THE CURLING JONES
SHE’S AN OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST AND WORLD CHAMPION, BUT THE SCOTTIES TOURNAMENT OF HEARTS STILL GIVES JENNIFER JONES CHILLS.
Can Jones tie Jones? The question persists. Since arriving in Grande Prairie for her 12th Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Jennifer Jones has repeatedly been asked about her pursuit of Canadian women’s curling history.
She is one title shy of tying Nova Scotia’s Colleen Jones, who won a record six Scotties as a skip.
“To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about it,” Jennifer Jones, who is skipping Team Canada at this year’s national women’s championship, said after Friday afternoon’s practice at Revolution Place. “I just did some interviews this morning and they brought it up.
“Honestly, dreaming as a little kid, all I wanted to do was compete in a Scotties, and maybe winning one would have been this amazing dream come true. And here we are, having won five, with the opportunity to maybe win six.
“It’s really beyond anything you could ever imagine and something that’s very humbling. I don’t think you really can reflect on it until after you’re kind of done and looking back at your career.”
Jones, from Winnipeg’s St. Vital Curling Club, is joined at the Scotties by third Kaitlyn Lawes, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn McEwen. Officer, like Jones, is hoping to become a six- time national champion.
“It has crossed my mind i n the past f ew weeks, I guess, because I have been asked about it,” Officer said. “At the end of the day, it’s a long week, and there’s a lot of games to be played and a lot of shots to be thrown, so we have to focus on that and just focus on game by game.
“If it worked out that way, obviously that would be great and it would be a great honour with just Colleen, who’s in that position. It would be absolutely amazing and totally mind- boggling, but when we hit the ice (Sat- urday) it’s just going to be focusing on trying to make shots and win games.”
In addition to excelling on the national stage, Jennifer Jones has won a world championship (in 2008) and an Olympic title (in 2014).
Given her myriad accomplishments, does a visit to the Scotties ever feel like it is routine?
“Never,” stated Jones, whose team has earned an automatic berth in the Scotties as the defending champion. “It’s all about dreams coming true. How many kids are dreaming of that mo- ment? We never take that for granted.
“Every time I put on my jacket and it’s got a maple leaf on the back of it, I still get chills. It’s never going to get old and that’s what’s so special about sport.”
That, al ong with t he camaraderie.
“It’s really all about the girls,” Jones said with a smile. “I play with the most amazing bunch of girls. We have so much fun and we love to curl. We love being out here.
“For us, it’s all about trying to get better. The moment that we stop trying to get better is the moment that we’ll stop curling.”
Jones is the only skip at the 2016 Scotties who has won a national championship.
Rachel Homan, who won the Scotties in 2013 and 2014, lost in this year’s Ontario final to Jenn Hanna, also of Ottawa.
Val Sweeting of Edmonton, who was the runner- up to Homan in 2014 and Jennifer Jones in 2015, was most recently second in Alberta to Chelsea Carey — an erstwhile Winnipegger who is to play against Jones in Saturday afternoon’s opening draw.
Given the reduced star power in the field, Jones is the clear- cut favourite, but her team is respectful of the competition.
“( The field) has certainly changed up a little bit from the last couple of years, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” Officer said.
“We’re familiar with a lot of the people. People at home who follow curling at this level or at this stage maybe haven’t seen some of these people, but we know a lot of them and we know that there’s a reason that they won their province. It’ ll be tough games against all of them.”
With that in mind, Jones is trying not to look ahead. But what would it be like to share top spot all- time with another legend named Jones?
“Just even to be said in the same company as some of these tremendous players is an honour,” Jennifer Jones said. “Colleen’s team did some amazing things. For us, we were debating not playing four years ago, and here we are. We’ve been lucky enough to have some success these last four years. Everything happens for a reason and here we are. We just want to have a shot come the ( final) weekend.”
Round robin play concludes Friday morning, with the Page playoffs to begin that evening. The Scotties final is Feb. 28, with the winner to advance to the world women’s championship tournament, March 19-27 in Swift Current, Sask.