Holding their playoff fate in their own hands, Team Jacobs clinched a playoff berth on Thursday at the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier in Lethbridge, Alta.
Brad Jacobs and his team representing Northern Ontario picked up a 10-2 win over Paul Flemming of Nova Scotia in the final round robin draw of the 10-day, 18-team event to finish with a 6-2 record.
The Jacobs rink, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, and alternate Jordan Chandler, will have to wait for their Friday opponent to be determined.
Saskatchewan’s Colton Flasch and Matt Dunstone’s wild card team will meet in a tiebreaker game on Friday morning to determine the final playoff team in Pool A. The winner of that game will face Team Jacobs in a crossover game on Friday afternoon.
The winner of that game will face Jacobs at 2:30 p.m. Sault time in the 2vs3 game, which will help determine the field for the Page Playoff, which begins on Saturday.
The Flasch/Dunstone game is one of two tiebreaker games scheduled as a loss by Manitoba’s Mike McEwen to Quebec’s Mike Fournier Thursday night means that McEwen will face Jason Gunnlaugson in a tiebreaker to determine the final Pool B playoff team as well. The winner of that game will face Team Canada, skipped by Brendan Bottcher on Friday afternoon.
The expanded playoff format for the Brier sees the top three teams in each nine-team pool advance with the second- and third-place teams facing off and the winner facing the team with the top record in the pool. Those two games will determine the seeding for the Page Playoff games on Saturday.
After blanking the opening end against Flemming, Jacobs picked up a pair on a draw in the second end thanks to a draw.
The lead got extended in the third end when Flemming ticked off a Jacobs rock on a draw and gave up a steal of two for a 4-0 Jacobs lead.
With his last shot in the fourth end Jacobs hit a Flemming rock and made a short roll to set up a tough double for the Nova Scotia skip to try to score a pair.
Flemming jammed the high Jacobs stone on the other Northern Ontario rock in the house which gave Jacobs a steal of one and a 5-0 lead.
Facing three in the fifth end, Flemming picked up a single, clearing a Jacobs rock and sticking around to get on the scoreboard.
In the sixth end, Jacobs made a draw for four to take a 9-1 lead.
The teams then traded singles in the seventh and eighth ends to cap off the scoring.