SYDNEY, N.S. — Alberta’s Chelsea Carey and Ontario’s Rachel Homan locked up playoff berths Friday afternoon at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. Team Canada’s Jennifer Jones will not be joining them in the final four.
Carey and Homan earned victories to share first place at 8-2. Jones (5-5) stunningly came up short on a draw to the 12-foot ring that would have forced an extra end in her 8-6 loss to Northern Ontario’s Krista McCarville.
The defending champion from Winnipeg said the rock felt good out of her hand, but she knew it was going to find the slide path.
“It’s about an eight- to 10-foot difference than the middle,” Jones said. “So if you get to the slide path, it does what it did. If I was out wider, that’s probably T-line.”
The crowd at Centre 200 gasped when the stone stopped about a foot short of the rings, despite a furious sweeping effort from Jones’s teammates.
It’s the first time since her Scotties debut in 2002 that Jones — a six-time champion — has not reached the playoffs at the national championship.
“I’ve had some worse losses than this for sure,” Jones said. “We’ve played in I don’t know how many Scotties and had a good run, had some fun, made some big shots and at the end of the day, it wasn’t our week.
“But I’m OK with it. Losing a final is way worse.”
Championship round play was scheduled to wrap up Friday night. The Page Playoffs begin Saturday.
Carey looked strong in a 10-3 victory over Saskatchewan’s Robyn Silvernagle while Homan needed an extra end to get by Prince Edward Island’s Suzanne Birt 7-6. Homan hit a draw to the four-foot ring to win.
Team Wild Card’s Casey Scheidegger defeated British Columbia’s Sarah Wark 11-6 to move into a three-way tie at 7-3 with Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario.
Prince Edward Island was still in the hunt at 6-4.
B.C. was out of the playoff mix after falling to 5-5. Wark was to play Jones on Friday night in a meaningless game.
The three other matchups had playoff ramifications. Ontario was to meet Saskatchewan, Team Wild Card was to take on Alberta and Northern Ontario was to play Prince Edward Island.
A five-way tie at 8-3 was a possibility entering the night draw, but Alberta and Ontario would still advance thanks to head-to-head records. Tiebreakers, if required, would be played Saturday morning.
The Scotties winner will represent Canada at the March 16-24 world women’s curling championship in Silkeborg, Denmark.