In his return to the World Men’s Curling Championship, Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs is off to a solid start.
Jacobs, skipping his Alberta-based team that includes third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert, picked up a pair of wins on the first day of the event, which is being held at the Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw, Sask.
In the opening draw on Saturday, Jacobs picked up a 7-3 win over Team Japan, skipped by Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi.
After three blanks to start the game, Jacobs took a 2-0 lead in the fourth end on a draw. After a draw for one against three Canadian rocks in the fifth end, a draw by Jacobs in the sixth end made it a 5-1 game.
Jacobs forced Japan to a single in the seventh end after the Canadian skip made a run double to sit four on his final.
In the eighth end, Jacobs picked out a Japan rock near the button to score a pair and make it a 7-3 game.
“It was an awesome job by the guys. They played great in front of me,” Jacobs said in a media scrum provided by Curling Canada. “We settled in nicely. We got a deuce, a force, and a three. We were gripping the broom a little less tight from that point on, which was good.”
In their second game, the Jacobs rink held off a late charge to beat Team Germany, skipped by Mark Muskatewitz.
Jacobs built up a 6-2 lead in the game, which included a steal of one in the opening end and two more in the fourth end before making a draw for two in the sixth end and stealing one more in the seventh.
After a blank in eight, Muskatewitz scored three in the ninth end by making split on his last shot after Jacobs wrecked a guard on his final shot of the end.
Jacobs would seal the win in the final end with a tap for one.
“We beat two good teams today,” Jacobs said in a Curling Canada issued media scrum. We expect those two teams to have great weeks, especially Germany with the season that they’ve had. A little sloppy by me in nine. I missed one and let them back in it, but a great way to finish the game, having to make a nice shot for the win.”
Jacobs added that he felt the team “regrouped really well” after the ninth end when Germany made the game close.
The Jacobs rink in in action for one game on Sunday as the Canadian team will face Korea’s Hyojun Kim in the afternoon draw.