The Northern Ontario Curling Association provincial playdowns are underway in New Liskeard and Sault Ste. Marie Brad Jacobs is off to a solid start after one day of action.
With a berth in the 2020 Tim Horton’s Brier in Kingston, Ont. on the line, the Jacobs rink, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, opened up action with a pair of wins on Wednesday.
The Jacobs rink opened the event on Wednesday afternoon with a 10-4 win over Ryan Sayer of the Horne Granite Curling Club in New Liskeard.
Jacobs jumped out to an early lead as he scored three in the opening end with the hammer.
Sayer got on the board with a single in the fourth, but Jacobs would extend the lead in the fourth end.
After blanking the third end, Jacobs picked up a pair in the fourth to extend his lead to 5-1.
After Sayer scored two in the sixth to cut into the lead, Jacobs tacked on three more in the seventh.
Sayer got one back in the eighth end before Jacobs capped off the win with two in the ninth.
Jacobs then wrapped up action on day one with a 10-4 win in seven ends against Mike Badiuk of the Geraldton Curling Club.
Jacobs took an early 2-0 lead with the hammer in the opening end.
After Badiuk scored one in the second, Jacobs would increase the lead with a pair in the third.
After holding Badiuk to one in the fourth, Jacobs extended the lead with three in the fifth end to take a 7-2 lead.
Badiuk cut the lead to 7-4 in the sixth end before Jacobs sealed the win with three in the seventh end.
A pair of other Sault rinks are also competing in the event.
Nick Lemieux opened the tournament with a pair of games on day one, facing Sandy MacEwan of Curl Sudbury in the opening draw and Jordan Chandler, who splits time between the Little Current Curling Club and the Port Arthur Curling Club in Thunder Bay.
The Lemieux rink includes third Jacob Reid, second Andrew Berg, and lead Dan Lemieux.
Against MacEwan, Lemieux jumped out to a 2-0 lead, scoring one with the hammer in the opening end before stealing another in the second end.
MacEwan got on the board with a pair in the third.
Lemieux blanked the fourth end before taking a 3-2 lead with a single in the fifth.
MacEwan took the lead for good with five in the sixth and stealing one more in the seventh to go up 8-3.
Lemieux scored two in the eighth end before MacEwan capped off the win with a single in the ninth end.
Against Chandler, Lemieux held a 7-5 lead before giving up three in the tenth end to drop an 8-7 decision.
Lemieux opened the scoring with the hammer in the opening end before stealing a pair in the second end to jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Chandler cut into the lead with a single and a steal of one in the fourth to make it 3-2.
With Lemieux leading 4-2 through five ends, Chandler tied the game with a pair in the sixth end before taking the lead by stealing one in the seventh end.
Lemieux scored three to retake the lead in the eighth end before Chandler came back in the final end.
The other Sault Ste. Marie team, skipped by Charlie Robert, faced Chandler in the opening draw and MacEwan in the evening draw.
Against Chandler, the Robert rink, which includes third Matthew Hunt, second Stephen Meunier, and lead Joshua Vanderburg, dropped a 5-4 decision.
Chandler took a 4-0 lead after a steal of one in the opening end before stealing two more in the third and a single in the fourth.
The two teams traded singles in the subsequent two ends before Robert scored another single in the seventh end.
After Chandler blanked the eighth end, Robert stole one in the ninth end to cut the Chandler lead to 5-3 before capping off the scoring by stealing one more in the tenth end.
Against MacEwan, Robert fell behind early in a 9-1 loss in six ends.
Robert opened the game with the hammer and blanked the opening end.
MacEwan proceeded to steal two in the second end before extending his lead with a steal of five in the third and one more in the fourth.
Robert got on the board with a single in the fifth end before MacEwan scored one in the six to cap off the game.
All three Sault rinks return to action on Thursday. Jacobs and Lemieux face each other in the morning draw while Robert returns to action in the afternoon draw against Jeffrey Brown of the North Bay Granite Curling Club.
Jacobs and Robert will meet in Thursday’s evening draw while the Lemieux rink is also in action, facing Brown.