Jones falls in tiebreaker at the Scott
Canadian Press
2/25/2005
ST. JOHN'S, Nfld. (CP) - The reign is over for Colleen Jones.
For the first time since 2000, there will be a new Canadian women's curling champion after the Jones team from Halifax lost 9-4 in a tiebreaker Friday morning to New Brunswick's Sandy Comeau.
Jones, third Kim Kelly, second Mary-Anne Arsenault and lead Nancy Delahunt were attempting to win an unprecedented fifth straight Canadian title and sixth in the last seven years. They have wore the Maple Leaf so often as defending champions at the Scott that it became their regular uniform.
''When you know what you're losing it makes it harder,'' Jones said afterwards.
''We just had an incredible run and none of us wanted it to be over,'' she added. ''You know these things do come to an end, but I don't think we'll appreciate what it was we were able to do to come out to come out and win it for four in a row and five of the last six. I think that's absolutely incredible, but God knows we didn't want it to end.''
Jones, 45, was looking to win a seventh national championship after winning one with a different team in 1982.
But it wasn't to be as the Mayflower Curling Club foursome wasn't among the top four teams that qualified for the playoffs at the Scott Tournament of Hearts.
Manitoba, B.C., and Saskatchewan were through to Friday night's playoff games and Comeau and Ontario's Jenn Hanna were to meet in another tiebreaker Friday afternoon to determine the final playoff berth.
Ontario beat Alberta's Cathy King 5-3 in the other tiebreaker Friday morning.
The Jones dynasty came to a somewhat inglorious end with three losses in a row. Jones was beaten by both P.E.I. and Quebec - long out of playoff contention - on the final day of round-robin play Thursday to finish 6-5.
Only a victory by former teammate and Mayflower clubmate Kay Zinck over Ontario on the next sheet over at Mile One kept the Jones team playing another day because it prevented Hanna from securing the final playoff berth.
And there were signs during the week that the defending champions were missing their `A' game and Jones in particular throwing last rocks. Her team started the tournament 0-2, Jones missed a makeable draw with her last stone against New Brunswick earlier in the week to hand over the victory and she also missed an attempted raise against Quebec on Thursday that would have sent the game into an extra end.
The foursome did catch fire mid-week with four straight victories before going cold again Thursday.
No other curling team, men's or women's, has won as many national titles as Jones. But Jones has always deflected the label of ''the best ever'' in women's curling and defers to the Sandra Schmirler team that won three world titles and an Olympic gold medal.
Her team didn't dominate internationally as it did domestically, but in five trips to the world championships they have won two world titles, in 2001 and 2004.
The only carrots for the team to chase this winter were ones they already had won multiple times. Their motivation now is to represent Canada at the Olympic Games in Turin, Italy next year.
They have secured one of 10 berths at the Olympic trials in Halifax in December.
