Jacobs off to Champions Cup playoff round

Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre has earned a spot in the quarter-final at the final event of the Grand Slam of Curling season, the Champions Cup, in Calgary, Alta.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, beat Team Carruthers 5-1 on Friday night to finish round robin action with a 3-1 record. The win means Team Jacobs will face Mike McEwen of Winnipeg, Man. in Saturday’s quarter-final at 6 p.m. eastern time.

Jacobs opened the scoring against the Carruthers rink thanks to a hit for three in the third end.

After the Carruthers rink scored on with a hit and stick in the fourth end, Jacobs would scored one in the sixth end with a draw and then proceeded to steal one more in the seventh end to seal the victory.

Team Carruthers was skipped by team third Braeden Moskowy as skip Reid Carruthers is away at the world mixed doubles championship.

The Jacobs rink opened the tournament with a 7-2 win over John Morris of Vernon, B.C. in six ends on Wednesday evening. Leading 2-1, Jacobs would score five in the fourth end en route to the win.

On Thursday, the Jacobs rink moved to 2-0 with an 8-6 win over Grant Hardie of Dumfries, Scotland. Trailing 4-2 through four ends, Jacobs would take a 6-4 lead with four of his own in the fifth end. After Hardie tied the match at six with a pair in seven, Jacobs would pick up the win with two in eight.

Jacobs would end Thursday’s action with a 6-5 loss to Geneva, Switzerland’s Peter De Cruz. Leading 5-4 heading into the eighth end, De Cruz would score a pair to beat the Sault Ste. Marie-based rink.

The other confirmed quarter-final matchup on the men’s side will see Morris face Kevin Koe of Calgary, Alta. Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld. and De Cruz will await the winners of two tie-breaker games on Saturday morning.

John Epping of Toronto, Ont. and John Shuster of Duluth, Minn. will meet in one tie-breaker while the other will see Steve Laycock of Saskatoon, Sask. will face Niklas Edin of Karlstad, Sweden. All four teams finished the round robin with 2-2 records. The tie-breaker games are set for 10:30 a.m. eastern time.

On the women’s side, the quarter-final matchups are set. Alina Paetz (Zurich, Switzerland) will face Jamie Sinclair of Blaine, Minn., Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg, Man.) will face Rachel Homan (Ottawa, Ont.), Silvana Tirinzoni (Aarau, Switzerland) will face Jaqueline Harrison (Mississauga, Ont.) and Val Sweeting (Edmonton, Alta.) will face Anna Hasselborg (Sundbyberg, Sweden).

The women’s quarter-finals are set for 2:30 p.m. eastern time on Saturday.

Semifinal action is Saturday at 9:30 p.m. eastern time. On Sunday, the women’s final is set for noon eastern time with the men’s final to follow at 4 p.m. eastern.

The Champions Cup features 15 men’s and 15 women’s teams who qualified for the event by winning tournaments during the 2016-17 curling season.