow,” said Hasselborg.
“Before the season we said want a medal, and we’ve put ourselves in a perfect position for that.”
Sinclair, who was born in Alaska but grew up just outside of Ottawa, defeated the Olympic silver medallists from South Korea in a 10-3 blowout to get to Saturday night. She started the day playing with house money after already reaching her goal of making it to the playoffs.
“This is our first world championship, and so far we’ve done pretty well under pressure on this kind of stage,” Sinclair said after the win over South Korea. “We’re happy with that. I don’t think we’re feeling any nerves.
“We’re definitely the underdog, so we have nothing to lose and everything to gain.”
Canada took advantage of the hammer it earned by finishing atop the standings with a 12-0 record when Jones scored three off a takeout in the first end.
Sinclair made one back while drawing against five in the second. A Sinclair miss in the third presented Jones the chance to pick up three more but, with a flash, she had to settle for two.
Sinclair took one with hammer in the fourth but trailed 6-2 at the fifth-end break.
But the Americans battled back valiantly with two in the sixth, two in the eighth and a dramatic ninth-end steal that saw Jones get a piece of shot rock, but not enough to knock it out of scoring position.
Jones needed the last rock in the 10th to seal the victory.
Jones, who has just one gold medal to show for five previous visits to the worlds, currently holds a slim lead on Hasselborg in the World Curling Tour standings.
Hasselborg, who defeated the South Koreans in the Pyeongchang final, had a 7-3 lead on Saturday before the Russians tallied two in the ninth and one in the 10th to make it close.
“We came out with the hammer and that was very important for us ... we took a two and we just kept on going for that lead,” said Hasselborg. “We controlled the scoreboard. I’m very happy with the team’s performance.”