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Jennifer Jones is going back to the Olympics with a little history on her side.
Jones defeated Tracy Fleury 6-5 Saturday in a thrilling finish to the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials at SaskTel Centre which became the first game in trials history to ever go to extra ends.
Team Jones will now become Team Canada in women’s curling at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
It was an emotional win for Jones as she stood atop the podium singing “O Canada” in her new Team Canada jacket she and her teammates will be wearing in Beijing following the win.
Jones’ father Larry Jones in 2019 at 80 years old.
“He just loved ‘O Canada’. It just made me think of him,” she said.
“My eye wouldn’t stop watering all week and my dad had this watery eye, so I felt like he was with me. That’s why I was so emotional. I just love him so much and I just wish he could have been here.”
Jones, a constant champion and gold medal winner at the 2014 Winter Olympics, was able to overcome shaky moments throughout the game to propel her to victory.
With nervous energy filling SaskTel Centre, Jones missed a wide-open takeout attempt in the 10th end to win the game. Her shot leaked out the side to score just one to send the game to an extra end.
Fleury’s draw attempt in the extra end came up short, hit the guard and sent SaskTel Centre into a frenzy as Jones’ team celebrated the win.
“I can’t remember missing such a bad shot to win a game and my team hung in there and we made two good (shots) on my last two (stones) and made (Fleury) make a hard shot to win and got fortunate to win the game,” Jones said.
After going undefeated throughout the tournament, Fleury was left with shocking disappointment following the back and forth game.
“We thought we had lost in the 10th (end) for sure,” Fleury said. “I think (Jones) makes that shot 99 per cent of the time, so we felt lucky to be able to go to an extra and we really wanted to pull it off there, but I didn’t make my last two shots.
“There was a lot of ups and downs for sure.”
Jones’ rink now goes to the Olympics boasting plenty of experience. Second Jocelyn Peterman is the only Olympic rookie on the team. Alternate Lisa Weagle was on Rachel Homan’s 2018 team that went to Pyeongchang. Lead Dawn McEwen and Jones have remained teammates since the Sochi Olympics.
However, Kaitlyn Lawes is now going to her third consecutive Olympics after winning the mixed doubles gold in 2018.
“Pinch me,” Lawes said, realizing she’s going for a third gold medal. “Once this season started we had such a great plan, we had such a great team behind our team and we just felt everything was coming together at the right time.”
Both Fleury and Jones began the game making uncharacteristic misses in the first few ends as some of the only blemishes in their game all tournament long.
Fleury opened the game by passing on an open draw and instead opting for a tap freeze to score two. Fleury missed narrowly, allowing the Jones steal of one.
Fleury followed up with a single of her own in the second end.
Both skips got accustomed to the ice as the game went on. Jones scored a double in the third end, and Fleury followed it up a double of her own in the fourth end.
Jones blanked the fifth and missed an opportunity to score two in the sixth when draw attempt bumped her own stone near the button. A lengthy measurement which was nearly too close to call was needed to confirm Jones scored a single.
Jones was forced into blanking the eighth end as the pressure on both skips continued to ramp up.
Facing a packed house full of rocks, Fleury’s front end sweepers dragged her first stone to the button for a freeze tap back to lie three bunched around the button.
Jones’ takeout attempt with hammer ended up being thin enough to give Fleury a steal of one to keep hammer going to the deciding 10th end.
Jones needed a takeout with her final stone for the win, but her shot leaked out the side to score just one to send the game to the extra end, where she would take the victory.