Jacobs rink playoff-bound at Olympic Trials

The nine-team field is down to three teams competing to represent Canada in men’s curling at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in February.

Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs remains in the mix after a pair of wins on Friday at the 2021 Olympic Curling Trials in Saskatoon.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden, finished round robin action with a 7-1 record and will face Calgary’s Kevin Koe in semifinal action on Saturday afternoon.

The winner of that game will face Brad Gushue of St. John’s Nfld. in the final on Sunday with an Olympic berth on the line.

While Jacobs and Gushue finished with identical records in the round robin, Gushue took top spot and the automatic berth in the final thanks to a win over Jacobs on Tuesday in an extra end.

Koe finished the round robin with a 6-2 record.

Saturday’s semifinal is set for 3 p.m. Sault time.

Jacobs opened the day with a 9-5 win over Mike McEwen in the morning draw, a win that officially clinched a playoff spot for the Sault team.

McEwen opened the scoring with a pair in the first end with the hammer and led 3-1 through three ends before Jacobs took the lead for good with three in the fourth end.

Jacobs extended the lead to 5-3 with a steal of one in the fifth end.

McEwen got one back in the sixth end, but Jacobs would add two more in the seventh and two more in the ninth to seal the win.

The Jacobs rink wrapped up the day with a 12-5 win over Tanner Horgan in the evening draw.

After blanking the opening end, Jacobs scored three in the second to take the lead and, after Horgan scored a pair to cut the lead to one in the third, added four more in the fourth end.

Horgan cut the Jacobs lead to 7-4 with two more in the fifth, but Jacobs scored three more in the sixth before stealing two in the seventh en route to the win.

Horgan capped off the scoring with a single in the eighth end.