Jennifer Jones (curler)

Jennifer Jones (born July 7, 1974 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian curler. Jones is the current Canadian and World champion skip, having won both the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the 2008 Ford World Women's Curling Championship.

After finishing 8-4 at the 1993 Canadian Junior championships, Jones went on to win the 1994 Canadian Junior championships. This would have ordinarily meant a berth in the following year's World Junior Championships, but a change in the ruling forced her to play in a playoff the following year for the right to attend, which she lost. In 2002, Jones won the Manitoba women's curling championship and the right to go to the 2002 Scott Tournament of Hearts, where she finished with an 8-4 record.

Jones would return to the Scott at the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, which she won by defeating Team Ontario, skipped by Jenn Hanna in the championship game. Jones faced an extremely difficult shot to win, having to hit a rock outside of the house and roll to the button taking out an Ontario rock. Had she missed, she would have lost both the game and the tournament. The shot was perfect, scoring 4 points with her final stone and winning the game. Revered by Canadian sports media and admiring curling fans, Jones' accomplishment under pressure was quickly dubbed "The Shot," and, in the following weeks, became the source of talk and of attempts by novice curlers to repeat the feat in curling clubs across the country. The team's win qualified them for the 2005 World Women's Curling Championship in Paisley, Scotland. The worlds were a disappointing tournament for her and her team, where they struggled constantly with poor ice conditions. They were knocked out of the playoffs in the 3-4 game against Dordi Nordby and her Norway rink.

In the off-season, Jones replaced Gauthier at lead with 2002 Olympic bronze medalist Georgina Wheatcroft. This was done in part to boost the team's chances at the Olympic trials in December 2005. However, the team finished a disappointing 5-4 and out of the playoffs.

Because Jones had won the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, she got to return to the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts as Team Canada. At the Hearts that year, she managed to defeat Colleen Jones's Nova Scotia rink in the semi-final before losing to Kelly Scott of British Columbia in the final.

In 2006, Wheatcroft moved back to her home of British Columbia to play with her former skip, Kelley Law. She was replaced by Dana Allerton. Midway through the season however, she was dropped in favour of Janet Arnott just before the provincial playdowns. Jones was criticized within the curling community for this move. Jones won another provincial championship in 2007, earning her a berth at the 2007 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Jones made the playoffs again, but lost to Kelly Scott again- this time in the semi-final.

Later on in the year, Jones switched leads again, gaining Dawn Askin who had moved from Ottawa from Jenn Hanna's rink. Jones won her first Canada Cup of Curling on March 17, 2007.

In the 2007/2008 curling season Jones celebrated several successes including winning the 2007 Autumn Gold Grand Slam as well as the 2008 Manitoba provincial championship.

Winning the 2008 Manitoba provincial championship qualified her to represent the province at the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Regina, Saskatchewan. Jones got off to a slow start, having just a 3-4 record to start off the week, but rebounded to make it to the tiebreaker where she defeated Newfoundland and Labrador's Heather Strong by a score of 6-3.

In the 3-4 playoff game, Jones edged Québec skip Marie-France Larouche with a score of 6-5. She advanced to the semi-finals, where she defeated Ontario's Sherry Middaugh 9-8 by stealing a point in the extra end. In the final, Jones faced Alberta's Shannon Kleibrink.

With Jones leading 5-4 without hammer, Kleibrink managed to fill the house, but an excellent draw to the four foot behind cover by Jones forced Kleibrink to try a tricky runback of a Manitoba stone just outside the 12 foot to win. The raised stone jammed on Jones' last draw and Manitoba managed to steal a single point for the 6-4 victory.

At the 2008 World Women's Curling Championship in Vernon, British Columbia, Jones defeated China to capture her first World Championship by a score of 7-4. Jones finished the week with an overall record of 11-3 [Curling Scoops [http://www.curlingscoops.com/stories/march3008.php Canada takes the gold] ] .

Jones is also a lawyer for Wellington West.

Jennifer is a Windsor Park Collegiate graduate.

References

External links

* [http://www.teamjenniferjones.com/ Official Team Website]