Champs vaulted into elite company
History would be made on Scotties Super Sunday, no matter who won the 2023 Canadian women’s curling championship.
A victory for Jennifer Jones, now 48, would mean her seventh title and first with a new and already accomplished squad of young Manitobans.
Conversely, a win for Kerri Einarson’s Manitoba foursome would mark their fourth consecutive STOH crown, with second Shannon Bitchard nabbing her fifth straight trophy (Birchard spared for Olympic-bound Kaitlyn Lawes on Jones’ 2018 team).
Once Einarson dispatched Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville 8-5 in the semifinal, the stage was set at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
The key end may have come in the fifth when Jones, needing a draw to the eight-foot rings while facing two Einarson stones, wrecked on the front. Instead of going up 3-2, she was suddenly down 4-2.
“It was a draw against two and we liked the weight but the speed came off,” said Jones. “If I could throw one again, that would be it.”
The problems mounted in the sixth when Jones again came up short on a draw for two, but it was much more difficult, needing to get to the button area.
Einarson also played her get-out-of-jail cards when she made crucial draws in ends three and seven, facing three enemy stones.
When Canada third Val Sweeting made a double-and-stay to lie three in the ninth, Jones needed two big shots prevent a big score. She missed both, Einarson hit for five and the defending champions had defended yet again, winning by an inflated 10-4 scoreline.
“Oh my God, it (four straight) means so much,” said Einarson. “I think this one was better than our first.
“This team never gives up and that makes us who we are. So much great determination. We just go out there and enjoy every single minute and have fun.”
Team Einarson—with Sweeting, Birchard and lead Briane Harris—did it the hard way, taking the long route through the Page playoffs, always one loss away from elimination, then running the table with three straight wins.
It was the same story as last season when the Canadian champs suffered an early loss in the Page playoffs, then roared back to win.
The fourth national title lifts Einarson and her team into elite company, along with Nova Scotia’s Team Colleen Jones, which won four in a row during its brilliant span of curling dominance.
It was a heartbreaking loss for Jones, who was attempting to win a record seventh national title. She remains tied with Nova Scotia’s Colleen Jones and Manitoba’s Jill Officer for most Scotties wins at six. But she did set a record for appearing in 10 Canadian finals, one more than former teammate Jill Officer.
The silver medal validated the veteran skip’s decision to join forces with the world junior champions from Altona, including third Karlee Burgess and front-end players Mackenzie Zacharias, Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine.
“I’m proud of them,” said Jones, who had Ontario’s Glenn Howard coaching this week. “It didn’t go our way today, but that’s why you keep grinding. We just didn’t make quite enough shots. But I’m sure happy about our week and proud to be in the final. It was fun to be out here. A great experience for all of us.”
“I’m so looking forward to wearing the Maple Leaf in Sweden,” said Einarson, whon starts the women’s world championship on March 18 in Sandviken.
