Jacobs continues to roll (update)

With three more games left in their round robin schedule, Brad Jacobs and his Northern Ontario rink continue to roll.

Jacobs and his Northern Ontario teammates (third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden and fifth EricHarnden) defeated New Brunswick’s Jeremy Mallais 7-4 in nine ends in Wednesday’s morning draw to improve to 8-0 heading into an afternoon matchup with Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock.

As has been the case throughout the tournament, Jacobs opened the scoring against Mallais. After blanking the opening end, Jacobs scored three in the second end to take the lead. After Mallais scored a single in the fourth end, Jacobs tacked on a deuce in the fifth end to take a 5-1 lead. The New Brunswick skip would get a pair back with a deuce of his own in the sixth end before the teams traded off singles in the final three ends.

“I never would have expected to be 8-0,” Jacobs told reporters at the event. “Obviously you want to win as many games as possible but 8-0 is a little bit beyond our expectations.”

In draw 12, Jacobs improved to 9-0 with a 5-3 win over Laycock.

Jacobs took a 1-0 lead in the opening end after attempting a hit and roll to blank the end that was unsuccessful. Laycock would score a single in the second end.

Jacobs would take a 3-2 lead in the fifth end before stealing one in the eighth end leading up to a trade of single points in the final two ends.

“We were battling ourselves a little bit,” Jacobs told media following the win over Laycock. “That was a tough test. For Saskatchewan, every game is important to them. They need to get as many wins as possible.”

The win over Laycock clinches a spot in the 1v2 page playoff game on Friday for the Northern Ontario rink.

“We want to finish the round robin strong,” Jacobs said. “We want to win every single game that we play in here. We’re going to do everything that we can to do that.”

Jacobs will wrap up the round robin on Thursday with a pair of games. In the morning draw (10:30 a.m. Sault time), Northern Ontario will face Brad Gushue (Newfoundland and Labrador). Jacobs will then finish the round robin in the evening draw (8:30 Sault time) against John Morris (Team Canada).

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OTHER SCORES

Draw 11
John Morris (Team Canada) 8, Jim Cotter (British Columbia) 7
Jean-Michel Menard (Quebec) 8, Jamie Koe (Northwest Territories) 5 (nine ends)
Brad Gushue (Newfoundland and Labrador) 9, Adam Casey (Prince Edward Island) 6 (nine ends)

Draw 12
John Morris (Team Canada) 7, Mark Kean (Ontario) 4
Jean-Michel Menard (Quebec) 7, Reid Carruthers (Manitoba) 4 (nine ends)
Brad Gushue (Newfoundland and Labrador) 8, Kevin Koe (Alberta) 7

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STANDINGS

1. Brad Jacobs (Northern Ontario): 9-0
2. Brad Gushue (Newfoundland and Labrador): 7-2
3. John Morris (Team Canada): 6-3
4. Jean-Michel Menard (Quebec): 6-3
5. Steve Laycock (Saskatchewan): 4-3
6. Kevin Koe (Alberta): 3-4
7. Jim Cotter (British Columbia): 3-4
8. Reid Carruthers (Manitoba): 3-4
9. Adam Casey (Prince Edward Island): 2-5
10. Mark Kean (Ontario): 2-5
11. Jeremy Mallais (New Brunswick): 1-6
12. Jamie Koe (Northwest Territories): 0-7