Jacobs rink to take 2-2 Brier record into day five

They knew before the tournament started that it wasn’t going to be an easy road if they wanted to win their second Tim Hortons Brier title.

Team Northern Ontario, skipped by Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs, holds a 2-2 record through four days of action at the 2021 event in Calgary following a 7-6 extra end loss to Team New Brunswick, skipped by James Grattan, on Monday.

Trailing by a pair late, the Jacobs rink forced the extra end by scoring a single in the ninth and proceeding to steal one in the 10th end to tie the game at six.

In the extra end, with Jacobs as shot rock, Grattan removed the Jacobs rock to sit one and pick up the victory.

Jacobs held a 3-1 lead through five ends after scoring a pair in the opening end with the hammer and scoring a single in the fifth after a pair of blanks in three and four.

Grattan took the lead in the sixth end, scoring four and the teams proceeded to trade singles in the following two ends before Jacobs would score to send it to the extra end.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, and alternate Lee Toner, is set to return to action on Tuesday with a pair of games.

In the morning draw, Team Northern Ontario will face British Columbia, skipped by Steve Laycock at 10:30 a.m. (eastern time).

The team will then wrap up action on day five I the evening draw against Team Alberta, skipped by Brendan Bottcher, at 8:30 p.m. (eastern time).

In other Pool A games on Monday, Team British Columbia, skipped by Steve Laycock, moved to 1-2 thanks to a 9-3 win over Team Yukon, skipped by Dustin Mikkelsen, in eight ends. The loss drops the Mikkelsen rink to 0-3.

Team Manitoba, skipped by Jason Gunnlaugson, is 3-0 thanks to an 8-5 win over Team Wild Card1, skipped by Mike McEwen. The McEwen rink falls to 2-2.

Team Alberta, skipped by Bottcher, picked up a 5-3 win over Glenn Howard’s Wild Card3 team, skipped by Wayne Middaugh, to move to 3-1. Middaugh has handled much of the skipping duties in the tournament for Howard, who is at the event as an alternate and seeing limited playing time due to injury. The Wild Card team drops to 2-1.

Following Monday’s Pool A results, the top of the standings remain tight with Gunnlaugson remaining as the lone unbeaten team.

1. Manitoba (Jason Gunnlaugson): 3-0
2. Alberta (Brendan Bottcher): 3-1
3. New Brunswick (James Grattan): 3-1
4. Wild Card3 (Glenn Howard) 2-1
5. Wild Card1 (Mike McEwen): 2-2
6. Northern Ontario (Brad Jacobs): 2-2
7. British Columbia (Steve Laycock): 1-2
8. Northwest Territories (Gregory Skauge): 0-3
9. Yukon (Dustin Mikkelsen): 0-4

Teams in Pool B were set to return to the ice on Monday night in the final draw of the day. Kevin Koe’s Wild Card team leads that pool with a 4-0 record.

The top four teams in each pool will move on to the Championship Pool, which is set for Friday and Saturday.

The top three teams will then move on to the playoff round on Sunday, with the top team getting a bye directly into the final on Sunday night.