Brad Jacobs heading back to the Brier — wearing Manitoba colours

Brad Jacobs will play for another national championship this year, but not for Northern Ontario.

The Sault Ste. Marie curler — winner of 11 Northern Ontario championships and an Olympic gold medal in 2014 — came out of retirement last year to join Reid Carruthers' rink in Manitoba. By December, he had moved into the skip position, with Carruthers throwing third.

On Sunday, their team punched a ticket to the Montana's Brier, doubling Braden Calvert 6-3 in Manitoba's men's final.

Jacobs will wear Manitoba colours when the Brier kicks off on March 1 in Regina.

"This was an eye-opening experience for me," Jacobs told Curl Manitoba. "I've never played a provincial championship in Manitoba before.

"There's a ton of talent here. There's great young teams and players coming up. Team Calvert, obviously a world-class team. They played awesome today. I feel for them right now. It sucks to lose that final, but I'm sure they'll keep working hard and we have a ton of respect for them."

Jacobs, Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and Connor Njegovan led 4-3 after eight ends Sunday. Calvert blanked the ninth and gave up a steal of two in the 10th.

Under new Curling Canada entry criteria, Alberta's Brendan Bottcher and Manitoba's Matt Dunstone pre-qualified for the 2024 Brier last year based on their rankings at the end of the 2022-23 season. Gushue returns to the Brier as defending champion.

Other teams headed to Regina are Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen, B.C.'s Catlin Schneider, Newfoundland and Labrador's Andrew Symonds, New Brunswick's James Grattan, Northern Ontario's Trevor Bonot, Jamie Koe of the Northwest Territories, Ontario's Glenn Howard, Nova Scotia's Matthew Manuel, Nunavut's Shane Latimer, Prince Edward Island's Tyler Smith, Quebec's Julien Tremblay and Yukon's Thomas Scoffin.

The winner represents Canada at the world men's championship March 30 to April 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.

— with files from The Canadian Press