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Jones, Einarson headline field for Manitoba Scotties

Let the “Buffalo hunt” begin.

The Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts provincial championship presented by Monsanto starts Wednesday at the Eric Coy Arena in Winnipeg to determine who will wear the Buffalo crest and represent the province at the national women’s event.

One of the deepest provinces in Canada, four Manitoba teams (Jones, Einarson, Englot and Meilleur) competed in the Meridian Canadian Open earlier this month, composing a quarter of the field at the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event, and Cathy Overton-Clapham appeared as a spare.

Watch coverage of the Manitoba Scotties live Sunday with the semifinal at 10 a.m. ET on Sportsnet followed by the final at 4 p.m. ET on Sportsnet One. Also tune in as reigning Canadian champion Chelsea Carey will make a special guest appearance for her broadcasting debut.

Here are six teams to keep an eye on during the Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts:

Jennifer Jones: Jones has already won the Manitoba title on seven occasions and that number would probably be higher if not for all the times she received the Team Canada auto-berth to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts as the defending champion. As for what Jones has done lately, the Winnipeg native is second on both the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit and year-to-date rankings and won the Canada Cup last month taking down quite possibly the toughest field in curling.

Kerri Einarson: The reigning Manitoba champ from East St. Paul, Man., won her first career Grand Slam last month at the Boost National. Coupled with a semifinal finish at the Canada Cup the week prior to the National and it appeared Einarson had righted the skip after a mediocre start to the season. The only question in Einarson’s quest to defend the title is having to face Jones, who holds a lifetime 13-0 record in head-to-head meetings including the 2015 Manitoba final.

Michelle Englot: The Regina native Englot is a winner of seven Saskatchewan titles and now looks to add a Manitoba trophy to the mix. Englot joined the Winnipeg-based trio of Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson-Westcott and Raunora Westcott this season after their former skip, Kristy McDonald, decided to step back from competitive curling. They finished runner-up to Team Einarson at provincials last season with McDonald. They’ve gelled just fine with their new skip, ranked 11th on the WCT’s year-to-date, and finished second to Team Sweeting at the Tour Challenge, their first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event altogether.

Briane Meilleur: The first-year team from Winnipeg could be the dark horse in the event. Meilleur scored an upset victory over Jones in the opening round of the Meridian Canadian Open earlier this month, stealing in the extra end and proving anything’s possible.

Shannon Birchard: Birchard, a two-time Canadian junior silver medalist, and her Winnipeg team were semifinalists at provincial playdowns a year ago. Who’s to say the team can’t do it again or better that result with another year of experience.

Cathy Overton-Clapham: The five-time Canadian champion has been making noise lately as a “super spare” and helped Team Tirinzoni reach the finals at back-to-back Grand Slams this season. Having said that, don’t forget Overton-Clapham’s own team she skips, which includes third Jenna Loder, who won world junior silver and bronze medals playing with Kaitlyn Lawes.