Rule exemption to be crafted so Jones can return to Scotties

Curling Canada is planning to craft a rule exemption in order to allow an altered Jennifer Jones squad to return as Team Canada at the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

Under the current setup, a team must have at least three of the four members from a winning team return.

Jones beat Team Wild Card’s Kerri Einarson to win the national championship last month in Penticton. The Manitoba lineup included Jones at skip, lead Dawn McEwen, second Jill Officer and substitute Shannon Birchard at third. Vice-skip Kaitlyn Lawes did not play because she was preparing for the mixed doubles event at the Winter Olympics. Officer, meanwhile, recently announced that she would be stepping away from competitive curling at the end of this season.

That leaves Jones with only two returning members from her 2018 Scotties roster — one short of the minimum — for the 2019 event in Sydney, N.S., next February.

However, Curling Canada high-performance director Gerry Peckham said that a rule exemption was warranted in this case due to the unexpected scheduling conflict with the Games.

“The original rule never contemplated the possible impact of a mixed doubles team on a lineup at the Scotties or the Brier,” Peckham said Wednesday. “So the three-of-four rule obviously needs to be rewritten to factor in that possibility now.”