Middaugh stuns Homan, now looking for breakthrough

The curling gods have never been kind to her. She has been a tremendous player, skipped great teams and come close to winning lots of big titles but never been able to grab the big one.

That might be the bio of Cheryl Bernard before she won the Olympic Trials four years ago in Edmonton.

But it might also be the story of Sherry Middaugh, the Ontario skip who shocked province-mate and defending Canadian champion Rachel Homan to earn a spot in the final. She discussed her curling past in this story by the Canadian Press:

“In the past it’s been normally like a missed shot on my behalf, maybe nerves, but the fact (is) that maybe all those experiences have helped,” Middaugh said of her record of stumbling before the finish line was in sight. 

“I’d certainly give all of those away to win tomorrow.”

Don Landry echoed those sentiments in his blog at Yahoo!, talking about how many tries Middaugh has made at winning a Canadian championship, only to come up short.

Will Sherry Middaugh finallyget that maple leaf? That long sought after maple leaf? 

Six times she's been to the national championships, five as a skip. Denied everytime, although she has four Scotties bronze medals hanging somewhere at home. 

Now, 17 years after she had her first chance to win a Canadian flag for the back of her jacket, Middaugh is one win away from getting it.For the Olympic Games, no less.

However as Paul Wiecek points out in the Winnipeg Free Press, Jones, despite multiple national and international titles, is no a stranger to losing the big game either

Still, the game is won and lost between the lines and Jones is no stranger in recent years to being the victim of major upsets in big games. The Winnipeg skip was also favoured to win the 2011 Canadian final over Amber Holland, the 2012 Canadian semifinal over Alberta’s Heather Nedohin and last February’s Canadian final over Rachel Homan -- and she lost all three. 

While Jones already defeated Middaugh 9-7 this week when the two teams met in the round-robin last Sunday, it took some late-end heroics by Jones, including a game-tying deuce in the 10th end and then a steal of two more in the extra, to squeak out a narrow victory.

And Jones is hoping she can pull some hometown support out of the Winnipeg crowds who have been freezing cheering all week. She's trying to take a page from the Jets fans as she told Jim Bender in the Winnipeg Sun.

Jones also urged the hometown fans to wear white, imitating a Winnipeg Jets-like whiteout. 

"Come out in a sea of white, that's what we're known for," she said. "Let's get it on … It's like having an extra person out there for you, which keeps the energy high, which is key and it's for us now. We've played against it a lot of times. 

"We're in Winnipeg. Have you seen the fans? It's so exciting to play at home and we were just saying how much fun we've had this week. We were so calm and having fun, enjoying the moment and I think that's one of our keys to success. We're gonna try to do that tomorrow, so hopefully, many people come out tomorrow and cheer us on and it's a dream come true just to play in Winnipeg, never mind what's at stake."