Jacobs rink in tough following day two of Players' Championship

For the second consecutive weekend, Brad Jacobs is facing a must-win situation,

After opening the Grand Slam of Curling’s Players’ Championship with a win on Tuesday over Jacob Gunnlaugson, the Jacobs rink dropped a pair of games on Wednesday and will take a 1-2 record into its final two round robin games at the six-day event.

Team Jacobs, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden, dropped a 6-4 decision to Bruce Mouat on Wednesday night thanks to a late steal of two.

After scoring a pair in the sixth end to tie the game at four, Mouat stole two in the seventh end before running the Jacobs rink out of rocks in the eighth to pick up the win and remain unbeaten in the tournament, which is being held this week in the Calgary curling bubble at Markin MacPhail Arena.

After blanking the opening end with the hammer, Jacobs got on the board in the second with a pair.

Mouat proceeded to blank the third end before tying the game with two of his own in the fourth.

The teams then traded doubles in the subsequent two ends before Mouat stole two for the win in seven.

In Wednesday’s morning draw, the Jacobs rink fell behind early in an 8-4 loss against Peter De Cruz.

With the hammer to start, De Cruz jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening end and led 5-0 after stealing a pair in the second.

Team Jacobs got on the board with two in the third, but De Cruz got it right back in the fourth to take a 7-2 lead.

Jacobs cut the lead to 7-4 with a pair in the sixth after blanking the fifth end, but De Cruz capped off the win with a single in the seventh.

Jacobs returns to action with one game on Thursday, facing Niklas Edin in the afternoon draw at 2 p.m. (Sault time).

The team will wrap up round robin action on Friday afternoon against Brendan Bottcher, also at 2 p.m.

The tournament features 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams, which are broken up into six-team pools.

Following the completion of round robin action on Friday, the top six teams will qualify for the playoff round, which begins on Saturday.