Jennifer Jones (curler)
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Jennifer Jones (born July 7, 1974 in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a Canadian curler. After finishing 8-4 at the 1993 Canadian Junior championships, Jones went on to win the 1994 Canadian Junior championships. This would have ordinarily meant a berth in the following year's World Junior Championships, but a change in the ruling forced her to play in a playoff the following year for the right to attend, which she lost. In 2002, Jones won the Manitoba women's curling championship and the right to go to the 2002 Scott Tournament of Hearts, where she finished with an 8-4 record.
Jones would return to the Scott at the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, which she won by defeating Team Ontario, skipped by Jenn Hanna in the championship game. Jones faced an extremely difficult shot to win, having to hit a rock outside of the house and roll to the button taking out an Ontario rock. Had she missed, she would have lost both the game and the tournament. The shot was perfect, scoring 4 points with her final stone and winning the game. Revered by Canadian sports media and admiring curling fans, Jones' accomplishment under pressure was quickly dubbed "The Shot," and, in the following weeks, became the source of talk and of attempts by novice curlers to repeat the feat in curling clubs across the country. The team's win qualified them for the 2005 World Women's Curling Championship in Paisley, Scotland. The worlds were a disappointing tournament for her and her team, where they struggled constantly with poor ice conditions. They were knocked out of the playoffs in the 3-4 game against Dordi Nordby and her Norway rink.
In the off-season, Jones replaced Gauthier at lead with 2002 Olympic bronze medalist Georgina Wheatcroft. This was done in part to boost the team's chances at the Olympic trials in December of 2005. However, the team finished a disappointing 5-4 and out of the playoffs.
Because Jones had won the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, she got to return to the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts as Team Canada. At the Hearts that year, she managed to defeat Colleen Jones's Nova Scotia rink in the semi-final before losing to Kelly Scott of British Columbia in the final.
Jones is also a lawyer for Wellington West.
Jennifer is a Windsor Park Collegiate graduate. Her team mates (as of June 2005) are:
- Cathy Overton-Clapham (third)
- Jill Officer (second)
- Dana Allerton (lead)
