Jones dazzles at worlds

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This article was published 23/03/2018 (2222 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

NORTH BAY, Ont. — With the world women’s curling championship playoffs in sight, Jennifer Jones cranked up the rock show.

The Team Canada skip dazzled a sold-out crowd here on Friday night, capping off a perfect round-robin run.

It’s not just the fact that Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen completed their 12-0 round-robin sweep with an 8-5 evening win over Jamie Sinclair of Team USA. They also had a heck of a lot of fun doing it.

There was nothing on the line for Canada in the match. They’d already locked up their first-place finish. But the thunderous crowd at Memorial Gardens was roaring at every shot — so Jones decided to throw some stunners.

In fact, of her 20 shots, Jones threw just three draws. She shot a fine 90 per cent through those 17 hits.

The most dramatic of those came in the second end. Lying one, Jones ripped a stunning angle-raise takeout with hammer to score three. The crowd exploded; it was easily the most eye-popping shot of the week.

“I thought, ‘If we make this, it’s going to be a lot of fun,’” Jones said after the game. “And it was fun. I’ll remember that one forever. The crowd went crazy, and the energy around it… it was one of those shots you remember for awhile.”

With the playoffs starting today, it’s time to get down to business. Canada will go straight to this evening’s 6 p.m. CST semifinal, the second of two. Reigning Olympic champion Anna Hasselborg of Sweden, who finished in second, will play in the afternoon semifinal.

They’ll wait to learn who their opponents will be. The next four finishers advanced to this morning’s qualification games, where they’ll duke it out for a chance to face Jones or Sweden.

In one of those matchups, rising Korean star EunJung Kim will take on Sinclair. In the other, the Czech Republic’s Anna Kubeskova will face off against Russia’s Victoria Moiseeva.

— Melissa Martin