Jacobs' Canada Cup run ends

The 2016 Home Hardware Canada Cup curling event came to a disappointing end on Saturday in Brandon, Man. for Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre.

After posting a 3-1 record through the opening two days of the five-day event, Jacobs dropped a pair of games on Friday, which dropped the Sault team’s record to 3-3 and forced it into a tie-breaker game on Saturday morning against Steve Laycock of Saskatoon, Sask.

The tie-breaker game saw Jacobs drop a 9-3 decision in seven ends, ending the tournament for the Sault Ste. Marie-based rink.

After a blanked opening end, Laycock stole one in the second to take the early lead, only to see Jacobs rebound and score on in the third and steal one back in the fourth to take the lead. Laycock then proceeded to score five in the fifth end to take a 6-2 lead. After Jacobs scored one more in the sixth end, Laycock sealed the win with three more in the seventh.

Laycock moved into a second tie-breaker against John Epping of Toronto, Ont. in Saturday’s afternoon draw. Epping proceeded to beat Laycock 7-5 to move into the semifinals where he will face Reid Carruthers.

On the women’s side of the event Rachel Homan (Ottawa, Ont.) advanced to Sunday’s final against Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg, Man.) after beating Kerri Einarson of Winnipeg, Man. 9-4 in semifinal action. Einarson advanced to the semi thanks to a tie-breaker win over Val Sweeting (Edmonton, Alta.) earlier in the day.

The Canada Cup features seven men’s and seven women’s teams and on the line in the tournament is an automatic berth in the 2017 Roar of the Rinks in Ottawa, which determines Canada’s representative in the Winter Olympics. The Canada Cup winners also earn berths in the 2017 World Financial Group Continental Cup.