Jacobs returning to men's curling circuit for Grand Slam events

Sault Ste. Marie's Brad Jacobs is back on the men's curling scene, at least temporarily.

Jacobs has joined Reid Carruthers and his Manitoba-based team and will compete in the remaining Grand Slam of curling events this season.

Jacobs will step in as third for the Carruthers rink, with Derek Samagalski as second and Connor Njegovan as lead and Carruthers remaining as skip.

In a statement announcing Jacobs joining the team, the Carruthers rink said Jacobs was unable to compete in the Manitoba qualifier ahead of the Brier and that the team was looking into options to fill the spot for the qualifier.

The addition of Jacobs comes a week after the Carruthers rink announced it was parting ways with Jason Gunnlaugson, who joined the team as third prior to the season after skipping his own team for the previous six seasons.

Last season Jacobs announced that his Sault-based team, which included third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harndon, were parting ways as the season ended. 

Kennedy and each of the Harndens joined new teams while Jacobs announced plans to step away from competitive men's curling.

Kennedy joined the newly-formed team put together by Brendan Bottcher in Alberta, while Ryan Harnden is now lead with Matt Dunstone's rink in Manitoba and E.J. is second with Brad Gushue's Newfoundland-based rink.

Jacobs is also playing with Jordan Chandler at the Northern Ontario Curling Association playdowns in the new year. Jacobs confirmed the news on CBC's That Curling Show that he would join the Chandler rink as skip for the tournament.

Chandler served as third with the Jacobs rink at last season's provincial playdowns in place of Kennedy, who wasn't available for the tournament.