Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Club will enter action Monday at the Tim Horton’s Brier as one of two undefeated teams.
The Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, improved to 3-0 at the 2016 event thanks to a pair of wins on day two of the round robin in Ottawa.
Jacobs opened action on Sunday with an extra end win over Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard.
Trailing 4-3, Menard forced the extra end with a draw for one in the 10th end.
In the extra end, Menard attempted a double-takeout of a pair of Jacobs rocks with his final shot but was only able to remove one and Jacobs picked up the victory.
Jacobs said the “mental grind” has been what he expected early on in the tournament.
“The team that can battle through this mental and physical grind this week is going to have a good chance in the end,” Jacobs told the media following his draw three win.
In the evening draw against British Columbia’s Jim Cotter, Jacobs would break a 2-2 tie in the fifth end after attempting a run and raise for two. He would get just one to take a 3-2 lead but would add on a steal of one in the sixth end after a draw attempt by Cotter came up short to move ahead by a pair.
A nose-hit for one in the ninth end would seal a 5-3 Northern Ontario victory to give Team Jacobs its third win of the weekend.
“It’s a long way to go to the playoffs,” Fry told reporters at the event after the win over Cotter.
“We’re playing well but we can definitely kick it up a notch,” Fry also said.
Jacobs returns to action on day three of the round robin with just one game as he faces Pat Simmons (Team Canada) in draw seven at 7:30 p.m. Simmons enters day three with a 3-0 record.
Team Jacobs brier schedule
Mar. 7: Draw 7 vs. Team Canada (Pat Simmons): 7:30 p.m.Mar. 8: Draw 8 vs. Prince Edward Island (Adam Casey): 9:30 a.m.; Draw 10 vs. Alberta (Kevin Koe): 7:30 p.m.
Mar. 9: Draw 12 vs. Ontario (Glenn Howard): 2:30 p.m.; Draw 13 vs. Northwest Territories (Jamie Koe): 7:30 p.m.
Mar. 10: Draw 15 vs. Manitoba (Mike McEwen): 2:30 p.m.; Draw 16 vs. New Brunswick (Mike Kennedy): 7:30 p.m.
Mar. 11: Draw 17 vs. Newfoundland and Labrador (Brad Gushue): 9:30 a.m.
Other Day Two scores
Draw 3: Alberta’s Kevin Koe beat New Brunswick’s Mike Kennedy 10-4 in eight ends. Leading 4-3, Koe broke the game open with three in the sixth end before adding on three more in the eighth end.Team Canada, skipped by Pat Simmons, scored a single in the final end to beat Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock 5-4.
In his first Tim Horton’s Brier appearance, Mike McEwen of Alberta picked up his first career victory at the event by beating Ontario’s Glenn Howard 6-2 in eight ends. Tied at one, McEwen scored a pair in the fifth end before a steal of three in the seventh end to seal the win.
Draw 4: Team Canada (Simmons) beat Jamie Koe (Northwest Territories) 6-3 in nine ends. Simmons scored doubles in the first, sixth and eighth ends.
Ontario (Howard) scored a single in an extra end to beat Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue. Gushue forced the extra end with a single in the tenth end.
A five-ender in the eighth end helped Kevin Koe to a 10-4 win over PEI (Casey) in eight ends.
Saskatchewan (Laycock) scored four in the seventh end to beat BC (Cotter) 8-4 in eight ends.
Draw 5: Manitoba (McEwen) improve to 2-1 with a 6-3 win over New Brunswick (Kennedy).
Quebec (Menard) scored three in the ninth end to beat Prince Edward Island (Casey) 4-2.
Newfoundland and Labrador (Gushue) improved to 2-1 with a 6-3 win over Northwest Territories (Jamie Koe).
