Team Manitoba skip Jennifer Jones after her final match at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts, in Calgary, on Feb. 25.Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press
Jennifer Jones bid a reluctant goodbye to a curling stage where she’s performed brilliantly in her career.
Her Manitoba team’s exit in Sunday’s 5-4 loss to Rachel Homan in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts final marked the end of an era in women’s curling.
The 49-year-old from Winnipeg declared before the Canadian women’s championship in Calgary that her 18th appearance was her last.
Jones intends to retire from team curling after this season, although she will continue to curl mixed doubles competitively with her husband Brent Laing.
Tied for the most Canadian curling titles with Colleen Jones at six and the only woman to skip an unbeaten team in an Olympic Games, two-time world champion Jones dominates debate over who is the country’s best female curler of all time.
Her 11 appearances in Hearts’ finals, 39 career playoff games and 236 games played are all tournament records.
Jones stood in the centre of the home-end rings and acknowledged the standing ovation she received Sunday night from a sold-out crowd of 3,195 at WinSport Event Centre.
“I’m going to miss everybody,” Jones said. “I love the game. I love being out here. I love what it’s done for our daughters. They believe that anything is possible because of curling.”
Jones is arguably leaving still at the top of her game. She showcased her catalogue of shots in Calgary with several precise draws, finesse hits and rolls and runbacks to score multiple points in an end.
But draw weight eluded her Sunday, which was lethal against Homan’s team that excels in defending with big-hit weights.
Jones’ walk-off deflection off an Ontario stone well outside the rings for a takeout on the button to win her first Hearts in 2005 is still in heavy rotation on curling highlight reels.
“As far as I’m concerned, she’s put modern day women’s curling on the map,” said four-time men’s world champion Glenn Howard, who coached Jones this season.
“She’s been a force for 20 some years now. Her uncanny ability to make the big shot is what sticks in my mind. She just comes through clutch, clutch after clutch. She’s a winner.”
Competing at the level of curling she has requires travelling to almost-weekly tournaments across Canada in the winter.
Jones has said she wants to be physically in the room more with young daughters Isabella and Skyla, instead of story time and spelling homework conducted virtually via a screen.
It may have been the emotion of the moment, but Jones left the door open a crack to unretire.
“This moment, it’s really hard to say goodbye to be honest,” Jones said. “I’m just like loving it. I don’t want my kids to look back on life and think that their mum was never front-row centre cheering them on, like my mum was for me.
“So that’s the biggest reason, but they keep asking me to change my mind, so we’ll see.”
Jones won her half-dozen Canadian crowns between 2005 and 2018 after making her Hearts debut in 2002 in Brandon, Man.
Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen went undefeated at 11-0 to win a 2014 Olympic gold medal in Sochi, Russia. That foursome also won a world title in 2018 in North Bay, Ont.
Jones won her first world championship in 2008 in Vernon, B.C., with front end of Officer and McEwen and third Cathy Overton-Clapham. Jones’ teams won Canada’s Olympic women’s trials in both 2013 and 2021.
“A really fierce competitor. I’ve been playing against her for a long time,” said Hearts bronze medallist Kate Cameron, who lost 12-7 to Jones in Sunday’ semifinal.
“Growing up curling in Manitoba, I think she just shaped what a lot of athletes wanted to be.”
After representing Canada at the Olympic Games a second time in Beijing and finishing fifth, her team disbanded and Jones took over a young team of women almost half her age.
Jones reached the 2023 Canadian final with them in Kamloops, B.C., where she lost to Kerri Einarson and led them to the final again in Calgary.
Karlee Burgess, Emily Zacharias and Lauren Lenentine all under the age of 25 – and Emily’s sister Mackenzie who played for Jones last season – had Jones to accelerate them through the competitive gap young curlers experience upon graduation from the junior ranks.
“We are lucky to have this opportunity to play in Jenn’s last Scotties,” Burgess said during the tournament. “Not a lot of people get to play with Jenn Jones.”
Seven years after winning her last Canadian women’s curling championship, Rachel Homan is a Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion again. Her team defeated six-time champion Jennifer Jones 5-4 in Jones’s last game at the national women’s championship.
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Red Wings signed forward Lucas Raymond to an eight-year, $64.6 million contract Monday, completing a deal with one of their best young players less than 72 hours before training camp begins.
Raymond will count $8.075 million against the salary cap through 2032. The 22-year-old was a restricted free agent without a contract for the upcoming NHL season and was coming off setting career highs with 31 goals, 41 assists and 72 points.
The Red Wings have another one of those in defenceman Moritz Seider, who won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 2021-22.
Detroit is looking to end an eight-year playoff drought dating to the Original Six franchise’s last appearance in 2016.
Raymond, a Swede who was the fourth pick in 2020, has 174 points in 238 games since breaking into the league.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kirk Cousins led a flawless last-minute drive for Atlanta and connected with Drake London for a 7-yard touchdown with 34 seconds left to give the Falcons a 22-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night.
Saquon Barkley dropped a short pass that stopped the clock with 1:46 left and forced the Eagles to settle for a field goal instead of a game-sealing first down. That was plenty of time for Cousins — especially against an Eagles defense playing soft coverage with a nonexistent pass rush.
The 36-year-old veteran, playing his second game since tearing his Achilles tendon last Oct. 29 while playing for Minnesota, shook off an uneven effort and hit Darnell Mooney for 21 and 26 yards on consecutive plays during the decisive drive.
