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Up-and-down season for Team Jacobs

Brad Jacobs called the win to represent Northern Ontario at the Brier and skins game victory as two of the highs this season.
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Team Jacobs at the 2016 Tim Horton's Brier in Ottawa, ON. Photo courtesy Michael Burns/Curling Canada

It wasn’t the easiest of seasons for Brad Jacobs.

The season was filled with what Jacobs called ups-and-downs as the Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden.

“It was a little bit of a struggle,” Jacobs said. “It was an up-and-down year for us. Mostly downs, which tends to happen when you play sports unfortunately. We’ve had our fair share of ups and now we’ve had our fair share of downs. You have to be able to roll with that, know that it’s going to happen and accept it, try to learn from it and move on.”

“I wouldn’t say that this season was a complete failure by any means but it was a struggle,” Jacobs added. “We’re looking forward to just moving on and doing what we need to do to improve for next season and going into the next Olympic trials.”

Despite the struggles, the Jacobs rink did have some highlights.

“The most pleasing thing for us probably would be winning Northern Ontario again and winning the skins game,” Jacobs said. “Those two moments for us were probably our highlights. Competing in the Brier is always a highlight. Although we didn’t win, we had a great Brier.”

There have been a number of team changes as teams prepare for the Olympic trials next season.

Some of the changes include John Morris joining Jim Cotter’s team in British Columbia.

Morris competed with Team Simmons, skipped by Pat Simmons, for the past two seasons. The Simmons team broke up at the end of the season with Simmons moving on to join Brendan Bottcher’s team. The two-time Brier champion joins the Bottcher rink as the third.  

“I expect it only to get more difficult,” Jacobs said of heading into next season. “I think we all know that now. Teams are getting better. Teams are working harder. Teams are doing everything they possible can to make it to the next Olympics. It’s easy to tell. Everyone is younger and in shape. We’re going to have to figure things out, work extremely hard and give ourselves some good opportunities to win some events.”

While the team looks back on the past season, it is also preparing for the 2016 Team Jacobs Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charity Golf Classic, which is set for July 15.

The event will feature a golf tournament and dinner/auction which will see a number of sports celebrities in attendance including Toronto Maple Leafs Assistant General Manager Kyle Dubas and Coach Mike Babcock and numerous curlers and other athletes as well.


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Brad Coccimiglio

About the Author: Brad Coccimiglio

A graduate of Loyalist College’s Sports Journalism program, Brad Coccimiglio’s work has appeared in The Hockey News as well as online at FoxSports.com in addition to regular freelance work with SooToday before joining the team full time.
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