Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen, who missed out on their chance to defend the gold medal they won at the 2014 Sochi Olympics when they lost to Rachel Homan in the semifinals of the Roar of the Rings Canadian Curling Trials in Ottawa last month, are the number one seed for the 2018 Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts which begins next Wednesday at the Shamrock Centre in Killarney.

"The seeding is mostly for figuring out the pools but we're honoured that we have that opportunity to be going back to the Provincials this year," said Lawes. "We're looking forward to it."

2016 champions Kerri Einarson, Selena Kaatz, Liz Fyfe and Kristin MacCuish of the East St. Paul Curling Club are the second seed.

Kaatz was asked if Jones, Lawes, Officer and McEwen will have a target on their backs because of that number one seed.

"There's a lot of top Manitoba teams so whoever comes out hot is going to have a good week," Kaatz told the assembled media at CurlManitoba's 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts press conference Thursday morning. "Hopefully we have a good week."

Jones and her St. Vital foursome failed to qualify for the 2017 National Scotties in St. Catherines.

They lost 9-5 to Michelle Englot in the 1-1 page playoff game and then dropped an 8-6 decision to Darcy Robertson of the Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club in the semifinals of the 2017 Provincial Scotties at the Eric Coy Arena in Winnipeg.

It was just the second time in 13 years that Jones didn't have to make travel plans for the Canadian Women's Curling Championship.

Robertson, who lost 8-6 to Englot in the final, is the third seed and feels her team of third Karen Klein, second Vanessa Foster and lead Theresa Cannon are ready for another big week.

"We want to approach it the same way," Robertson said. "We've practiced, we've played a lot and we've prepared as well as we can to do well in the Provincials. We're hoping that what we did this year will pay off but it has to go your way, you have to get the breaks and you have to play well. You have to have a really good week."

Rounding out the top five seeds are Shannon Birchard of the Thistle and Briane Meilleur of Fort Rouge.

Englot, Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson-Westcott & Raunora Westcott will not be in Killarney to defend the provincial title they won last year at Eric Coy.

The Granite foursome replaced Rachel Homan as Team Canada for the 2018 Scotties in Penticton after Homan, Emma Miskew, Joanne Courtney and Lisa Weagle captured the Roar of the Rings and will be representing Canada at the Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea next month.

Englot lost to 8-6 in an extra end to Homan in the 2017 Scotties final.

 
2018 Provincial Scotties Tournament of Hearts @ Killarney
Westman - Cheryl Reed (Brandon), Allysa Calvert (Carberry) & Tiffany McLean (Brandon)
Norman - Jennifer Briscoe (Thompson)
Parkland - Lisa Hale-Menard (Dauphin)
Central - Mackenzie Zacharias (Altona)
Interlake - Rebecca Lamb (Stonewall)
Winnipeg - Briane Meilleur (Fort Rouge) & Joelle Brown (Charleswood)
Spring Berth - Barb Spencer (Assiniboine Memorial)
Berth Bonspiels - Kristy Watling (Fort Rouge) & Jennifer Clark-Rouire (Miami)
CTRS 2016-2017 - Jennifer Jones (St. Vital)
CTRS 2017-2018 - Kerri Einarson (East St. Paul)
MCT Champion - Shannon Birchard (Thistle)
MCT Ranking - Darcy Robertson (Assiniboine Memorial)

Black Pool: Jones, Birchard, Meilleur, Watling, Calvert, Brown, Hale-Menard & Briscoe
Red Pool: Einarson, Robertson, Spencer, Clark-Rouire, Reed, McLean, Zacharias & Lamb