They opened the day with a chance to earn at least a semifinal spot and eventually a shot to play for a medal and they took advantage of it early.
Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs and his team representing Canada at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., has a spot in semifinal play booked as round robin play in the nine-day event wrapped up on Friday.
The Jacobs rink, which curls out of Alberta and includes, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert, clinched a semifinal berth thanks to an 8-2 win over Austria, skipped by Mathias Genner, in Friday’s afternoon draw.
Jacobs jumped out to an early lead on Austria after making a draw for two in the opening end before picking up a steal of one more in the second. The steal came after Genner wrecked on a guard with his final shot.
The Jacobs rink would make it a 4-0 game after another steal in the third end.
After the Austrian team got on the board in the fourth end, Jacobs jammed on a hit with his final shot of the fifth end but still scored a single to take a 5-1 lead.
Jacobs then forced Austria to a single point in the sixth end and capped off the scoring in the seventh as he picked out an Austrian rock in the house to score three and solidify Canada’s spot in one of Saturday’s two semifinal games.
Following the win, Jacobs spoke to reporters on Team Canada having not gone to a 10th end in five consecutive games.
“I think it’s also big that we’ve played these last few games in fewer than 10 ends,” said Jacobs in media availability courtesy of Curling Canada. “We’ve saved our bodies quite well, but we just locked up a lot of good stuff. I think we locked up hammer and rocks (confirmed) and all that good stuff, and first place, so we’re really pleased.”
In Friday’s evening draw, the Jacobs rink capped off round robin play with an 8-3 win over the United States, skipped by Korey Dropkin.
After the United States got on the board with the hammer in the second end to take a 1-0 lead, Jacobs grabbed a pair in the second end and never trailed again in the game.
With a narrow lead, the Jacobs rink took a 3-1 lead when Dropkin was heavy on a draw while facing three Canadian rocks to give up a steal of one.
Dropkin would make it a 3-2 game in the following end, making a draw against two to cut into the lead, but Jacobs would make it a 5-2 game with a hit for a pair in the sixth end.
Facing two in the seventh end, Dropkin made a hit for one to make the score 5-3.
A blank by Jacobs in the following end led to the Canadian team capping off the win with three in the ninth as Jacobs
“There’s a lot of things going right,” Jacobs said after the win over the United States. “Everything is firing on all cylinders right now.”
With a record of 11-1, the Jacobs rink finished atop the standings at the conclusion of the round robin and earned one of two direct spots in the semifinals with Switzerland grabbing the other. Semifinal games are set for Saturday following a pair of qualification games.
Canada will face the winner of a qualification game between Sweden and Scotland while China and Norway will battle to face Switzerland.
The bronze and gold medal games are set for Sunday.