SCOTTIES TO CROWN A NEW CHAMP
Tricky ice foils veteran Team Canada skip as bid for seventh national title falls short
While Alberta and Saskatchewan will play today for a spot in Sunday’s Scotties final, the playoff round at the Tournament of Hearts is notable for who isn’t playing as much as who is.
For the first time in 14 appearances at the Canadian women’s curling championship, Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones will not play in the Page playoff round.
“It’s kind of weird,” Jones said after finishing with a 6-5 record. “We just couldn’t figure out the ice this week, for one reason or another. It just wasn’t our week. It’s hard to not be in the playoffs, but I think we’ve been pretty fortunate in our career, so I’m not complaining.”
Alberta’s Chelsea Carey beat Team Wild Card (Casey Scheidegger) 9-8 on Friday night to finish off the round robin in first place with a 9-2 record and a spot in the Page playoff 1 vs. 2 game. There, Alberta will face surprising Scotties rookie Robyn Silvernagle, who finished second at 8-3 thanks to an impressive 6-3 win over Ontario (Rachel Homan). The winner gets a berth in Sunday’s final, while the loser gets a second chance in the semifinal.
“It wasn’t easy,” Silvernagle said. “A lot of hard work and dedication, and no sleep, and blood, sweat and tears. We’ve put in a ton of work this year, and there was no reason not to believe we could be in the 1 vs. 2 game. I don’t think you ever expect to be in the 1-2 game, but you know if you play well, you can be there.”
Carey actually didn’t need to beat Team Wild Card to get into the 1 vs. 2 game, but she wasn’t about to let her foot off the pedal.
“We figured once Ontario lost, that was going to be the case, because our draw to the button was the best, but you don’t want to think about that,” said Carey, who made a brilliant runback with her first rock of the 10th end to score the winning point against Scheidegger.
“Just in case I was wrong, you don’t want to leave anything to chance.”
Ontario (8-3) will meet Northern Ontario (Krista McCarville, 8-3) in the 3 vs. 4 this afternoon, with the winner advancing to the semifinal and the loser going home. McCarville booked a ticket to the playoffs with a 7-6 win over Prince Edward Island. Her team then had to watch as Carey and Scheidegger played with Team Wild Card needing a win to force a tiebreaker.
“Having no control is always really tough,” McCarville said. “Watching is always the hardest thing. We’ve already played 11 games, so you want as much rest as you can get right now going into the playoffs. So it’s really nice to avoid the tiebreaker.”
For much of the day at Centre 200, the talk was about Team Canada’s subpar performance.
The 2018 Canadian and world champions from Winnipeg had their dreams of a repeat — and a record seventh Scotties title for the skip — dashed when they lost 8-6 to Northern Ontario on Friday afternoon.
As almost a sum-up of a very difficult week for Jones, she was unable to execute a simple draw to the 12-foot in the 10th end to send the game to an extra end.
“It was kind of a terrible way to end,” said Jones, who was named the greatest skip of all-time in Canada in a TSN poll this week.
“I’m pretty disappointed. It’s one of our favourite events and we really thought if we won two games (on Friday), we might have a chance. It just was one of those weeks where every time we threw a rock, it just seemed to not work out. We have to be better than that.”
On a bright note, Jones beat British Columbia’s Sarah Wark 5-4 on Friday night to record her 141st career win at the Scotties, breaking the record held by Colleen Jones.
“Obviously, it was a hugely disappointing week, but it feels pretty good to have that record,” Jones said. “With all these amazing players out there, it’s nice.”
Jones, 44, has won two world championships and an Olympic gold medal in her illustrious career and has played thousands of games all over the planet, but this week she simply couldn’t deal with tricky ice conditions.
“This was a big challenge,” said Jones, who curls with Kaitlyn Lawes, Jocelyn Peterman and Dawn McEwen. “Speed was a really big challenge out there. That’s something that we’re usually pretty good with. We just couldn’t get enough curl, so we couldn’t make all the shots we wanted to make. But you’ve got to be better than that. I’m not blaming it on that, it’s just not as fun to play.”
It just wasn’t our week. It’s hard to not be in the playoffs, but I think we’ve been pretty fortunate in our career, so I’m not complaining.