Jennifer Jones Threepeats At Players’ Championship

19/04/2009 04:20

A close battle was fought during the women's finals at the Players' Championship between the rinks of Jennifer Jones and Shannon Kleibrink.

Kleibrink drew first blood with a two point first end. Jones was able to return with a one point second end, followed by a two point steal in the third and a one point steal in the fourth.

Kleibrink retaliated with a three point end, and the two rinks traded scoring over the next few ends.

Heading into the final end, Kleibrink and her teammates from Calgary held a one point lead over the Jennifer Jones rink.

With her second last rock, Jones managed a double take out, and left her rock well guarded on the button. Kleibrink was unable to match the fine touch needed to remove the Jones shot rock, and Jones knocked the Kleibrink stone out to win her third straight Players' Championship by scoring a three point final end with the hammer. The final score was 9-7.

"We tried to control the game, and the girls played an awesome last end," said Jones during an interview with CBC.

First place in the points standings goes to the Jennifer Jones rink, with 47 points. Cheryl Bernard and her Alberta based rink finished second in the overall standings with 37 points. Though Kleibrink advanced to the finals, she finished with 34 points, finishing in third overall.

The Jones rink took home $25,000 in prize money from the Grey Power Players' Championship for winning the tournament.

This year was the inaugural year for the Capital One Cup, and the Jones rink earned another $50,000, with $25,000 going to the Bernard rink, and $10,000 to the Kleibrink rink.

The men take to the ice next for the quarter finals. The rinks that advance will regroup and play in another draw immediately following to determine which rinks will advance to the finals.

In the quarter finals, Kevin Martin is up against Jeff Stoughton.

UPDATE: MEN’S PLAYERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP

Late last night, Edmonton's Randy Ferbey beat his arch-rival Kevin Martin 6-5, while Coldwater, Ontario's Glenn Howard dispatched Winnipeg's Mike McEwen 7-1 in the men's semi-finals.

Ferbey and Howard now advance to this morning's final. If Ferbey wins, he gets the fourth and final men's berth directly into the Olympic Trials' "Roar of the Rings" in Edmonton this December. It is also interesting to note that Ferbey beat his nemesis, Martin, twice in the same event - although Team Martin does look both physically and mentally exhausted. It's been a long time since that has happened.

Catch all of the action of the men's final at 10:00 a.m. this morning on CBC and CBC-HD TV.

SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

Well, folks, if the Players’ Championship is any indication, it sure wouldn’t surprise me to see Teams Jennifer Jones and Kevin Martin representing Canada in curling at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.