Not This Year

The 2009 Canadian Women's Curling Champions, skipped by Jennifer Jones, finished the round robin in Korea with an excellent record of 9 wins and only 2 losses. But there are other good teams there, too, and this record was good enough for only a third-place finish. From TSN,

The Winnipeg skip will play in the 3-versus-4 Page playoff game after finishing with a record of 9-2 -- tied with Denmark's Angelina Jensen, who finished second by virtue of her round-robin victory over Jones.

China's Bingyu Wang (10-1) secured top spot in the round robin for the second straight year with a 7-2 win over Norway's Marianne Rorvik (1-10). Wang opened the tournament with an 11-6 loss to Jones, then reeled off 10 straight victories -- several of them blowouts -- to reach Friday's 1-versus-2 Page playoff matchup with Denmark.

The path to the world title will be a rough one for Jones, who will face Sweden's Anette Norberg on Saturday. Norberg (7-4) beat Jones 7-4 in their Draw 11 meeting, handing the Canadian her first loss of the tournament.

... A win would pit Jones against the loser of the China-Denmark tilt in Saturday's semifinal (TSN, 6 a.m. ET), with the winner advancing to Sunday's final (TSN, 2 a.m. ET).

Denmark handed Jones her only other round-robin loss, a 7-5 decision in a game Canada led 5-3 after eight ends. And China is no slouch, either -- Wang beat Jones twice in last year's tournament before ultimately falling in the championship match.

So to get to the finals of the 2009 Women's World Curling Championship, Jones must first beat Sweden, who defeated Canada in the round robin, and then must defeat Denmark, who also beat Canada in the round robin. And then, to win the championship, Canada must defeat the amazing team from China (whom they handled fairly well in the round robin).

I know the Jones rink has made some impressive comebacks over the past couple of years. But the odds are against their making it to the finals, much less winning the championship. And I'm trying to say this impassionately. Please don't write comments about being a fan or "ya gotta have faith" or some such nonsense. If you really think Canada can [update: I meant to say will] win this, please explain why in the comments.