It was the kind of tournament final that Ford Women's World Curling organizers dream about...the reigning Olympic champion Sweden battling 2014 Olympic champion Canada...number one versus number two in the world rankings.
Anna Hasselborg advanced to the final with a 7-6 victory over Russia's Victoria Moiseeva while Jennifer Jones held on for a 9-7 victory over a tough competitor, American Jamie Sinclair. Jones earned the top seed in the six-team playoff by posting a 12-0 round-robin record and chose the hammer to start.
It would take an extra end, in a thrilling game for Canada to win 7-6.
A jubilant Jennifer Jones gave credit to the fans, "Unbelievable. I’m so happy. I can’t say enough about my team. We had a great week. We soaked up the atmosphere in the crowd and had fun in that final. I’m just so thrilled to be able to stand on top of the podium with these girls one more time.
"I don’t know if we could have done it without (the crowd). The experience definitely would not have been the same without them. Every time we walked on the ice, we felt like we were superstars and felt like we had the support of all of Canada behind us, so thank you very, very much."
For the Jones rink, Sunday’s game was the last with Jill Officer, who is leaving to take some family time.
"I just love her to death," said Jones, "and now she gets to go out as a world champ, and we get to do that with her. I’m so happy.
"Just to be world champion, you pinch yourself, and we managed to do it a couple of times and win the Olympics and we just feel so privileged to be able to do it back in Canada and obviously it was our last Worlds with Jill. To end off our careers together with a world championship win, and in this amazing city of North Bay and with these great fans, it means the world to us."
Officer was the winner of the player-voted Frances Brodie award, given to the player who "best exemplified the traditional curling values of skill, honesty, fair play, friendship, and sportsmanship.”
Hasselborg, for her part, took the loss in stride.
"I’d rather lose a final when you’re playing great. I’m so proud of my team for battling through it. We came (to North Bay) straight from the Olympics, and we showed that it’s possible to come to a final after the Olympics. I’m really proud of my team’s performance. We knew that it was going to be a tough game because they had hammer (in the first end). We took it to an extra end, and I’m pretty proud, actually. It’s OK."
The championship game started with plenty of great hits and draws, but no score.
Canada blanked the first three ends, not able to score two but with Anna Hasselborg unable to force Jones to take one.
Her patience paid off. Jones made a perfect draw to the four-foot to score two in end four.
Hasselborg replied in a big way in the fifth as Jones missed a double takeout with her last rock allowing the Swede to draw for three.
Jones, who defeated Hasselborg 8-4 in round-robin play, threw a takeout for a pair in six, then forced Sweden to take one in the seventh to tie the game at 4.
After a blanked eighth, Jones in nine, brought the capacity crowd to a deafening roar as she threw a raise takeout to pop out a Swedish shot stone to score two and take the lead 6-4 heading into the tenth end.
Jones tried to keep it clean in the 10th, but she was counting two, and with a Swedish stone making it a tight threesome, Hasselborg tossed a high hard one, spilling both Canadian stones, but keeping the shooter to score two and tie the game at 6 to force an extra end.
There, Jones hogged her first rock, drawing a gasp from the crowd, but Hasselborg missed her takeout completely to give Canada a 7-6 win, and the championship.
Fan attendance for the final game was 3,919, and for the week-long event was 69,391, setting a new Canadian record for the highest attendance at any World Women's Curling Championship held in Canada. Canada has won a leading 16 gold medals since the world women's championship began in 1979. Sweden is next with eight, the last in 2011.
See: Attendance record broken at World Women's Curling Championship in North Bay
"We always thought it would draw well up here because they've never had an event and its a pretty good curling community," said Terry Morris of Curling Canada. "Ya, it was over the top...great event."
The 50-50 draw prize was $18,712
In the bronze medal game this morning, Russia defeated the USA 6-5.
