Team Jacobs rolls on at Brier

Make it five straight wins for Team Northern Ontario at the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier.

Skipped by Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs, Team Northern Ontario, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, and alternate Lee Toner, picked up a pair of wins on Thursday in Championship Pool play at the nine-day event in Kingston, Ont.

The Jacobs rink moved to 6-3 thanks to Thursday’s wins, which included 6-4 win over Mike McEwen’s Wild Card team in the afternoon draw and a 7-4 win over Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone in the evening draw.

Against McEwen, Jacobs took the early lead, scoring two with the hammer in the opening end.

After McEwen blanked the second end before scoring one in the third, the two teams traded singles in the fourth and fifth ends, giving the Jacobs rink a 3-2 lead.

Jacobs extended the lead with a single in the seventh and a steal of one in the eighth.

McEwen cut into the lead with a pair in the ninth before Jacobs rounded out the scoring with a single in the 10^th end.

In an interview posted on the Curling Canada website, Kennedy credited Ryan Harnden’s efforts against McEwen.

“It was a really well-played game,” Kennedy said. “The game ball goes to Ryan Harnden. He won us the draw to the button for hammer and he made every single shot and allowed us to stay in control the whole game.”

“The only thing you can control is your game plan and what your plan is for the end,” Kennedy also said. “If your lead doesn’t execute your idea then you’re reacting after that. He was able to accomplish everything we asked him to do and then some and allow us to stick to our game plan.”

Against Dunstone, Jacobs led 2-1 through two ends before the Saskatchewan rep blanked the third and scored a pair in the fourth to take the lead.

After blanking the fifth end, Jacobs proceeded to score four in the sixth end to take the lead for good.

The teams traded singles in the following two ends to cap off the scoring.

Kennedy, via Curling Canada, spoke of the impact of the sixth end on the game.

“Our front end made some great shots and we got some uncharacteristic misses from Matt,” Kennedy said. “He had a couple chances at a double and a triple that he’s been making all week and we got a break and it’s a big turning point in the game.”

Team Jacobs returns to action on Friday with a pair of games.

The Jacobs rink will face Team Canada, skipped by Calgary’s Kevin Koe, in the afternoon draw at 1 p.m. before wrapping up Championship Pool action against Team Ontario, skipped by John Epping, in the evening draw.

Following round robin action, the top four teams in each of the two, eight-team pools earned spots in Championship Pool play, carrying over their records from the round robin.

After Championship Pool action concludes on Friday night, the top four teams will move on to the playoff round on Saturday, which will include Page Playoff action in the afternoon and evening.

Semifinal action is set for 12 p.m. on Sunday with the final set for Sunday evening at 7 p.m.