Jacobs heading to Canadian Open playoffs

Brad Jacobs is playoff bound at the Canadian Open.

Competing in the six-day Grand Slam of Curling event in Camrose, Alta. this week, the Jacobs rink, which features third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden improved to 3-0 and clinched a playoff spot at the triple knockout event on Thursday afternoon.

The Jacobs rink picked up a 6-3 win over Peter de Cruz of Switzerland in one of two A bracket final games.

While trailing, Jacobs scored a pair in the sixth end before stealing two more in the eighth to win and clinch a playoff spot,

Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg also clinched a playoff spot with a 3-0 record after a victory on Thursday over Toronto’s John Epping.

A triple knockout event, the Canadian Open features 16 men’s and 16 women’s teams.

All 16 teams on each side begin tournament play in the A bracket. Winning allows teams to remain in the A bracket while the losing teams drops to the B bracket. A second loss drops teams to the C bracket and a third loss eliminates teams from the tournament.

The A bracket sends two teams to the playoff round with 3-0 records while three B teams advance (3-1) and three more C teams also advance (3-2).

Playoff round action begins with the women’s quarter-finals on Saturday morning and the men’s quarter’s to follow at 2 p.m. Semifinal action is Saturday evening and the championship games are Sunday.