Jill Officer
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Jill Officer (born June 2, 1975) is a Canadian curler from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Officer plays second for the 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion teams skipped by Jennifer Jones. The team won a gold medal representing Canada at the 2014 Winter Olympics. Team Jones is the first women’s team to go through an Olympic round-robin campaign undefeated. The latest being their final game (6-3) over Sweden on February 20, 2014.
Officer has played on and off with Jones since she was 15, and has continuously played second for her since 2003. Officer won the Canadian Junior Curling Championships in 1994 with Jones. She won the Scotties Tournament of Hearts with Jones in 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2015. On March 30, 2008 she was a key part of Jones' World Women's Curling Championship winning team.
Officer's Scotties victories put her in an elite group of four to have won four titles. The group includes herself, Jennifer Jones, and Vera Pezer and Lenore Morrison of Saskatoon.[1]
Officer now has five Scotties victories with her 2015 title.
Early life and personal
Officer was born on June 2, 1975 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her father, John was a former hockey player and is now a coach. Her mother Leslie, was a sports enthusiast and was trying to get Officer involved in many areas of sports. Officer took figure skating lessons, played soccer, gymnastics, and baton twirling. When she was 10, her mother Leslie signed her up for curling in the Highlander Curling Club. "I was always hanging around a curling club or a hockey rink, so I was bound to take up one of those sports," Jill said in an interview tih Active Life Magazine.[2] Officer trekked to Mount Everest base camp in 2006.[3]
Officer is a freelance writer and RBC Olympian, undertaking speaking engagements on behalf of Royal Bank of Canada. She also writes for the Canadian Curling News.
Officer was previously a reporter for the now defunct CKX TV station in Brandon, Manitoba. She currently resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba with her husband Devlin Hinchey. They have one child.[4] Officer studied Communications and Journalism/Broadcasting at Red River College.
Career
Officer was 15 years old when she was playing in the Highlander Curling Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. After one game, she was pulled over by the Coke Machine by Jennifer Jones who had made it into the Canadian Finals, asking her to join the team. "I was a bit star-struct," Officer said.[2]
Playing second for Jones, along with Trisha Baldwin at third and Dana Malanchuk at lead, the team got into the 1992 Manitoba's junior women's final before losing to Tracey Lavery. In 1993, Officer won her first title after winning the Manitoba Championships and went off to the 1993 Canadian Juniors. However, they missed the playoffs with an 8-4 record.[2]
In 1994, they won the Manitoba Championships and went off to the Canadian Championships in Truro, Nova Scotia with Officer at second. This time, they went for a 7-4 record and defeated Sherry Linton from Saskatchewan 8-5 in the finals. Ordinarily this would mean a berth in the following year's World Junior Curling Championships, but a change in the ruling by the Canadian Curling Association (CCA) forced the team to play in a playoff the following year for the right to attend, which they lost to British Columbia. However, the CCA decided to give Jones' team another chance to qualify and put them directly at the semifinals against British Columbia in the 1995 Canadian Juniors and had lost again.[2]
Teams
| Season [5] | Skip | Third | Second | Lead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | Jennifer Jones | Karen Porritt | Jill Officer | Lynn Fallis-Kurz |
| 2004–05 | Jennifer Jones | Cathy Overton-Clapham | Jill Officer | Cathy Gauthier |
| 2005–06 | Jennifer Jones | Cathy Overton-Clapham | Jill Officer | Georgina Wheatcroft |
| 2006–07 | Jennifer Jones | Cathy Overton-Clapham | Jill Officer | Dana Allerton / Janet Arnott / Dawn Askin |
| 2007–08 | Jennifer Jones | Cathy Overton-Clapham | Jill Officer | Dawn Askin |
| 2008–09 | Jennifer Jones | Cathy Overton-Clapham | Jill Officer | Dawn Askin |
| 2009–10 | Jennifer Jones | Cathy Overton-Clapham | Jill Officer | Dawn Askin |
| 2010–11 | Jennifer Jones | Kaitlyn Lawes | Jill Officer | Dawn Askin |
| 2011–12 | Jennifer Jones | Kaitlyn Lawes | Joëlle Sabourin (Sept–Dec) Jill Officer (Jan–April) | Dawn Askin |
| 2013 1 | Jennifer Jones | Kaitlyn Lawes | Jill Officer | Dawn Askin |
| 2013–14 | Jennifer Jones | Kaitlyn Lawes | Jill Officer | Dawn McEwen |
| 2014–15 | Jennifer Jones | Kaitlyn Lawes | Jill Officer | Dawn McEwen |
| 2015–16 | Jennifer Jones | Kaitlyn Lawes | Jill Officer | Jennifer Clark-Rouire2 / Dawn McEwen |
| 2016–17 | Jennifer Jones | Kaitlyn Lawes | Jill Officer | Dawn McEwen |
References
- ↑ Larry Wood (7 February 2010). "Team Canada wins the 2010 Scotties". Heart Chart. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
- 1 2 3 4 Ice gold : canada's curling champions. [S.l.]: Ecw Press. 2014. ISBN 1770412476. Retrieved 15 November 2014.
- ↑ "Trek of lifetime". Winnipeg Sun. 8 July 2006. Retrieved 2010-02-08.
- ↑ http://www.curling.ca/2016scotties/files/2016/02/SCOTTIES-FRI-ALL.pdf
- ↑ "Jill Officer-Teams". World Curling Tour. Retrieved 28 February 2016.