2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts

The 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts, the Canadian women's curling championship, was held at Mile One Stadium in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador from February 19 to 27 2005. The tournament consists of 12 teams, one from each of Canada's provinces, one from Canada's territories and the defending champion, Colleen Jones whose team is known as Team Canada. Oddly, Jones' team is the only returning team from the 2004 Scott Tournament of Hearts as all other provincial champions lost in their playdowns. Colleen Jones, who has won the last four tournaments (for a total of 6) is joined by Cathy King who won the tournament in 1998. Also participating is 2002 Manitoba champion Jennifer Jones, 2001 Yukon/Northwest Territories champion Kerry Koe, 4-time Newfoundland champion Heather Strong, 2000 Nova Scotia champion (and former third of Colleen Jones) Kay Zinck, 3-time Prince Edward Island champion skip Rebecca Jean MacPhee, 1996 Quebec champion second Brenda Nicholls (playing skip this time), 1993 New Brunswick champion second Sandy Comeau (playing skip this time) as well as new-comers Kelly Scott of British Columbia, Jenn Hanna of Ontario and Stefanie Lawton of Saskatchewan.

After the round-robin play, 4 teams were tied for the last playoff spot, and defending champion of the last 4 years, Colleen Jones was eliminated in her first tie-breaker match against New Brunswick's Sandy Comeau who would later lose to Jenn Hanna of Ontario. As Colleen Jones was eliminated, it had become clear there was a new era in Canadian women's curling, and that was of youth. Three of the four playoff teams were former national junior champions (Lawton in 2001, Jennifer Jones in 1994 and Scott in 1995), and the other was a runner-up (Hanna in 1998). In the end, it was Jennifer Jones over Hanna, in a very close game that came to the very last shot.