THE CANADIAN PRESS
SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. — Canada’s Jennifer Jones defended her team’s performance at the Ford Women’s World Curling Championship, saying the bronze medal her Winnipeg team won Sunday deserved praise.
Jones defeated Cecilia Ostlund’s young Swedish team 9-6 to finish third before Germany’s Andrea Schoepp beat Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 8-6 in 11 ends for gold later Sunday.
It was the second world title for both Germany and Schoepp, who last won in 1988 in Glasgow, Scotland.
The Canadians finished first in the round robin with a 10-1 record and then lost two straight playoff games to fall out of gold-medal contention.
Jones has a cool demeanour on the ice. In a rare display of emotion after the bronze-medal game, Jones listed her team’s accomplishments since joining forces five years ago.
"To be a four-time Canadian champion, to go to the world championship four times, to win Players’ Championships, we’ve done more than I have dreamed possible ever. And we’ve got to play in two worlds at home and it’s been an amazing ride," Jones said, her voice cracking.
"The fact everybody thinks we should win gold is ridiculous. We won bronze and we’re really happy with that. I thought we did Canada proud today and I hope everybody sees it that and if they don’t I can’t control that."
Schoepp, a 45-year-old math teacher from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, skipped Germany at the world championship for a record 17th time. Her first world championship was in Kelowna, B.C., in 1986 when she took the silver medal.
Third Melanie Robillard was born in Ottawa and is a former junior teammate of Canadian lead Dawn Askin. Second Monika Wagner and rotating leads Stella Heiss and Corinna Scholz round out the championship team.
Schoepp, who also won December’s European championship, hadn’t played in a world final since 1988.
"To get up there is easy," Schoepp said. "To keep it there and repeat is hard. I know that. Maybe I can take the next 20 years and make it again. I think that would be a record."
Half of the 12-team world championship field participated in last month’s Olympics in Vancouver and some, including 2009 champion Wang Bingyu of China, showed signs of post-Games burnout.
The curling ice was taken out of Schoepp’s home rink on March 1. The German skip feels the break may have been a blessing as her team had rest before the world championship.
"Coming here a week earlier, what the other teams all did to play a bonspiel or to practice makes no sense," she said. "You have to have rest a little bit."
Jones, vice Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and Askin won the world title two years ago in Vernon, B.C., and hoped to do the same in the intimate confines of the 2,700-seat Credit Union iplex. The St. Vital Curling Club foursome lost the bronze-medal game last year in Gangneung, South Korea.
With Cathy Gauthier at lead, the Jones team lost the playoff game between the third- and fourth-seeded teams to finish fourth in the 2005 world championship in Paisley, Scotland. A bronze-medal game wasn’t part of the tournament format that year.
"Our team always peaks in the playoffs. So in a couple of world championships we don’t," Jones said. "I think that’s one thing we’ve learned how to do. We’ve finally figured out the round robin, so maybe we can just put both together next year, but we’re pretty happy with how we played."
Bronze isn’t easy to win after the disappointment of losing the semifinal. Jones and company were stunned 10-4 by the Scots on Saturday.
"We didn’t play well last night and had a hard time sleeping, but we wanted to come out here and win a medal," Jones said. "Third in the world is not so bad."
Canada fell 6-3 to Germany in Friday’s Page playoff between the top-two seeds, which dropped Canada to Saturday’s semifinal. Canada aimed for a rematch Germany, which was the only country to beat them in the tournament to that point.
But a lopsided semifinal loss to the Scots ended Canada’s chances for gold. The draw weight Jones executed so well throughout the preliminary round completely left her in the semifinal. Rubbed guards and half-misses cost Canada as the Scots scored three in the fifth, stole a point in the sixth and stole another three in the seventh to seal the win.
Jones and third Overton Clapham were outcurled by their Scottish counterparts, while the Canadian front end had better shooting percentages than the Scots. Jones said Sunday the ice was quicker in the semifinal and she didn’t pick up on that fast enough.
The world championship featured two young teams to watch in the future. Muirhead was the youngest skip in the field at 19. She won three world junior titles in a row before skipping the Scots to seventh at the Olympics.
Ostlund’s Swedish team, which lost to Muirhead in the world junior final two years ago, is the heir apparent in Sweden to Anette Norberg’s rink which won the last two Olympic gold medals. The Swedes’ average age was 22.
Canadian women have won world curling championships a record 15 times since the first one was held in 1979. Alberta’s Kevin Koe will attempt to win a 32nd title by a Canadian men’s team at the Capital One Men’s World Curling Championship in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, starting next Sunday.
A highlight of the season for the Jones team was winning their fourth Canadian championship in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in February.
A pre-tournament favourite to win December’s Olympics trials in Edmonton, the team struggled with a 2-5 record, however, and the Olympic berth went to Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard. Jones went to the Olympics as a celebrity reporter for a website.
As the reigning Canadian champion, Jones has an automatic berth in the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown, P.E.I. She and her teammates have yet to decide whether they want to pursue an Olympic berth for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
"I think everybody still wants to play, but it’s a long run," she said.
The Jones team will participate in the Grey Power Players’ Championship, a major event on the World Curling Tour, in Dawson Creek, B.C., from April 13th to 18th.
Canada is a country of almost 300,000 registered curlers and that doesn’t include thousands who play the occasional recreational bonspiels, according to the Canadian Curling Association. That’s more curlers than any other country.
Jones says she doesn’t feel expectations to win from the thousands of Canadians who play the sport or follow it on television.
"I don’t think they expect gold. I think the media does and I think that’s unfair," Jones said. "When I was at the Olympics, Canadians were proud of any colour (of medal) and it’s the media that puts all the pressure … actually it’s not even pressure. I don’t feel pressure at all. I think it’s the media that scrutinizes it. I don’t think that’s right.
"I think Canadians are proud of our athletes and I think the media should portray that in the papers as well."
Notes(at) — Total attendance at the 2010 world championship was 52,305 … The record attendance for a women’s world curling championship, since the men’s and women’s tournament separated in 2005, was 60,791 set by Grande Prairie, Alta., in 2006 … The 2011 world women’s curling championship will be held in Esbjerg, Denmark.