CurlingZone: Jacobs Bounces Back in Toronto

Alberta's Brad Jacobs (photo: GSOC) defeated Newfoundland and Labrador's Brad Gushue 5-4 to move on to a 1-1 record at the AMJ Players Championships at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto, Ontario.

By Connor Simms

#3 World Ranked Brad Jacobs with Marc Kennedy at third, Tyler Tardi and Connor Njegovan on the front end look to finish off a strong season in Toronto at the AMJ Players Championships.

They are without the regular front end of Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert this week, as announced by the team: "Due to some lingering injuries, Ben is unable to compete at this year's GSOC Players Championship. Thankfully Connor Njegovan has agreed to step in for Ben, alongside our world's fifth, Tyler Tardi. Brett will be taking the week off to recover and prepare to compete for Canada at the World Mixed Doubles Championships."

They took on Newfoundland and Labrador's Brad Gushue in their second match, winning the opening draw to the button for the hammer.

After a pair of blank ends, Jacobs cracked a sneaky deuce with a lightweight pick. Gushue was forced to their single point after a draw to the eight-foot. Gushue added a steal of one in the fifth, forcing Jacobs to make a double to just give up a single point. Adding one more to the steal train, Jacob rolled out on a slash and stick his shooter, giving up the steal of one.

Jacobs drew the button for their deuce after Gushue came up heavy on a freeze attempt. In the eighth end, Jacobs remained in control, forcing Gushue to their single and getting the extra end. Gushue missed the tap attempt, allowing Jacobs to not have to throw their last, grabbing the 5-4 victory.

Jacobs is coming off a third-place finish at the BKT Tires Men's World Championship, which ended last Sunday. Defeating China to grab the bronze medal.

When asked about how they felt about their performance and their bronze medal finish, Brad responded with, "Still very proud of that. You know we had a heck of a week, some of the best curling that I've ever been a part of. I think we did Canada proud."

In their opening game, Jacobs lost to Northern Ontario's John Epping 8-1. In their next game, Jacobs will face Italy's Joel Retornaz on Thursday at 6:00 am Mountain Time (MT) and Manitoba's Matt Dunstone at 1:30 pm MT. They wrap up round robin on Friday with Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen at 1:30 pm MT.

Catch all the action live by pressing the red play button next to their games on the CurlingZone website. Select games will be on Sportsnet starting Thursday afternoon.

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