Jones will skip Team Canada at next Scotties

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

Under the set-up, 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 Olympics. Officer, meanwhile, recently announced she would be stepping away from competitive curling at the end of this season.

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

However, Curling Canada highperformance director Gerry Peckham said a rule exemption was warranted 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. “So the three-of-four rule obviously needs to be rewritten to factor in that possibility now that we know it exists.”

Lawes, who won gold at the Pyeongchang Games with John Morris, returned to the Jones rink for the World Women’s Curling Championship in North Bay, Ont. The Winnipeg team defeated Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg to win gold.

Jocelyn Peterman will replace Officer at the second position. Birchard, who served as team alternate at the world championship, plans to join a new team.

Lawes was listed as an alternate on the Scotties roster, but under the three-of-four rule, players need to be in the regular lineup.