SCOTTIES PREVIEW: Curling icon Jennifer Jones enjoys seeing game through eyes of young Manitoba teammates (2024)

You might think joining a team full of players half her age would make curling legend Jennifer Jones feel a bit revitalized, especially since that new crew has found instant success.

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But the 48-year-old Jones doesn’t see it that way.

“I don’t know if I needed to be revitalized, because I’ve always loved to play,” Jones said cheerily this week as her Winnipeg five-some put in final preparations for the Canadian women’s curling championship in Kamloops, B.C.

“It’s fun for me to see curling through their eyes and their experiences and try to show them the things that I’ve learned. It’s fun for me to watch that. They’re great people and I want great things for them so it’s fun to be a small part of their journey.”

The Jones curling resume speaks for itself. She has won everything there is to win in the game — six Scotties Tournament of Hearts titles, two world championships, 16 Grand Slams, two Olympic trials and one Olympic gold medal.

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She is considered by many to be the G.O.A.T. of the game and few people would have been surprised if she had chosen to slide off into the sunset after appearing in the Olympics last February and finishing out of the medals.

That’s simply not how Jones approaches life and the game she loves, however, so instead she disbanded her long-time team and joined one of the top up-and-coming squads in the land.

Mackenzie Zacharias, 23, and her similarly aged teammates were already Manitoba champions last season and have competed in the Scotties twice (2021 and 2022).

Now they’ve added Jones as skip and they’re back as true contenders for a national title.

“The best part is I don’t feel that much older than them,” Jones said. “I wasn’t sure how that would go but they’re so mature and so fun off the ice. They are very kind, very supportive, unbelievable teammates. I feel grateful to be able to share the ice with them.”

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The new five-some, which includes third Karlee Burgess, second Mackenzie Zacharias (who moved down from skip) and leads Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine, is ranked third in the Canadian Team Ranking System standings, has a 53-27 overall record, won two Tour events and took the Manitoba provincial championship against a very tough field.

The best part is I don’t feel that much older than them. I wasn’t sure how that would go but they’re so mature and so fun off the ice.

Jennifer Jones on her young teammates

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Jennifer Jones edges former teammate Kaitlyn Lawes to reach Manitoba Scotties final

Team Jones is among the favourites at the 2023 Scotties, along with fellow Manitobans Kerri Einarson (three-time defending champ) and Kaitlyn Lawes (three-time Olympian), and Tracy Fleury/Rachel Homan of Ontario (Homan is a three-time champion).

Should Jones be able to pull this one off, she’ll stand alone as the only curler to ever win seven Scotties titles. She’s currently tied with the great Colleen Jones and her former teammate Jill Officer at six.

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“I never really think about those kinds of things,” Jones said. “It’s just fun to be back. You never know when it’s going to be your last one, so it’s just fun to be here.”

Jones is making her 17^th appearance in the Scotties and she believes this is the strongest field of teams that has ever been assembled for a women’s championship.

Of the 18 teams in the field, a good 15 are contenders to make the playoffs and even the top teams understand that every game is going to be a battle.

As an example of the depth, Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville, who is always in contention and made the final last year in her hometown of Thunder Bay before falling to Einarson, is seeded 14^th for this event.

“It’s fun playing against the best and it’s great for women’s curling to see such a deep field,” Jones said. “The talent is so deep and you’re seeing new teams along with some of the teams you see all the time. Women’s curling is growing and it’s fun to be a part of the evolution of the game and be here in such a great field this week.”

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The four Manitoba teams in the event — defending champion Einarson, Manitoba champion Jones and wild cards Lawes and 21-year-old Meghan Walter — are all forces to be reckoned with.

Jones, who dominated her home province for years, until Einarson broke through in 2020, loves to see so many Manitoba teams getting a chance in the Scotties.

“It’s pretty cool,” she said. “It’s been a long time now that Manitoba curling has had such a deep pool of teams.

“It’s really hard to win the provincials. I always say that success breeds success and Manitoba has done a really good job of developing young talent. It shows in where we are today with how many teams are in the top part of the Canadian team ranking standings.”

Jones opens the Scotties with a game against Northern Ontario (McCarville) on Saturday afternoon (4 p.m. ET) at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops. The event began Friday night with four games and continues until Feb. 26.

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The Jones team is seeded third and is in Pool B with Ontario (Fleury/Homan), wild-card Casey Scheidegger of Alberta, Walter, Andrea Kelly of New Brunswick, Kerry Galusha/Jo-Ann Rizzo of Northwest Territories, Stacie Curtis of Newfoundland, McCarville and Hailey Birnie of Yukon.

Einarson is the top seed and is a pool with fourth-seed Lawes (Wild Card 1), Clancy Grandy of B.C., Christina Black of Nova Scotia, Kayla Skrlik of Alberta, Marie Christianson/Suzanne Birt of P.E.I., Robyn Silvernagle of Saskatchewan, Laurie St-Georges of Quebec and Bridgette MacPhail of Nunavut.

Homan, Scheidegger, McCarville, Galusha, Silvernagle, Kelly, Black and Birt have all been to the playoffs at the Scotties before and that makes this field pretty wide open.

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Jones played 13 seasons with Lawes as her third so it will be interesting to see if the two good friends meet in the Scotties playoff round next week. They are in different pools, so it can’t happen until at least the playoff round.

“Normally I don’t even think about when we’re on the ice,” said Jones, who has faced Lawes three times on Tour already this season.

“You’re just playing a game. Obviously we’ve shared a lot of great memories together, but when we’re out there we’re just focused on what we’re doing.”

As for the task at hand, Jones and everyone else in the field is faced with trying to knock Einarson off the perch she and teammates Val Sweeting, Shannon Birchard and Briane Harris have held since February of 2020.

“They’re super consistent, very talented team,” Jones said. “You’re going to have to play your very best. That’s what you have to do with any of the top teams in the world. They’re not going to give you very many opportunities so you have to take advantage of them.

“That’s what makes it fun. If it wasn’t hard, it wouldn’t be as enjoyable.”

Twyman@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/Ted_Wyman

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