Joey Payeur
Kathie Jackson would appreciate it if everyone would stop coming up to her as if her beloved pet died.
The Fort Frances skip and her Northern Ontario team of third Teresa McFayden, second Leanne Eluik, and lead Jackie McCormick didn’t have the ending they wanted in the women’s division at the 2015 Travelers Curling Club Championships in Ottawa last week.
But despite a 6-2 loss to P.E.I. in the semi-finals on Friday night, then a 9-8, extra-end defeat to Alberta in the bronze-medal game on Saturday morning, Jackson can do without all the sympathy.
“I’m very proud of what we did,” she remarked.
“If somebody had told me two weeks ago that we would be the fourth-best in Canada, I wouldn’t have believed it,” she added.
“Having said that, once we got there and saw the calibre of the players there, if a few shots had gone the other way for us, there’s no reason we couldn’t have won the event.”
Having gone 1-5 with McFayden in her last appearance at the club nationals two years ago, Jackson knew a good start was important—and took care of that with a 5-4, extra-end win over B.C. in her opening game.
“That first game was huge because then we knew we could do it,” she recounted.
“It was our first real competitive game together [Jacquee Loerzel was replaced by McCormick after the provincials due to her pregnancy] and we all made some great shots.”
After dumping the Yukon 8-3 and the Northwest Territories 10-3 in their next two games, Northern Ontario hit its only speed bump of the Pool ‘B’ round-robin in falling 8-5 to Alberta.
“We didn’t curl our best,” Jackson said bluntly.
But with a playoff berth there for the taking on the final day of preliminary play, Northern Ontario reached out and grabbed it.
Trailing 5-4 entering the final end against Manitoba, Jackson used the hammer to score a deuce and nab a 6-5 victory.
“That last shot was huge because it was completely a team shot,” she stressed.
“From the line call to the sweeping, which was incredible . . . I haired a guard and it still made it through.”
Jackson then capped a 5-1 record in pool play with an 8-5 victory over New Brunswick.
But Northern Ontario had to settle for second place because Alberta (5-1) had won the head-to-head tie-breaker to clinch top spot in Pool ‘B.’
In the first round of the cross-over playoffs, Northern Ontario faced Saskatchewan (4-2), which had finished in third place in Pool ‘A,’ and cruised to a 9-0 win in just six ends.
“I didn’t know what to expect because we hadn’t faced them [Saskatchewan] in pool play, but we all had a really good game,” noted Jackson.
Northern Ontario started the semi-final in fine fashion by scoring two in the first end.
But that would be the last points they would see.
P.E.I. scored one in the third, then stole stealing two in the fourth and singles in the next three ends to put the game away.
“I say this kind of jokingly but I’m wishing now no one would have told us that it was televised,” admitted Jackson.
“I truly believe everyone was a bit nervous knowing everyone at home was watching and you want to curl your best,” she noted.
Still looking at a shot for bronze against Alberta, Northern Ontario exploded with three in the first.
But Alberta stayed calm and eventually broke open a 4-4 game with three in the fifth.
Jackson fought back to tie the game with a deuce in the eighth to send it to an extra end that had an unfortunate conclusion for Northern Ontario.
“I was pretty bummed out because I didn’t even make [their skip] throw her last shot,” grimaced Jackson, whose miscue locked up the game-winning single for Alberta.
Meanwhile, Jackson acknowledged how much those who were cheering them on from near and far made a difference.
“I attribute our success to the incredible amount of support we received both in Ottawa from family and friends who came to watch to all the support we got by e-mail, texts, and Facebook,” she remarked.
“It was unbelievable and very gratifying.”
Jackson’s group now will have to wait until the 2017 provincials to start another run at a possible national title.
Curling Canada rules dictate a team that makes it to nationals one year is not permitted to compete for a Travelers title the following year to avoid any dynasty-type teams from taking over the club championship scene.
“That rule is the best thing that could have happened,” agreed Jackson.
“Otherwise, you would have the same teams coming year after year like they did before and that’s not what it’s all about,” she stressed.
“It’s about giving those club-level curlers the same national experience that they would get at a [Tim Hortons] Brier or a Scotties [Tournament of Hearts].”
