(by Jonathan Brazeau)
SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones finished a “dream season” by winning her fifth career Players’ Championship title on Sunday.
Jones stole a single in the final end to seal a 5-2 victory over Ottawa’s Rachel Homan during the Grand Slam of Curling women’s final at Credit Union Place.
It was a battle between two rinks that represented Canada on the world stage this year. Jones captured the gold medal at the Sochi Olympics in February while Homan’s team successfully defended their Scotties title and earned silver at the world championships.
“We’ve had just a dream season,” Jones said. “To end it by winning our favourite event on tour, it’s just unbelievable.”
Jones broke a 1-1 tie scoring a deuce in the third to take a two-point lead. Homan blanked the fourth and the two rinks exchanged singles in the fifth and sixth ends. Homan blanked again in the seventh to hold the hammer coming home but missed on her final shot in the eighth.
Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen entered the tournament riding the momentum from Sochi where they became the first women’s curling team to post an undefeated record en route to winning the gold.
The past couple months have just been a whirlwind for Jones.
“It definitely hasn’t sunk in yet for sure,” Jones said. “We’ve been so busy since the Olympics, we’re looking forward to the summer to really sit back and soak up what we’ve achieved this season.”
It was also an emotional game for Team Homan as second Alison Kreviazuk played her final match with the rink as she plans to move to Sweden.
“We gave it our all and unfortunately it just came up a bit short,” Kreviazuk said. “But I couldn’t be happier to share it with those girls.”
Third Emma Miskew added, “It’s sad but we’re happy for her that she’s made a choice and it worked out for the best.”
Homan now adds Joanne Courtney (from Valerie Sweeting’s Edmonton rink) to her roster and Miskew said the team is excited for the future.
“It’ll be different for sure,” Miskew said. “We’ll definitely miss Alison but we are looking forward to continuing on next year.”
As Masters champions, Homan’s Ottawa rink fell short of claiming the $100,000 bonus for sweeping both women’s Grand Slam events.