Ending an era, Team Jacobs wraps up Grand Slam schedule

Saturday marked the end of an era for Team Jacobs.

The Sault Ste. Marie-based curling foursome that includes skip Brad Jacobs, third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden dropped a 4-1 quarterfinal decision to Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher at the Champions Cup, the final Grand Slam of Curling event of the season.

In mid-March, the Jacobs rink announced that Ryan Fry would not be with the team next season as it looked for a “fresh start.”

At the time of the announcement, Fry called his time with Team Jacobs “an amazing ride.”

On Saturday, Fry spoke of the impact the team made on the sport in their time together.

“We came together, we pretty much accomplished everything we wanted to,” Fry told TheGrandSlamOfCurling.com. “We made an impact on the sport as a team and I couldn’t be more happy to have spent the last seven years together.”

“Any time you get to challenge yourself and have new experiences, it’s going to be something that I’m going to look forward to,” he added. “You get to grow as a player and as a man with the new guys. That’s the main thing, that’s the biggest reason for the change is just not becoming stagnant and becoming repetitive and what you do in life. It’s just going to be a new set of challenges and I’m looking forward to it.”

It has been a successful seven-year run for Team Jacobs.

The team won gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, and silver at the 2013 World Championship in Victoria, B.C.

The team made seven Brier appearances, which includes a win in 2013, a second-place finish in 2015 and three third-place finishes.

7 amazing years together filled with some incredible achievements & experiences. The curling may be over, but we will be all together in a few weeks to stand beside Ryan Fry on his wedding day - what a way to end this amazing run!! #livelongfriends #brothersforever #grateful pic.twitter.com/Qt00DZlI0Z

— Team Jacobs (@TeamBradJacobs) April 28, 2019

Fry is set to join Toronto’s John Epping next season while the Jacobs rink has announced that Marc Kennedy will join the team next season.

Kennedy took this season off before making the decision to return to competitive curling with Jacobs.

Kennedy said he was surprised to get the call to join the team and said he’s excited to join the team.

“I needed a few days to think about it just from a family perspective and a health perspective with my hip,” Kennedy said at the time. “I don’t want to commit to something half way. I wanted to make sure I could be all-in with those guys and try to help them win some big stuff. I took a few days and then I was happy to call them back and tell them I’m all in.”

Saturday’s quarterfinal against Bottcher saw the two teams trade singles in the opening two end.

After blanking the third end, Bottcher scored a pair in the fourth end to take the lead and stole one in the sixth end to cap off the scoring.

After going 2-2 in round robin action, Jacobs advanced to the quarterfinal thanks to a 6-3 win over Matt Dunstone of Regina, Sask. on Saturday morning in a tiebreaker.

Jacobs blanked the opening two ends before scoring a single with the hammer in the third end.

Dunstone would take a 3-1 lead in the fourth end only to see Jacobs retake the lead with three of his own in the fifth end.

Jacobs sealed the win with steals of one each in the subsequent two ends.

With the quarterfinal win, Bottcher advanced to face Bruce Mouat of Scotland in semifinal action on Saturday night while the other semifinal will see Kevin Koe of Calgary face Niklas Edin of Sweden.

The semifinal winners will move on to Sunday’s men’s final.