Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre locally is just hours away from opening the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials this weekend.
The nine-day event, being held as SaskTel Place in Saskatoon, will determine the Canadian men’s and women’s entries for the winter Olympics in February in Beijing.
The field includes eight other teams vying to wear the Canadian colours.
The remainder of the field includes Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher, Matt Dunstone of Regina, Sask., Toronto’s John Epping, Jason Gunnlaugson of Morris, Man., Brad Gushue of St. John’s. Nfld., Tanner Horgan of the Cataraqui Curling Club in Kingston, Ont., Kevin Koe of Calgary, and Mike McEwen, who curls out of West St. Paul, Man.
Horgan brings some added Northern Ontario flavour to the event.
The 23-year-old is originally from Sudbury.
The Jacobs rink, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden, opens the event on Saturday night against Epping at 8 p.m. Sault time.
The tournament will see each team face each other once in round robin action with the top three teams moving on to the playoff round, which begins on Nov. 27.
The first place team earns a spot directly in the championship game while the second and third place teams meet in a semi-final game.
The men’s and women’s championship games are set for Nov. 28.
The Jacobs rink is the lone team in the event to have four members who are former Olympic gold medalists.
While Jacobs and the Harnden brothers were teammates when Team Jacobs won gold at the 2014 Olympics, Kennedy was a member of Kevin Martin’s team that won gold in the 2010 event.