![]() Alberta's Brad Jacobs (photo: Curling Canada/ Michael Burns) defeated Manitoba's Reid Carruthers 6-5 to advance to the Semifinal of the 2025 Montana's Brier in Kelowna, British Columbia. By Connor Simms, Brad Jacobs with Marc Kennedy at third, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert on the front end remain in the hunt for the Brier title in Kelowna. They took on Manitoba's Reid Carruthers in the 3-4 page playoff game, starting with the hammer due to their perfect round robin record. After a blank in the first end, an excellent freeze on Carruthers last, Jacobs was forced to a tough pick against backing, making it for their single point. After another blank in the third, Carruthers was forced to draw through the tight ports for their single. Jacobs cracked the first deuce of the game drawing to the eight foot in the fifth end. Carruthers made the first mistake in the sixth, not rolling out on the blank attempt and getting forced to a single. Jacobs responded in the seventh with another deuce making a half a rock double. In the eighth, Carruthers was forced to their single. Carruthers added pressure to Jacobs in the ninth end, stealing two after Jacobs could not make the double to tie the game. Jacobs had wide open rings in the tenth, making the hit and stick for the 6-5 victory. As a team they curled 95%, Individually: Brad was 89%, Marc was 99%, Brett was 93% and Ben was 99%. Jacobs went a perfect 8-0 through a round robin. Starting round robin with a win over Yukon's Thomas Scoffin 10-3, then broke the record with a 20-2 victory over Northwest Territories Aaron Bartling. They defeated Prince Edward Island's Tyler Smith 10-3, and Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter 6-3. They continued their winning streak with wins over Nova Scotia's Owen Purcell 7-3 and Ontario's Sam Mooibroek 11-5. On the final day of round robin they defeated Quebec's Felix Asselin 6-4 and Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen 7-6. Losing their first game in the 1-2 page qualifier to Canada's Brad Gushue. Then defeated Purcell in the 3-4 page qualifier 10-6. Brad will return to the Brier semifinal for the first time since 2019, when his team lost to Brendan Bottcher's old team. Marc, Brett, and Ben return to the semi-final for the third straight year as a threesome, but they have lost back-to-back. They await the loser of Saturday evening's 1-2 page playoff game between Manitoba's Matt Dunstone and Canada's Brad Gushue. The winner of this game will advance to the final. The Semifinal will be at noon Mountain Time (MT), with the final at 6:00 p.m. MT. Both games will be live on TSN, and live linescores will be available on the CurlingZone website. |