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Canada skip Jennifer Jones smiles while playing Sweden in the bronze-edal game at the 2010 world women’s curling championships in Swift Current, Sask., on Sunday. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)

Canada’s Jennifer Jones defended her team’s performance at the Ford Women’s World Curling Championship, saying the bronze medal her Winnipeg team won Sunday deserved praise.

Jones defeated Cecilia Ostlund’s young Swedish team 9-6 to end third before Germany’s Andrea Schoepp later beat Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 8-6 in 11 ends for gold. It’s the second world title for both Germany and Schoepp, who last won in 1988 in Glasgow, Scotland.

The Canadians finished first in the round robin in Swift Current, Sask., with a 10-1 record and then lost two straight playoff games to fall out of gold-medal contention.

In a rare show of emotion after the bronze-medal game, Jones listed her team’s accomplishments since joining forces five years ago.

“To be a four-time Canadian champion, to go to the world championship four times, to win Players’ Championships, we’ve done more than I have dreamed possible ever. And we’ve got to play in two worlds at home and it’s been an incredible ride,” Jones said, her voice cracking.

“The fact everybody thinks we should win gold is ridiculous. We won bronze and we’re really pleased with that.”

Jones, vice Cathy Overton-Clapham, second Jill Officer and lead Dawn Askin won the world title two years ago in Vernon, B.C., and hoped to do the same in the intimate confines of the 2,700-seat facility in Swift Current.

The St. Vital Curling Club foursome lost the bronze-medal game last year in Gangneung, South Korea.

With Cathy Gauthier at lead, the Jones team lost the playoff game between the third- and fourth-seeded teams to end fourth in the 2005 world championship in Paisley, Scotland. A bronze-medal game wasn’t part of the tournament format that year.

Bronze isn’t simple to win after the disappointment of losing the semifinal and Jones and company were stunned 10-4 the previous evening by the Scots. Canada fell 6-3 to Germany in Friday’s Page playoff between the top-two seeds, which dropped Canada to Saturday’s semifinal.

Canada aimed for a rematch Germany, which was the only country to beat them in the tournament to that point.

But the draw weight Jones executed so well throughout the preliminary round left her in the semifinal. Rubbed guards and half-misses cost Canada as the Scots scored three in the fifth, stole a point in the sixth and stole another three in the seventh to seal the win.

Jones and third Overton Clapham were outcurled by their Scottish counterparts while the Canadian front end had better shooting percentages than the Scots.

Jones said Sunday the ice was quicker in the semifinal and she didn’t pick up on that quick enough.

“We know how to play in the huge games,” she said. “We just didn’t figure out the weight as a team. That sometimes happens. That’s curling.”

Ostlund, a world junior silver medallist two years ago, is skipping a young team that is the heir apparent in Sweden to Anette Norberg’s rink that won the last two Olympic gold medals.

But Jones took control of Sunday’s game by scoring four in the sixth end for a 7-2 lead. The Swedes fought back with three in the seven and a stolen point in the eighth.

Jones countered with two points in the ninth to sit three points up without the hammer coming home, and ran the Swedes out of rocks in the 10th.

Canadian women have won world curling championships a record 15 times since the first one was held in 1979. Alberta’s Kevin Koe will attempt to win Canada’s 32nd title since 1959 at the men’s world curling championship in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, starting Sunday.

A highlight of the season for the Jones team was winning their fourth Canadian championship in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in February.

A pre-tournament favourite to win December’s Olympic trials in Edmonton, the team struggled with a 2-5 record, but, and the Olympic berth went to Calgary’s Cheryl Bernard. Jones went to the Olympics as a celebrity reporter for a website.

As the reigning Canadian champion, Jones has an automatic berth in the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown, P.E.I. She and her teammates have yet to choose whether they want to pursue an Olympic berth for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

“I reckon everybody still wants to play, but it’s a long run,” she said.

Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, left, celebrates a goal with teammate Ruslan Fedotenko on Sunday in Pittsburgh. (Keith Srakocic/Associated Press)

Sidney Crosby scored two goals in regulation and one in the shootout, Brooks Orpik added a career high three assists and Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in a shootout on Sunday in Pittsburgh.

Crosby and Pascal Dupuis scored in the shootout and Fleury stopped both Toronto shooters for his 35th win of the season.

Colton Orr, Phil Kessel, and rookies Carl Gunnarsson and Tyler Bozak scored for the visitors.

It was Toronto’s final visit to the Mellon Arena, as the reigning Stanley Cup champions will relocate to the Consol Energy Center starting next season.

The Leafs opened the scoring early in the first period as Orr powered a rebound home after teammate Rickard Wallin was stopped on the breakaway.

Wallin stormed down the right wing, pulled a forehand-to-backhand deke on Fleury, but was stymied by the Stanley Cup winning goaltender. On the rebound, Orr outraced teammate Wayne Primeau and buried the loose puck into the open cage, giving the Leafs a one-goal lead.

It didn’t take long for the Pens to even the score.

After a scrum behind the net, Kennedy notched his 11th goal on the year.

As Mike Rupp and Craig Adams battled with the Leafs defence, Adams was knocked to the ice. From his stomach, the Penguins forward slid the puck out front to a waiting Kennedy, who wasted small time firing it past Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

The young Leafs carried much of the play in the first, challenging Fleury on several occasions, but the Pens backstop turned aside eight of nine shots, keeping the game even.

Kessel hits 30

Kessel netted his 30th goal of the season at 4:54 of the second period.

Bozak took a pass in the neutral zone, then chipped a backhand feed to Nikolai Kulemin. The second-year standout sent a pass to Kessel, who fired a wrist shot off Fleury and into the net.

That gave Kessel 30 goals for the second straight season. After being traded to the Leafs in the summer of 2009, the young winger has been Toronto’s lone offensive standout. The former Bruin has 54 points in 64 games, even after missing the first 12 games recovering from off-season surgery.

Crosby goes off

Crosby beat Giguere at the 7:29 mark. The Cole Harbour, N.S., native collected the loose puck just outside the crease, blocked out the Leafs defenceman, and deposited the puck into the back of the net for his 46th marker of the season.

Sid the Kid was not finished on this day.

Three minutes after his first goal, Crosby notched his second. After an offensive zone faceoff win, Orpik sent a cross-ice pass to the Penguins captain, who one-timed it behind Giguere for the second time in the game.

With his second goal, Crosby pulled ahead of Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin for the league lead at 47. The Russian winger, who notched his 46th goal earlier Sunday, momentarily passed the Penguins captain in Washington’s 5-3 loss to Calgary.

Youngsters rally

At 14:35, Gunnarrson registered his third goal of the year. The Leafs’ rookie defenceman collected a rebound in the high slot and fired it past Fleury to even the score at 3-3.

To start the third, Toronto pulled ahead on the power play.

After Fleury was whistled for interference, Bozak scored his eighth goal at 5:38. After two acrobatic saves, Bozak took a pass from Dion Phaneuf and beat the Penguins goaltender for his second point in the game.

Before the power-play marker, the Penguins had killed an astonishing 32 consecutive penalties.

Late in the third, Penguins forward Matt Cooke tied the game after redirecting Orpik’s point shot past Giguere.

The Ottawa Senators are close to signing American college star Bobby Butler, Hockey Night in Canada ‘s Elliotte Friedman reported Sunday.

Butler, 22, plays in the NCAA for New Hampshire, and led all college players in scoring during the regular season with 27 goals.

He added two more when New Hampshire beat Cornell 6-2 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA men’s hockey championship, but his team was eliminated a day later by Rochester Institute of Technology.

Ottawa apparently beat out strong bids from New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and Vancouver for Butler’s services.