Sometimes winning a Canadian championship warrants induction to a provincial sport hall of fame. Sometimes winning a world title guarantees induction to the provincial AND national sport halls of fame. When you win five Canadian championships, two World golds and a World silver to what are you entitled? Admiration, adulation, recognition as the best of the best and, of course, induction to the sport hall of fame in the province where the athlete(s) call home. The Canadian Hall is yet to come, but it will – and soon. The Jones curling team set a Canadian record that could take a while to be beaten – five championships in six years and four in a row. Skip Colleen Jones, third Kim Kelly, second Mary-Anne Arsenault and lead Nancy Delahunt set a standard for excellence in women’s curling between 1999 and 2004 with Canadian titles in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004, plus World titles in 2001 and 2004 and a World second in 2003. Alternates Laine Peters, Mary Sue Radford and coaches Peter Corkum and Ken Bagnell helped ensure success. “Their work ethic was unmatched,” says coach/psychologist Bagnell who was with the Jones foursome from 2001 to 2005.

“The amount of work, the amount of practice, set the bar for what people do in curling and in sport all over the world. “The girls spent a lot of time together,” he continues. “Being able to live with a new set of sisters and still perform on the ice is difficult. But they won Nationals four years in a row (2001-2004), which had never been done before. With two World Championships and a silver medal in four years, that kind of domination is remarkable.” Colleen skipped the first of 16 Nova Scotia champion teams at age 19 in 1978. Four years later, she became the youngest ever to win a Canadian curling championship. By 1999, the pieces of the dominant team were in place.

Nancy and Colleen had been friends for years and remain very close. When Mary-Anne became the final piece of the puzzle in 1999 (Kelly was with the team from 1989), Nancy says the quartet had a chemistry together “but the three of us brought out the best in Colleen. I’ve never met anyone with a more insatiable appetite for winning than Colleen, but for her to be the best, she had to be comfortable with us – and she was.” Nancy adds, “There was no other Colleen Jones. I never saw anyone across the country like her. She taught us how to win and what it means to win.” Colleen reflects on her beginnings in curling. “I went to the rink with my older sisters when I was young and loved hanging out and being social. After a couple of years, the sport seemed easy and I wanted more. In 1976, we went to Junior Nationals, and didn’t do very well, but that was a taste at that level and I wanted more of that, too.”

She was second stone on that team but the next year, when asked to skip, Colleen readily accepted. “I wanted to throw last rock. I knew I could do it and didn’t really feel the pressure.” She admits that she was practising a lot – more than anyone else – and that built the confidence that she could make whatever shot faced her. Kim Kelly has several defining curling moments. “The first was winning that first Canadian title in 1999. Then the Worlds in 2001 and the third, the Continental Cup of 2002.” She admits there was constant pressure to win. “Canadians expect performance because we ARE Canada (and it’s a Canadian game). At the Worlds in 1999, there was so much pressure and we weren’t ready for that. Until you experience it, you don’t know how smothering wearing the Maple Leaf can be.”

By 2001, after a heart-wrenching loss to Kelly Law in a Scott Tournament of Hearts preliminary game to make the team 3-4, the team sat with coach Bagnell and he let them vent. It worked. They won four in a row, made the playoffs and won. Kelly says that defined who they were and became. “We had tenacity and fortitude. I think what brings the biggest smile to my face is  thinking of the Worlds win that year. Colleen had never won and really we worked hard at our relationship and developed tremendous respect for each other.” Nancy says about 2001’s win at Worlds. “I’ve known Colleen since high school and always pulled for her. This time was great. I knew she deserved it and was thrilled for her, as much as for all of us.” Winning again and again took teamwork, dedication to practise and play, even with families and work commitments. Colleen says her first win at Nationals in 1982 was huge, a breakthrough for the Atlantic Provinces. Seventeen years later, 1999, they won the Nationals (The Scotties) again.

“That was a major thrill and an amazing feeling, BUT it was quickly silenced by the (loss at) Worlds. We felt we had let people down and after we lost at Canadians in 2000, we thought 1999’s Scotties was a fluke. But we won in 2001, and then won the Worlds, and got on a ride (four Nationals in a row) that was very special.” She confesses winning four in a row resulted from a lot of breaks, things going the right way each game for a week and then in playoffs, every roll, every draw, double takeout, runback, going perfectly. “You look for consistency, but it’s hard to do,” she says.

Members of the team were: Mary Anne Arsenault, Ken Bagnell (coach, 2001-2005), Peter Corkum (coach, 1999-2001), Nancy Delahunt, Colleen Jones, Kim Kelly, Laine Peters (alternate, 1999-2003), Mary Sue Radford (alternate, 2004-2006).