Sunday STOH Curling Finale

Manitoba’s Jennifer Jones shook off what could have been a devastating start and went on to score an 8-5 win over Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville in the Page 1-2 playoff game at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.

The win sends Jones directly into Sunday’s Canadian women’s championship final at 6:00 p.m. PT on Sunday.

McCarville will now play Kerri Einarson and Team Canada in the semifinal at noon on Sunday. Einarson, chasing a fourth straight Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship, advanced to the semifinal with a 9-4 win over Christina Black of Nova Scotia in the Page 3-4 playoff.

It was an eye-opening first end between Jones and McCarville. Manitoba, whose only loss here was to Northern Ontario in the opening draw a week ago, was sitting four and McCarville’s final try for a triple takeout removed only one Jones stone. Jones tried a straight hit for a possible three or four points but rubbed a guard and tapped a Northern Ontario stone into shot position for a steal of one.

McCarville stole singles in the second end, when Jones was heavy on a draw, and in the third when Jones tried a desperation in-off that didn’t succeed.

“I thought it was a great start and then I just feather-ticked in the first end. It felt like it just wasn’t working out,” Jones said of the start. “But we threw a lot of great shots to put some pressure on them. We just had to hang in there and keep doing what we were doing and it turned around for us.”

And like a vintage red wine that gets better with age, the ageless Jones has shown all week she can still make the shots needed to win, just as she has throughout her career. While she couldn’t execute early in the game, shooting just 46 per cent through four ends, the 48-year-old veteran found her game in the middle ends.

She made two strong draws, one in the fourth to score a deuce and another in the fifth for steal of one and a 3-3 deadlock. With her and third Karlee Burgess outshooting McCarville and her third Kendra Lilly, Team Jones finally took the lead with a steal in eight.

Tied 5-5 in the 10th, McCarville came up short of the house with her final stone to leave Jones sitting three for the win.

Jones hasn’t won the Scotties since 2018 and is chasing a record seventh national title with an entirely new team this season. Gone are Kaitlyn Lawes, Jocelyn Peterman and Dawn McEwen, replaced by three youngsters all in their 20s: Burgess and a rotating front end of Mackenzie and Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine, plus coach Glenn Howard.

And the youngsters, hoping for their first Scotties victory, showed plenty of poise after the early struggles.

“Nothing fazes them,” Jones said of her teammates. “They just have a joy of curling. They weren’t upset we missed that shot.”

And the comeback, she said, will be a huge benefit going into the final.

“I think it was massive; get down a bit early and find a way to hang in there and come back; it will instill a lot of character for (the final).”

The loss for McCarville, Lilly, second Ashley Sippala, lead Sarah Potts and coach Rick Lang stung, especially because of the way they played.

“We didn’t play our best for sure,” said McCarville, who shot just 60 per cent. “We struggled big time. We got lucky those first three ends. We weren’t throwing it very well. We knew we had to pick it up and we still didn’t and things started going their way.”

“This was the best our team played yet,” said Einarson, whose victory over Nova Scotia was a rebound from her first loss of the competition on Friday, when she was knocked off by Jones in the Page seeding game.

Team Canada had rolled to an 8-0 record in round-robin play before stepping on its first landmine.

The loss didn’t rattle Einarson, who is looking to become only the second team to win four straight Scotties. Nova Scotia’s legendary Colleen Jones of Halifax won four straight between 2001 and 2004.

Having to go the long route to the Scotties championship is nothing new for Einarson and her support staff, including third Val Sweeting, second Shannon Birchard, lead Briane Harris, alternate Krysten Karwacki and coach Reid Carruthers. She had to play the 3-4 game last year in Thunder Bay before running the table, and also had to win the semifinal at 2021’s “bubble Scotties” in Calgary.

“This team doesn’t seem to do things the easy way,” said Einarson. “Our team never lets up and never gives up.”