Jacobs rink advances to Brier after provincial win (10 photos)

Though they were assured of a spot in the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier as a wild card team, Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre were determined to get there through the proverbial front door.

It wasn’t easy, but Team Jacobs won the right to represent Northern Ontario at the national curling championship thanks to a 6-5 extra end win over Sandy MacEwan Sunday in the Northern Ontario Curling Association men’s provincial playdowns held locally.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third E.J. Harnden, second Jordan Chandler, and lead Ryan Harnden, used a pair of steals to erase a 4-2 deficit and eventually held MacEwan to one in the 10th end before scoring in the extra end to pick up the tournament title.

“Winning is never easy because other teams are always giving us their best,” E.J. Harnden said following Sunday’s win. “The target is always on our back and the pressure is on us. To do it continuously like we’ve done, we’re really proud of that. Knowing that we already had a spot in the Brier, it wasn’t about that. It was wanting to be Team Northern Ontario. This makes it that much more sweet.”

“I did not want to go through the feeling of losing today,” added Jacobs. “For most of the game, it kind of felt like maybe we were going to lose today because MacEwan’s team played great. They got a big break in the fifth end. When you see teams get big breaks like that, it’s hard not to think ‘Maybe this isn’t going to go our way today.’”

In the fifth end, MacEwan scored three to take a 4-2 lead at the time. The Jacobs rink rebounded with a single in the sixth and a steal of one in the seventh to tie the game.

Jacobs then stole another in the ninth end after MacEwan blanked the eighth end to take a 5-4 lead.

“We were able to hand in there and just continue to battle,” Jacobs said. “Everyone on our team played really well today, particularly Jordan (Chandler). A big turning point in that game was the steal in seven to tie the game. He made a great freeze that was locked in there and ended up scoring.”

“Jordan made a few great freezes in both of those ends,” E.J. added. “Then we got a few misses and put some guards in play. With the positioning that Jordan put us in with both those steals were huge. Jordan being new to this team and playing a different position, it was cool to still come out here and play well and get the win. Those shots from Jordan in eight and nine were the difference.”

Chandler called winning the event “awesome” adding that the feeling hadn’t completely sunk in yet for the Manitoulin Island product.

Ryan Harnden called winning the event a feeling that “never gets old.”

“We’re competitors. Just the way we did this with Jordan, who is new to the team and fit right in and E.J. moving up to vice, it’s special too because Jordan has never been to a Brier,” he added. “We really wanted to do this for Jordan.”

“We’ve been friends with Jordan for probably 20 years,” Ryan also said. “We’ve curled against each other and he’s always been a great curler. I had the opportunity to move up to second, but I thought our team would be a lot stronger with me at lead and bringing Jordan in at second. He fit in very well.”

Chandler played with the Jacobs rink at the event in place of third Marc Kennedy, who is currently in Beijing with Team Canada.

“It was awesome,” Chandler said of playing with Team Jacobs. “Their professionalism, we all knew what to expect from one another. It was a pretty easy transition.”

“They’re good dudes,” Chandler also said. “We’ve been playing against each other for 20 years so there wasn’t really a lot to figure out.”

Jacobs called the addition of Chandler to the team “seamless.”

“Both on and off the ice, he fit right in,” Jacobs added. “We’re really excited to be bringing him to the Brier. More than anything, I can speak for Ryan, E.J., and myself when I say that we wanted to win today for him more than anything else. He’s been a competitor in Northern Ontario and competing against us since we were teenagers. We’ve never played together. For him to come in and fill the shoes of Marc Kennedy the way he did was really impressive. I’m really looking forward to bringing him to the Brier and having him be a part of the team and experience that. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to a Canadian championship. For him to help us get through this Northern Ontario championship, playing the way that he did, is well-deserved on his part.”

Jacobs spoke of how special winning the tournament at home was as well.

“Winning purple hearts never gets old,” Jacobs said. “We’re thrilled. It’s great to have our families here cheering us on.”

Jacobs added that the team did treat the event as somewhat of a road trip as well, staying in a hotel during the tournament as they would had it been played in another market.

“We do everything we can when we’re at home to make it feel like we’re on the road,” Jacobs said. “We limited all distractions and really just tried to focus on playing here this week. We’re comfortable with the venue. We’re comfortable with the ice. We had a great handle on the rocks, and we had some special people here supporting us. To win and have them hang out with us is really cool.”

Jacobs finished second in the round robin with a 4-1 record.

The lone loss came in Saturday’s round robin finale against MacEwan, who also went 4-1.