Arena sounds were different for the final

It all went by so fast.

An in-turn draw rubs the opponent’s stone and veers off course. The final rock ever thrown by Jennifer Jones at a Canadian Women’s Championship.

That ended a tournament with a flood of storylines, which had actually started 12 days earlier with Jones’ four-player retirement announcement.

The topic of “fifth straight” was replaced with “fifth player” when Kerri Einarson lead Briane Harris was ruled ineligible hours before the first draw.

TSN lost its legendary “voice” of curling when Vic Rauter dashed out of the building following the opening draw’s preamble. He recovered from illness to regale us with some “Big Vic Energy.”

Rock handle systems went haywire, like the plot of a John Carpenter film, with something mysterious hiding beneath the ice surface. Teams moved to the honour system, with no one allegedly calling out officials to stand at the hogline and glare down their opponents.

Tiebreakers being determined by Last Shot Draw (LSD) results had those muttering their disapproval being drowned out by reminders that teams could “just win more games” and “this is how they do it at the worlds.”

Team Cameron of Manitoba had Kelsey Rocque fill in to replace Taylor McDonald who is eight months pregnant. Taylor joined her teammates as fifth for the event but when Meghan Walter fell ill before the Thursday morning draw, they played three-legged in a must-win against Nova Scotia. Walter returned for the evening game and another victory over Clancy Grandy of British Columbia sent them to the playoffs.

Grandy was one of several young skips to appear at this Scotties. The most successful was Selena Sturmay of Edmonton. A record of 7-1 with a head-to-head win against Einarson put them at the top of Pool B but a loss to Jones in the 1 vs 2 and Cameron in the 3 vs 4 sent them home by Saturday afternoon.

For clarity, the 1 vs 2 above was a “qualifier” and is not be confused with a 1 vs 2 page, just as a 3 vs 4 qualifier should not be confused with a 3 vs 4 page. Hopefully this nomenclature will be modified for the sake of curling fans, many who have reached their golden years and a) constantly butt dial your sister in-law, b) struggle to find the power button on an iPad and c) still don’t understand “wild cards” or why they disappeared.

Lesser storylines included the mother of this here scribe being admitted to Foothills hospital with an infection on Friday. Doctors agreed to give Lou a four-hour hall pass to see her favourite curler play her final game at a Scotties. Lou is home now and doing well but still saddened by Jennifer’s loss. She also misses her WinSport guide Martina and the nurses and orderlies from the hospital.

All of this and more led to one media member forgetting to mention Rachel completely during a spot with local radio.

During the Thursday evening draw, Lou was sitting next to Tracy Fleury’s mother and when I mentioned Team Homan was travelling below everyone’s radar she disclosed “that’s just how they like it”.

The Thursday night draw gave us an all-time great Scotties gambling moment when, following handshakes, Teams Homan and Smith crowded around the official to see if Rachel had won by one or two points.

When Friday arrived, the focus turned back to curling on the ice and Homan was still the heavy favourite. Over the next two days, six teams dropped to four … then three … then two.

It was a sudden and stirring exit for the Einarson team, with team alternate Krysten Karwacki posting a 91% and 95% respectively in the two playoff losses and was selected for the inaugural Robin Wilson First All-Star Team.

Kaitlyn Lawes dropped out along with Einarson on Friday night while Selena Sturmay exited the next afternoon. Saturday night brought an epic battle of Rachel vs Jennifer in fans getting to see who would (most likely but you never know) defeat Kate Cameron in the semifinal and set-up another epic battle … just like the one we were watching.

You already know what happened. Rachel made an incredible draw to the pin to tie the score in the 10th end and in the extra, facing a draw or peel, Jennifer called timeout on her first shot. Glenn Howard entered the frame.

In rebuke to some of the comments on social media platforms, their discussion is supposed to be curt and to the point, the desired interchange these days for many top teams. Jennifer Jones, in her 18th Tournament of Hearts, isn’t looking for a teaching moment while Glenn pauses and asks what she is thinking. He is there to provide an immediate opinion, like a golfer whose caddy suggests which club to hit, and the decision is ultimately Jennifer’s choice.

Before the Scotties, Coolbet posted odds for Homan against the entire field and they were favourites at -145. Rachel was given a 59% chance to win against 17 other teams, including two teams which had been in the final the year before! This was incredible, somewhat absurd, and it now appears, correct.

