Hanna makes first return to Scotties since ‘The Shot’

It was the final end, the final shot of the 2005 Scotties Tournament of Hearts from Mile One Stadium in St. John’s, Nfld.

Ontario’s Jenn Hanna, the 25-year-old skip from the Ottawa Curling Club, made an incredible run just to get to the final and was now up 6-4 over Jennifer Jones, the favourite, who was playing in only her second national championship.

It must have looked quite dire from the Winnipeg skip’s point of view as she readied in the hack for the last shot of the game.

Hanna had a shot buried on the button. The only way to get to it was an in-off with another Ontario stone just outside the house on the left side.

 Jones made it to score four on a throw that would go down as curling’s version of “The Shot.”

The win was the first of five Scotties titles for Jones. Also on her impressive resume: the 2008 world championship and a 2014 Olympic gold medal in Sochi, Russia. 

Hanna, on the other hand, quickly fell out of the spotlight on the national curling stage following that heartbreaking loss. The Ottawa skip went through a number of different foursomes (sister Stephanie Hanna was always part of her team) over the years after that remarkable 2005 run.

She played in a few minor events on the World Curling Tour, but never qualified for another Canadian championship. Until now.

After taking three years off from curling to focus on raising her three children, Hanna made her return to the sport for the 2015-16 season with a new-look rink including third Brit O’Neill, sister Stephanie at second and lead Karen Sagle.

“I took an extended maternity leave with my last one [child], so coming back to work this time last year, I was in this place where I lost myself a little bit. I love being a mom. I love my kids and came back to a really great job with really great people, but I sort of lost Jenn somewhere in everything.” Hanna told TSN.ca over the phone from her work at Public Safety Canada. “It was actually my husband that said ‘I think you need to consider going back to curling.’”

And so she did.

Hanna says the goal going into this year was to make the playoff round at the Ontario Scotties, a field that is one of the toughest in the country. Not only did Team Hanna make the playoffs, they made the final. Then the team did something no curling fan could have seen coming.

Hanna’s foursome beat two-time national champ Rachel Homan, also from the Ottawa Curling Club, in one of the most shocking upsets in curling history.

“I think it’s easier to play when you’re not the favourite,” explained Hanna, who thinks Homan’s crew is the best in the world, male or female. “Nobody has the expectation that we’re going to win. Nobody is going to write the article that Hanna lost to Homan.”

So the now 36-year-old will return to the Scotties in Grande Prairie, Alta., from Feb 20-28 in a very similar position as 11 years ago.

“Not being the favourite, it can only help you,” she said. “I’ll never take it as an insult if somebody says I’m not the favourite. And we’re not.”

Team Hanna will be a dark horse once again, but with big names like Homan, Alberta’s Val Sweeting and Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton not in the field, playoff spots will be up for grabs.

Jones will be there too, as Team Canada, after winning the title last year in Moose Jaw, Sask. The two sides will meet in the round robin on Thursday, Feb. 25 in the evening draw.

“All you have to do is beat her once and you need it to be in the last game…I’m looking forward to it probably mostly because I’m looking forward to playing against my old teammate,” said Hanna of Dawn McEwen, who was her second in 2005 before she left for Manitoba to play with Jones.

As for getting some payback from the “The Shot,” Hanna doesn’t remember that moment in a negative light.

“I have lots of people that say ‘Oh you probably don’t even want to talk about ‘The Shot,’ and it doesn’t bother me at all,” she said. “I’m really proud of that. I think losing a national championship on a shot like that is not such a bad thing.”

Hanna says Team Jones were the undisputed favourites going into the 2005 final, and despite knowing her rink was good enough to cause an upset, she never got to the point where she believed it could actually happen.

Until moments before that last shot.

“I’ve seen the video and laugh every time I watch it because I can see myself and I’m on the backboards and then I get on the ice, then I get back on the backboards and I can’t stand still. I remember thinking that was the most nervous I was through the entire thing because at that point it was out of my hands,” explained Hanna. “It was hard to be upset about losing a championship like that. She made a phenomenal shot and we played well enough to win and it wasn’t just meant to be. I do believe in what’s meant to be sometimes. That just wasn’t it for us.”

Now with the support of her husband, Bryan, and three kids, ages seven, five and three, Hanna will return to brightest stage in Canadian curling.

“Doing it this time with them around is probably… I don’t think I will ever better this because of that,” she said. “I feel like they’ve learned what it means to chase your dreams at any age and that it’s a really great lesson as a mom and a full-time employee, that you can still do those things. That’s really amazing and I wouldn’t give that up for the world.”