Jacobs rebounds at Olympic trials

Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre rebounded well on Monday at the 2017 Roar of the Rings in Ottawa.

After a disappointing extra end loss to Calgary’s Kevin Koe on Sunday morning, the Jacobs rink, which included third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden along with alternate Peter Steski picked up a key 7-4 win over Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld.

Leading early, Jacobs would pick up a key steal en route to the victory.

In the third end, Jacobs would steal three after Gushue’s final rock picked, leading to Jacobs taking a 4-0 lead.

“In an event of this magnitude you never want to see something like that,” Jacobs said of the pick in a story via Curling Canada. “It was really unfortunate for those guys, but they handled it as well as they could. They continued to battle and made sure we earned the win from that point on.

Gushue would score a pair in the fourth end but that was as close as the St. John’s rink would come as Jacobs would add on a single in the sixth before scoring two more in the eighth end to seal the win.

“You know they’re a seasoned team they’re not going to give up. They bounced back with a deuce and its still game on. Maybe they get a steal and it’s 4-3 and its almost like the pick never happened. That could have been the scenario.”

The win improves Team Jacobs to 2-1 heading into action on Tuesday in the nine-day event. Jacobs sits in third in the standings with Kevin Koe of Calgary in top spot at 4-0 and Mike McEwen of Winnipeg second at 3-0.

Jacobs now prepares to face Steve Laycock of Saskatoon, who is 1-3 through three days of action

Round robin action continues at the Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday and is set to wrap up on Friday evening.

The top three teams on both the men’s and women’s side earn playoff spots. First place gets an automatic berth in the tournament final on Sunday while the remaining two teams meet in semifinal action on Saturday. The men’s final is set for 7 p.m. with the women’s final earlier in the day at 2 p.m.

The winners will represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in the new year.