Team Jacobs opens Olympic trials with win

Brad Jacobs is off to a winning start at the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials in Saskatoon.

The Jacobs, which includes third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden rink opened the nine-day event with a 9-3 win in eight ends over Toronto’s John Epping on Saturday evening.

After blanking the opening three ends, Jacobs opened the scoring in with a pair in the fourth end.

Epping would get on the board with a single in the fifth end, but Jacobs pulled further ahead thanks to a four-spot in the sixth end to go up 6-1.

Epping cut the lead to 6-3 with a pair in the seventh before Jacobs sealed the win with three more in the eighth end.

Team Jacobs returns to action on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. Sault time against Matt Dunstone of Regina, Sask.

The Dunstone rink fell to Mike McEwen on Saturday night, dropping a 7-2 decision in eight ends to the West St. Paul, Man,-based team.

The tournament features nine men’s and nine women’s teams competing to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.

Round robin action sees each team face each other once. The top three teams following the round robin move on to the playoff round with the first place team advancing directly into the final and the remaining teams meeting in a semifinal game.