News Champions Cup

Jennifer Jones escapes with win over junior champ Kaitlyn Jones

CALGARY — There could be only one Team Jones in the winner’s circle Friday morning at the Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Reigning world champion Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg took on world junior gold medallist Kaitlyn Jones of Halifax. While the younger squad put up a fight, the nine-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner Jennifer Jones survived the scare scoring three in the seventh and stealing one in the eighth to prevail 8-7.

“I think we’ve proven that we never give up over the years,” Team Jennifer Jones second Jill Officer said. “We just tried to stay tough.

“We had a bad sixth end. We weren’t super precise and we were trying to figure out the ice a little bit. With five-rock rule, you just never know, so we just tried to keep going and it worked out.”

Jennifer Jones copped her second win of the tournament, improving to a 2-1 record, with one round-robin game to go against Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson in a rematch of the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final during the late afternoon. Officer acknowledged they’ll have to be sharper with a direct path to the quarterfinals on the line.

“We’re just going to have to debrief a little bit and figure out what we can do better,” Officer said. “We’re going to have to be more precise, play well this afternoon and hopefully put ourselves right through to the playoffs.”

Jennifer Jones was forced to hit for one point in the first but managed to make it a 3-0 advantage when Kaitlyn Jones’s draw against two in the second locked on top of a trio of guards protecting the counters.

Kaitlyn Jones rebounded in the third with a hit for a deuce to bring it back within one. Jennifer Jones faced another pair in the fourth and looked to make a double to score two but missed the second one and only got a single point to lead 4-2.

Already sitting two, Kaitlyn Jones had a chance to draw for three and the lead but rolled too deep for just the deuce to tie it. Kaitlyn Jones put the pressure on in six sitting three and a struggling Jennifer Jones fell behind 7-4 as she crashed on her own guard.

Jennifer Jones rebounded right away in seven drawing for three to tie it back up and delivered a well-executed draw for shot rock in eight. Kaitlyn Jones (0-4) was unable to remove it sliding right past the target.

Officer, who is stepping back to become the team’s alternate next season, said it was pretty cool to take on the world junior champions in her final tournament as a full-time curler even if she wasn’t quite ready to pass the torch.

“We’ve played world junior champs in the past. We played [Isabella] Wrana from Sweden and they played 110 per cent against us,” Officer said. “It’s an experience for them and I remember feeling that way playing against Sandra Schmirler, Connie Laliberte, so I know it’s exciting to have that opportunity. It was good.”

Elsewhere, Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg of Sweden nabbed her third win of the tournament to qualify for the playoffs with a 7-5 decision over Halifax’s Kristen MacDiarmid. Hasselborg is through at 3-1 while MacDiarmid has been eliminated at 0-3 but can play the spoiler as she faces Ottawa’s Rachel Homan (1-2) in the afternoon.

Jamie Sinclair kept her unbeaten streak intact scoring four in the seventh to double up on Switzerland’s Binia Feltscher 10-5. Sinclair (4-0) became the first American to win a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title at the Players’ Championship earlier this month in Toronto and appears tuned up for another playoff performance.

Feltscher was eliminated from contention with a 1-3 record.

In men’s play, Saskatoon’s Colton Flasch (2-2) stayed in the mix defeating Niklas Edin of Sweden 5-3. The reigning world champion from Sweden dropped to a 1-2 record and must win his remaining round-robin game in the late afternoon against Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher.

Glenn Howard (2-1) of Penetanguishene, Ont., also grabbed his second win of the tournament stealing a point in the extra end to edge Kurt Balderston 6-5. Balderston, of Grande Prairie, Alta., is finished at 0-4.

The Humpty’s Champions Cup features 15 men’s teams and 15 women’s teams that won events over the course of the season in order to qualify for entry. Teams play four round-robin games with the top eight overall advancing to the weekend playoffs.

Round-robin action continues at Noon MT at WinSport Arena with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet plus online streaming available at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare TV (international).