Jacobs off to playoff round at the National

Next up is the playoff round for Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs at the latest Grand Slam of Curling event.

Competing this week in the National in Conception Bay South, Nfld., the Jacobs rink, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second, E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden, clinched a playoff spot thanks to a 3-1 record through round robin action in the six-day event.

Jacobs wrapped up the round robin on Friday night with a 4-3 win over Yuta Matsumura.

After Jacobs blanked the opening end, the teams traded singles in the second end third ends before Jacobs took the lead with a single in the fourth and a steal of one in the fifth.

Matsumura tied the game with a pair in the sixth.

Jacobs blanked the seventh end before picking up the win with a single point in the eighth end.

The Jacobs rink will face Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher in quarterfinal action on Saturday.

The other confirmed quarterfinal matchups will see Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld. take on Peter De Cruz of Switzerland and Calgary’s Kevin Koe will take on Bruce Mouat of Scotland.

Niklas Edin of Sweden also earned a quarterfinal berth and awaits the winner of a tiebreaker game between Mike McEwen of Winnipeg and Ross Paterson of Scotland.