It was a shortened season, but that didn’t make it any less impressive.
Finishing the season as the top ranked men’s team in the world, Team Brad Jacobs won three consecutive Grand Slam of Curling events in 2019-20 and finished fourth at the Tim Hortons Brier in Kingston, Ont.
The strong season meant another award to add to the mantle for them as Team Jacobs – which includes skip Brad Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second E. J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden – was named the H.P. Broughton Award as Sault Ste. Marie’s Sportsperson of the Year.
In November, the Jacobs rink picked up its first Grand Slam of Curling tournament title of the season, winning the Tour Challenge in Pictou County, NS.
Jacobs beat Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld. 6-4 in the final to win the event for the second consecutive year.
In mid-December, Team Jacobs won the National in Conception Bay, Nfld.
The Jacobs rink won the event thanks to a 3-1 win over Niklas Edin of Sweden in the final.
In January, Team Jacobs won the Canadian Open in Yorkton, Sask.
The Jacobs rink beat John Epping of Toronto 6-5 in the final.
With the tournament title, the Jacobs rink became one of just six teams to have won three consecutive Grand Slam of Curling tournaments.
The Jacobs rink advanced to the Brier with a win over Mike Badiuk of the Geraldton Curling Club at the Northern Ontario Curling Association provincials in early February.
At the Brier, the Jacobs rink finished fourth as Team Northern Ontario, falling in the Page 3-4 playoff game against Gushue.
Jacobs got into the playoff game following a pair of tiebreaker wins following Championship Pool action.
In speaking to media at the event at the time, Jacobs spoke of his pride in the way the team battled back in the event.
“I’m just really proud of my team and the way that they hung in there all week,” Jacobs said at the time. “It was a roller coaster ride this week, but we battled had and did everything we could to get ourselves right back in this.”
“Even though it wasn’t meant to be this year, I think we’re going to come out of this a lot stronger than ever,” Jacobs added.
In round robin action, the Jacobs rink reeled off three consecutive wins after a 1-3 start to get into the Championship Pool, where the team went 3-1 to finish pool action with a 7-4 record and move into tiebreaker action.
2020 makes the fourth time Team Jacobs has won the H.P. Broughton Award. The team also won it in 2011, 2013, and 2014.
The other nominees for the award in 2020 included Sault College hockey player Ryan Vendramin and football player Jordan Hoover of the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos.
Vendramin led the American Collegiate Hockey Association Division II in scoring with 61 goals and 100 points in just 28 games and was held off the scoresheet just once all season.
Vendramin was named a First Team All American and was also named the DII player of the year.
Hoover had a solid season with the Eskimos in 2019.
The 27-year-old Sault native finished the season with 53 defensive tackles along with a special teams tackle, a sack, and two interceptions in 18 games.
Full video of the 2020 Rotary Sports Awards can be viewed above.