Jacobs to play in Canada Cup tie-breaker

Carrying a 3-1 record into the final day of round robin action, Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre in Sault Ste. Marie will be forced into a tie-breaker after a pair of losses on Friday at the 2016 Home Hardware Canada Cup in Brandon, Man.

Team Jacobs, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, opened the day with a 5-1 loss to Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg, Man. before dropping a 7-6 decision to John Epping of Toronto, Ont. in the evening draw.

Against Carruthers in the afternoon draw the two teams were tied at one through seven ends with Carruthers scoring in the second and then Jacobs scoring in the sixth. Carruthers would score a pair in eight before stealing two more in nine to pick up the win.

In the evening draw against Epping, after Epping scored a single in the first end with the hammer the Jacobs rink would score one to tie and proceed to steal one more each in three and four to take a 3-1 lead. After the teams traded singles in five and six, Epping scored three in the seventh to take a 5-4 lead and then steal two more in the eighth to lead 7-4. Jacobs would pull to within two with a single in nine and managed to steal one in ten for the 7-6 final.

The Jacobs rink (3-3) will now face Steve Laycock (3-3) of Saskatoon, Sask. on Saturday morning in the first tiebreaker. The winner will then face Epping (3-3) in a second tiebreaker to determine the second semi-finalist. The tiebreaker winner will face Carruthers (4-2) on Saturday night in semifinal action.

Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador (4-2) finished first in the round robin and earned a spot directly in the tournament final.

The Canada Cup features seven men’s and seven women’s teams and on the line in the tournament is an automatic berth in the 2017 Roar of the Rinks in Ottawa, which determines Canada’s representative in the Winter Olympics. The Canada Cup winners also earn berths in the 2017 World Financial Group Continental Cup.