(by Jody Jewers)

Smith-Dacey soldiers on in absence of six-time champ Jones

At least a team from the same area code is still left standing after the completion of round-robin play at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts at the Civic Centre.

Heather Smith-Dacey’s team from the Mayflower club in Halifax of third Danielle Parsons, second Blisse Comstock and lead Teri Lake clinched  a spot in a tiebreaker Thursday by splitting their last two contests, scoring four of the game’s final five points to edge Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink 8-7 in a morning match before succumbing to three-time defending champion Jennifer Jones and Team Canada 9-4 in the afternoon, with Jones’s four-spot in nine the decisive blow.

The Bluenosers are the only team east of Quebec left, so perhaps Island fans will adopt them for the final weekend of the Canadian women’s curling championship, starting with a 2:30 p.m., tiebreaker Friday against B.C’s Kelly Scott.

“I think they will, which is great,” said Smith-Dacey, whose husband Mark won a Brier in 2004 for Nova Scotia and is her team’s coach this week. “It’s awesome to have fans on your side.”

Perhaps their biggest fan will be cheering them on from home soil, that being six-time Canadian and two-time world champ and 20-time Scotties participant Colleen Jones, who has her own wing in the record book section of the media guide the Canadian Curling Association puts out for this event.

The 51-year-old Jones was supposed to have skipped this team this season, but was sidelined from provincial playdowns after being diagnosed with bacterial meningitis in December. Jones has since recovered and is, in fact, curling this week at the Nova Scotia senior women’s championship.

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