SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. – There will be a new women's titleholder at the 2012 Sun Life Financial Players' Championship.

Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones lost in the semifinals this morning to Saskatoon's Stefanie Lawton by a 6-3 score. Leading 4-2 after four ends of play, Lawton tallied a killer steal in the fifth frame and then managed to hold Jones to a single in the sixth.

Lawton's opponent in the final will be another Winnipeg squad skipped by Cathy Overton-Clapham. Cathy O scored an enormous 7-6 extra-end victory over Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont. in the other semi. The result also knocks Middaugh out of contention for the 2011-12 Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) crown, which includes a direct berth into the 2013 Canadian Olympic Trials.

Middaugh had eliminated CTRS points leader Heather Nedohin of Edmonton is Friday night's tiebreaker.

Today's final (12 noon eastern time on Canada's Global Television network) will not matter regarding the trials berth; according to sources, Nedohin has clinched the CTRS points crown and with that the second women's direct berth into Winnipeg 2013. Naturally there is quite a bit of mathematics involved, and the Canadian Curling Association needs to give the final word, so consider this to be about, oh, 90 per cent accurate.

Today's final will mark the debut of one of the most interesting television commentary teams ever assembled for the sport of curling. Former CBC and current NBC Olympic analyst Don Duguid, who skipped the 1970 and 1971 Brier and world championship teams, will be partnered with 2010 Olympic silver medallist Cheryl Bernard, while Toronto-based sports host – and curling fiend – Don Landry handles the play-by-play.

This should be interesting!

Tonight's men's semifinals, by the way, will feature Toronto's John Epping, Winnipeg's Mike McEwen, Edmonton's Kevin Martin and world champions Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont. Action gets underway at 7:30pm eastern time; check this page later for the semifinal matchups.

Capital One photo copyright by Anil Mungal – click on image to increase viewing size