Ousted

Darcy Robertson has had a pretty good weekend at the Eric Coy Arena.

Not so much for Jennifer Jones.

Robertson, Karen Klein, Vanessa Foster and Michelle Madden of the Pembina Curling Club defeated Jones 8-6 Sunday morning in the semifinals of the 2017 Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Winnipeg.

Robertson, who beat 2016 champion Kerri Einarson of East St. Paul in their round robin finale and in a tie-breaker on Saturday, will face Michelle Englot of the Granite in this afternoons (3 p.m.) final.

Jones, who lost 9-5 to Englot in the 1-1 page playoff game Saturday night, said her team wasn't sharp.

“We just didn't play well the last couple of days and obviously you have to play your best on the weekends and we didn't do that. They played well.”

Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen had a difficult morning as their team average was in the low 60's.

Jones was heavy on a draw to the eight-foot in the first end which gave Robertson a steal of two.

The four-time Canadian champion also hogged a rock in the ninth end as Robertson scored a deuce to take a two point lead coming home.

“We didn't put draws in the right spot and you can't do that if you want to win games.” said Jones. “It wasn't meant to be. We gave it our best and sometimes you can't win them all.”

Jones, who has won seven Manitoba titles, will not play in the provincial final for the first time since 2004 when she was eliminated by Joelle Brown in the 2-2 page playoff game at the East St. Paul Curling Club.

The reigning Olympic champion had played in six finals and won them all when her team was in the field.

“We're hugely disappointed. We wanted to be at the Scotties in St. Catherines. We tried our best. Life will go on tomorrow. We've always had pretty good perspective on that. We'll try to learn from this and figure it out and hopefully never let this happen again.”

Robertson, won the Scotties in 1986 and captured a pair of championships playing third for her sister Barb in 2003 and 2009.

Robertson last played in a Manitoba final as a skip in 2007 when she lost to Jennifer Jones.