No surprise, the team no one was talking about—or asking to smile—reached the final with choice of stones and last rock in the first end.

Following a five-spot in the first end of the semi, Jones held on to win against Cameron despite getting a minus for shooting 5% below her opponent. Her possible storybook ending was headed to its final chapter.

Looking back to Feb. 13, why did Jennifer make her announcement when she did? It’s an interesting choice that she claimed provided opportunity for her team to openly begin their search for a replacement. Taking it public would dispel any rumours that might leak during the week, should Karlee and Co. begin conversations with other players.

It is odd to prepare your team to win a Scotties by suggesting they should prepare for next year, but NFL coaching interviews commonly take place while teams are still in the playoffs.

It seems plausible Jennifer pre-announced specifically because of this very moment on Sunday afternoon. Jones could win and avoid an uncomfortable retirement speech while wearing the maple leaf. Perhaps she felt it would be harder to step away with the expectation to return the following season to defend as Team Canada. A loss and the same might also be true, the frustration of losing the title for a second straight year might propel her to try just one more time in 2025.

Either way, the Scotties legacy that began 22 years ago was about to end.

Team Jones opened as a +250 underdog on Coolbet but sentimental dollars started flooding in and they closed as +180 underdog or just under 36% expectation to win.

Sound within the arena was different than the night before. The slight murmur and uncomfortable tone reminded us of a Canadian Olympic Trials final, with everyone in the building aware of the enormity of the moment. It’s the same frequency heard in hockey, baseball or basketball, when the home team of a tortured fan base falls behind late in the seventh game of a series they expected to win.

By the time we reached the ninth end it looked bleak for J.J. fans. Jones was two down with hammer and Homan lead Sarah Wilkes placed her first stone in the top four foot. A possible tactic for Jennifer could have been to hit the stone and try to play out the end of for a blank, retaining hammer in the final end. The expected chance of winning, based on results from top 25 teams, would have inched up from 11% to 12%.

Jennifer never hesitated and placed corner guards and forced the play, attempting to score two or even an unlikely three. If not for the unexpected rebound on Rachel’s final stone, the game may have been all but decided.

The final end rewarded fans with more drama and inexplicable misses we often see when the tension reaches its peak. Jones lead Lauren Lenentine failed to place her second guard on the no-tick centre line. Second Emily Zacharias hogged a guard. Homan second Emma Miskew bonked a peel attempt, a rare sight which, like the Taylor Swift Eras Tour, most in the building had never witnessed in person.

Moments later, 22 years, 18 Scotties appearances, 11 finals and six wins rushed by us in an instant and everything came down to a final stone for Jennifer Jones. Timeout called and Glenn Howard returns. He immediately advises “I think you gotta stuff one Jen.” Jones seems uncertain. A hit on the top red stones and Rachel would be left with a draw to the four-foot with everything on the line. Glenn suggests Homan might have a simple takeout if the double isn’t made.

Rewatching this situation, I began to consider the hit is not a J.J. shot. Like how the world changed with Al Gore’s invention of the internet or Gutenberg’s printing press, there was a time in curling before and after Jennifer Jones.

Before Jones (B.J.J.) strategic concepts in the women’s game largely resided on counterpunching after an opponent miss. Colleen Jones, Connie Laliberte and others from the prior decade were willing to make easier shots more often, expecting their opponents to make mistakes and, as their Scotties records show, the approach worked.

In contrast, men were devising tactics with more difficult shots under the belief their opponent was rarely going to miss. Sometimes this backfired, but as play and conditions have improved it’s become an essential path to success.

J.J. arrived on the scene and started putting a previously unseen number of rocks in women’s play, never afraid of facing an impossible shot with her last. Jones never played not to lose, she always played to win. Hitting and leaving Rachel an easier shot to win the Scotties felt out character for a legend like Jennifer who had transformed the sport and is possibly the GOAT (greatest of all time).

In retrospect, the draw was always the “Jennifer” shot in that situation and it was a fitting end to an incredible Scotties legacy.

Sport does not always provide the storybook ending. Sometimes, the greatest of all time comes out of retirement, joins the Washington Wizards and fails to make the playoffs, much less reach the championship. 

Last week delivered a fitting final Scotties for Jennifer Jones and a reminder that Rachel Homan will continue to challenge her status as the GOAT for years to come.