Cousins found London on a short pass to his right for the tying score, and Younghoe Koo put Atlanta (1-1) on top with a 48-yard extra point after London was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. The go-ahead drive took just 65 seconds.
Jalen Hurts had his final pass intercepted by Jessie Bates III to seal Atlanta’s win and set off a wild celebration on the sideline.
The Eagles (1-1) went ahead on Hurts’ 1-yard tush push score with 6:47 left. Barkley finished with 95 yards on 22 carries in his home debut for Philadelphia, but his drop provided the Falcons with some hope.
And then Cousins started playing like the QB Atlanta thought it was getting when it signed him to a four-year, $180 million contract.
Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 241 yards and two touchdowns. Atlanta’s first TD was a 41-yarder from Cousins to Mooney, who finished with three catches for 88 yards.
Hurts was 23 of 30 for 183 yards, including a touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith. With No. 1 receiver A.J. Brown out with a hamstring injury, Smith led the Eagles with seven catches for 76 yards and a score.
Jake Elliott kicked two field goals for the Eagles. His 28-yarder with 1:39 left made it 21-15.
Atlanta kept stalling in the red zone, getting three field goals from Koo, before Cousins fired over the middle to Mooney, who shook loose from C.J. Gardner-Johnson and left him on the turf before he somersaulted into the end zone with 1:21 left in the third quarter for a 15-10 lead. Cousins failed on the 2-point conversion pass.
Hurts had some juice in his step during a second-quarter TD drive, running with abandon for big plays much like he did in the 2022 season. He spiked the ball in a rare, raw show of emotion on a 23-yard run, earning a delay-of-game penalty. He shrugged off the 5-yard setback and scrambled for 9 yards and 15 yards to move the Eagles to Atlanta’s 19.
With comedian Shane Gillis and actor Bradley Cooper among the fans cheering on the Eagles, Hurts connected with Smith in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard TD that made it 7-3.
Under new defensive coordinator Vince Fangio, the Eagles have established an early knack for allowing long drives that end with three points instead of seven. Koo kicked field goals of 39, 22 and 34 yards, the last one enough for a 9-7 lead in the third quarter. In their opener, the Eagles held the Packers to just three field goals when they drove inside the 20.
Questionable call
Rather than take a chip-shot field goal from Elliott, the Eagles’ fourth-and-4 gamble at Atlanta’s 9-yard line in the first quarter failed when Hurts threw an incomplete pass.
Elliott kicked a 29-yarder with 4:31 left in the third quarter for a 10-9 lead.
Running wild
Bijan Robinson ran for 97 yards for the Falcons. The Eagles stuffed him late on fourth-and-1 at the Atlanta 39.
Barkley was quiet until the go-ahead drive, a week after he rushed for 109 yards and scored three touchdowns against Green Bay. Eagles fans booed when the opening drive of the game ended without Barkley touching the ball. They went wild when he had consecutive 9-yard runs to open the second drive. Barkley had 40 yards rushing in the first half.
Foles honored
Former Eagles QB Nick Foles, who led the franchise to its only Super Bowl title, served as an honorary captain and led the crowd in a rendition of “Fly, Eagles, Fly.”
Injuries
The Falcons played without LB Nate Landman (calf, quad).
Up next
Atlanta hosts Super Bowl champion Kansas City on Sunday.
TORONTO – Singles star Leylah Fernandez and doubles specialist Gabriela Dabrowski will anchor Canada’s five-player lineup when the team tries to defend its Billie Jean King Cup title in mid-November.
The 26th-ranked Fernandez, the 2021 U.S. Open finalist from Laval, Que., is the lone Canadian in the top 100 of the WTA Tour’s singles rankings.
Dabrowski, from Ottawa, is ranked fourth on the doubles list. The 2023 U.S. Open women’s doubles champion won mixed doubles bronze with Felix Auger-Aliassime at the recent Paris Olympics.
Marina Stakusic of Mississauga, Ont., returns after a breakout performance last year, capped by her singles win in Canada’s 2-0 victory over Italy in the final. Vancouver’s Rebecca Marino is also back and Bianca Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion from Mississauga, Ont., returns to the squad for the first time since 2022.
“Winning the Billie Jean King Cup in 2023 was a dream come true for us, and not only that, but I feel like we made a statement to the world about the strength of this nation when it comes to tennis,” Canada captain Heidi El Tabakh said Monday in a release. “Once again, we have a very strong team this year with Bianca joining Leylah, Gaby, Rebecca and Marina, making it an extremely powerful team that is more than capable of going all the way.
“At the end of the day, our goal is to make Canada proud, and we’ll do our best to bring the same level of effort and excitement that we had in last year’s finals.”
Fernandez, who beat Jasmine Paolini to clinch Canada’s first-ever title at the competition, is ranked No. 42 in doubles.
Canada, which received an automatic berth as defending champion, will play the winner of the first-round tie between Great Britain and Germany on Nov. 17 at Malaga’s Martin Carpena Arena.
Australia, Italy and wild-card entry Czechia also received first-round byes. The tournament, which continues through Nov. 20, also includes host Spain, Slovakia, the United States, Poland, Japan and Romania.
Stakusic is up 27 spots to No. 128 in the latest world singles rankings. Marino is at No. 134 and Andreescu, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, is ranked 167th.
Canada will look to become the first team since Czechia in 2016 to successfully defend its Billie Jean King Cup title.
Malaga will also host the Nov. 19-24 Davis Cup Final 8. The Canadian men qualified over the weekend with a 2-1 victory over Great Britain in Manchester.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
