REGINA -- And in the end, eight was exactly enough.
Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones won her second Canadian women’s curling championship in three years here Sunday afternoon, defeating Alberta’s Shannon Kleibrink 6-4 in a thrilling Scotties Tournament of Hearts final.
The victory was the eighth in a row for Team Manitoba at this event and capped off a remarkable comeback for a foursome that many were counting out when they stumbled out to an opening record of 3-4.
“I’m just so happy right now, it’s crazy,” a jubilant Jones said afterward. “It’s amazing. We got our backs to the wall early, but the girls played just great...I couldn’t ask for any better teammates.”
With the victory, Manitoba -- Jones, third Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin -- will now represent Canada at the 2008 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship in Vernon, BC, Mar. 22-30.
But the winnings don’t stop there. With Sunday’s victory, the Jones team also receives $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over the next two years; diamond rings; the right to return to this event next year as Team Canada; berths in the 2009 Continental and Canada Cups; and $15,500 in appearance money.
And it came very close to never happening. Trailing 5-4, Kleibrink had a nose-hit runback double with the last rock of the tenth end that would have scored her team five points and the Canadian women’s title.
But the attempt jammed, giving Jones a steal of one and a two point victory.
“It just fell back at the end. At one point we had it, but it fell back at the end,” Kleibrink said.
“It’s the closest we’ve been. We had a great week and we did everything we could. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out." Overton-Clapham was named the MVP of the final game.