The women’s side of the Meridian Canadian Open, part of the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling, has been one to remember so far, with lots of close matches, unpredictable results and strong finishes. This morning, the Jennifer Jones rink notched up a big win against Chelsea Carey, with a score of 8-3 after 6 ends.
Kaitlyn Lawes, third for the Jennifer Jones rink, said that they were really pleased with how the game went this morning, and their goal is to set themselves up to make the B-final.
“We’re really pleased how we got off to a great start. It was a good game with great shot-making. We just got a little fortunate early to get the steal and that helped with momentum.”
The team is overall happy with the performance so far. They did lose a “bit of a heartbreaker” against Alina Kovaleva early on in the tournament, but bounced back since.
“We felt like we played well, we wanted to keep learning what the ice is doing and just keep going forward from there. We’ve had a lot of great games against strong teams, it has been a lot of fun,” said Lawes
The Meridian Canadian Open is unique in the Grand Slam season as the only one with a triple knockout format. Lawes said that gives it a unique feel.
“It definitely has a different feel from the round robin pools that we typically play in a Grand Slam, but at the same time in a pool format if you have three losses you’re also out, so you have the same amount of lives.”
One thing that is consistent between Grand Slam events is the quality of the teams, and Lawes said that’s the fun, each team is a challenge.
“All of the teams here deserve to be here. Everyone, if they play well, can win a game. That’s why we play, it’s so much fun to play at a Grand Slam, you have to play at your best, every single game. It’s really exciting.”
Their next game is at 4:00 p.m. against the Eve Miurhead team from Scotland. Lawes said that to prepare, they’re making it a priority to be well rested.
“When we’re on the road we try to sleep as much as possible. But we’re really excited, we are exactly where we want to be, with a chance to qualify this afternoon. That’s pretty exciting. We love to play against the Miurhead team because we know we have to play well against them.”
Yorkton has had unique challenges this year, with the extreme cold outside the rink. Lawes said that they’ve laughed about how they have taken the car back to the hotel instead of walking to the rink, but they’ve been otherwise they’re able to cope even as temperatures dipped below -30C”
“We’re from the prairies so we’re used to this.”
Being a Manitoba team also makes the Jones rink close to a home-town team, and Lawes said they love playing in Yorkton.
“It’s amazing they’re coming out in the cold weather, and they’re enjoying themselves and having fun. We’ve had some family come out and watch as well, it’s a fun environment, we love coming to Yorkton, every time we come out here it’s a packed house and a great environment to play in.”
