It’s a golden day for the city of Sault Ste. Marie and, in particular, Brad Jacobs and his curling team from the Soo Curlers Association.
The Jacobs rink scored a 9-3 win in eight ends over Great Britain’s David Murdoch to capture the Gold Medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The Jacobs rink got off to a hot start, scoring a pair in the first end before breaking things open with three more in the third end to take a 5-1 lead at the time. A steal of one in the fourth end helped seal the win.
Team Jacobs finished the event with eight-straight wins after opening with a 1-2 record through the first two days.
“The biggest word that comes to mind right now is relief,” Jacobs told The Canadian Press. “Wearing that Maple Leaf, there’s a lot of expectations.”
Jacobs team includes Ryan Fry (third), E.J. Harnden (second) and Ryan Harnden (lead) along with alternate Caleb Flaxey and coach Tom Coulterman as well as national team coach Rick Lang.
Prior to the gold medal game, Jacobs told Canada.com’s Ed Willis about a conversation with Canadian men’s hockey coach Mike Babcock.
“He said, you’re 1-2, that doesn’t mean anything,” Jacobs told Willis. “It’s how you finish. Just go out there and execute. That’s exactly what we’ve done.”
The city of Sault Ste. Marie was abuzz as Jacobs battled for gold.
This marks the third straight Olympics that Canada has brought home gold in men’s curling. Kevin Martin took home gold in 2010 in Vancouver while Brad Gushue took gold in 2006 in Torino, Italy.
2014 marks the first time that both Canadian curling teams won gold in the same year as Jennifer Jones beat Sweden’s Margaretha Sigfridsson in the final. In 2010, Cheryl Bernard lost in the gold medal game to Sweden’s Anette Norberg while Shannon Kleibrink took home bronze in 2006.
Jones’ gold was the first gold medal for the Canadian women since Sandra Schmirler won gold in 1998 in Nagano, Japan.
To read SooToday's live blog of the game, click here.
Photo gallery from celebrations at the Essar Centre by Kenneth Armstrong for SooToday.com