Filling in as Jones’ third in Canadian championship a dream come true for Birchard

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This article was published 15/01/2018 (2286 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It was the shot that every curling fan remembers: the 2005 hit that won Jennifer Jones her first Canadian championship, the hit that transformed her from rising Manitoba skip to one of curling’s brightest stars.

Thirteen years later, Shannon Birchard still remembers watching The Shot, that audacious in-off that clinched Jones the first of her-now five titles. Birchard was just 10 years old at the time, from a family of curlers, and she was transfixed.

“Honestly, I’ve watched a lot of Jennifer’s games, but that one definitely stands out,” Birchard said. “And she’s been a player, the whole team is a team I’ve looked up to.”

Now, Birchard will get a chance to play alongside her childhood idols — and with a buffalo jacket on her back.

On Tuesday morning, Jones announced that Birchard will join the team for the 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, which kicks off next week in Penticton, B.C. It will be Birchard’s first trip to the Canadian women’s championship.

“It’s gonna be pretty crazy,” Birchard said, hours after the announcement. “I’m super excited. I’ll be probably in shock a little bit. But it’s something I’ve been wanting for quite a long time. To finally have that moment is pretty special.”

In this job, Birchard will (temporarily) fill the sliders of longtime Jones third Kaitlyn Lawes, who will instead head to the Winter Olympics in South Korea to compete for Canada in the debut mixed doubles curling event with partner John Morris.

The question of who would fill in for Lawes was the buzz of last week’s provincials in Killarney. Even if Jones hadn’t won Manitoba, she would still have had a chance to qualify for Scotties, thanks to a new play-in wild card game.

So it was certain that Jones would need someone to join second Jill Officer and lead Dawn McEwen: “Either (that or) we play with three, but I think that would be a lot of sweeping for the front end,” Jones joked after Sunday’s final.

As the provincial event wore on, Birchard was “hopeful” that she might be in consideration, but she recognized that Jones might be looking for someone checking different boxes; would she choose a rising young curler, or an experienced veteran?

Birchard got the call Monday morning. The next 24 hours were a “whirlwind,” she said.

“I kind of had to drop everything and change around my schedule a bit, and it was a really busy day,” she said Tuesday. “It’s exciting, busy in the best way, because obviously this is something I’ve wanted to do.”

The pick makes sense. In opting for Birchard, Jones snapped up a young and dedicated sharpshooter, someone who is building on high-level junior success. Someone, come to think of it, reminiscent of Kaitlyn Lawes, back in 2010.

“We chose her because she is a great young Manitoban who has all the shots,” Jones said Tuesday en route to Camrose, Alta. to compete in this week’s Canadian Open. “It will be fun to experience her first Scotties with her.”

Lawes will be with Team Jones for the grand slam event this week before leaving to prepare for Pyeongchang.

Birchard, a former two-time Manitoba junior champion, was seeded fourth at last week’s provincial tournament in Killarney. She finished with a 3-4 record, missing the playoffs for the first time since her rookie outing in 2014.

As a matter of fact, her roughest outing of the week came against Jones last Friday. In that match, Birchard gave up four straight steals after Jones’ opening deuce, and it ended 12-0 in Jones’ favour after just five ends.

Yet that flop isn’t an indictment of Birchard’s talent; she beat Jones to win a Saskatoon bonspiel early this season, and made a second tiebreaker at the Olympic pre-trials in November. She is currently ranked 11th in Canada.

“Last week did not go well against them, but we’ve played them a lot,” Birchard said. “Jen had to have taken those other games into consideration, and took the game last week as a bit of a one-off.

“I’m grateful (they did).”

Above all, Birchard said, she has to credit her team for the chance. Without her tight-knit Thistle Curling Club crew of third Sheyna Andries, second Nicole Sigvaldason and lead Mariah Mondor, she said, it might not have happened.

“I would get nowhere without my other teammates, so I have to thank them for helping me grow as a player,” she said. “They support me enough for me to make those shots and maybe stand out a little bit more.”

No doubt she will still dream of leading her own team into nationals someday. But not only will she get her first experience at Scotties, she will also have a chance to learn up close and personal from three of the game’s best.

There’s so much, Birchard said, that she hopes to absorb from her temporary team. How they prepare for games; how they carry themselves on the ice; and, of course, the aggressive and confident strategies they’re known for.

“I’m just going to be a sponge out there,” she said. “(Jones) plays with a lot of rocks in play, and that requires a lot from her teammates in terms of rock placement. That’s something I’d like to integrate into my game a little bit more.”

Then, of course, there is the pride of being chosen, to join a heavily favoured run for a Canadian championship.

“It means a lot,” she said. “It means I’m headed in the right direction, I guess. Curling is something I’m super-passionate about, so to be noticed in that way is really special, and I feel really fortunate.”

On another note: one way or another, three of the last four Manitoba women’s champions will compete in Penticton.

In addition to Jones and 2017 Manitoba champion Michelle Englot, who will serve as Team Canada (since Rachel Homan is off to the Olympics), either Chelsea Carey (2014) or Kerri Einarson (2016) will make the main draw.

Carey, who now plays out of Alberta, and Einarson are the two highest-ranked Canadian skips that did not win a provincial championship (or an Olympic berth); both fell out in their provincial semifinals.

As a result, they will face off in a new play-in wild card game, set for next Friday, for a chance to join the 16-team field in Penticton. The winner will enter the Scotties draw as the fourth seed.

There was a similar Manitoba party at the 2016 Scotties, when Jones (as Team Canada), Einarson (as Manitoba champion) and Carey, having just won Alberta, all competed in Grande Prairie, Alta.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca