Team Jacobs rebounds for big win

After a tough start on home ice, Wednesday night saw a rebound effort for Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre in Sault Ste. Marie.

The local entry in the National, the third Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, picked up a 9-2 win over Greg Drummond of Stirling, Scotland to move to 1-1 in the six-day event.

The win came on the heels of what was a disappointing effort on opening day Tuesday that saw the Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, drop a 6-3 decision to Jason Gunnlaugson on Tuesday night.          

“Last night was a wake-up call,” Jacobs said. “I don’t think we were necessarily as ready to play as we should have been.”

“We’re a team that’s pretty good at bouncing back and that was pretty evident here tonight,” Jacobs also said. “We came out with a little more hunger.”

Drummond credited the Jacobs rink for a quick start.

“They were really sharp from the get-go,” Drummond said. “They went and played hard in the first end and we had some slack ones and that gave them a jump on the scoreboard. It comes down to us to start quicker than that. We played pretty well last night and we’re disappointed that we couldn’t take that performance in the game today.”

The Jacobs rink jumped out to an early lead thanks to a steal of three in the opening end after third Ross Paterson’s final shot came up short. Paterson shoots skip stones for the Drummond rink.

“It was a pretty routine shot and it over-curled more than anything,” Drummond said. “It was a softish throw on a curly piece of ice. That’s a player responsibility to execute and that didn’t quite happen on that shot.”

“It certainly set the tone for the game,” Jacobs said. “Forcing them back (in the second end) was really important and we were able to take full control with another three (in the third).”

Jacobs forced Drummond to singles in the second and fourth ends while picking up triples in each of the first, third and fifth ends.

“We just played really well from lead to skip and we got some misses,” Jacobs said. “

Next up for the Jacobs rink will be a meeting with Kevin Koe of Calgary, Alta. in the evening draw on Thursday night at 8 p.m.

In earlier action on Wednesday, the morning draw saw Bruce Mouat of Edinburgh, Scotland double up Greg Balsdon of Kingston, Ont. 8-4 and Chang-Min Kim of Uieong, Korea beat Pat Simmons of Winnipeg, 8-1 in six ends in men’s action.

Women’s action in the morning draw saw Julie Tippin of Woodstock, Ont. beat Kelsey Rocque of Edmonton, Alta. 6-4, Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga, Ont. beat Michelle Englot of Winnipeg 7-4, and Binia Feltscher of Flims, Switzerland beat Chelsea Carey of Calgary, Alta. 6-4.

In men’s action in the noon draw, Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg beat William Lyburn, also of Winnipeg, 8-7, Mike McEwen of Winnipeg beat John Morris of Vernon, BC 5-1 in five ends, and Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg beat Harbin, China’s Rui Liu 6-3. Women’s action in the draw saw Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Alta. beat Alina Paetz Zurich, Switzerland 7-2 in six ends and Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont. beat Kerri Einarson of Winnipeg 8-5.

In the late-afternoon draw, the lone men’s game saw Simmons beat John Epping of Toronto, Ont. 7-4. The women’s games saw Carey beat Bingyu Wang of Harbin, China 7-3 in seven ends, Rachel Homan of Ottawa, Ont. Harrison 8-4, Val Sweeting of Edmonton, beat Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont. 3-2, and Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg beat Rocque 7-3.

In the final draw of the day, Balsdon beat Morris 6-4, Koe beat Lyburn 6-4 in seven ends and Gushue beat Mouat 7-6 in an extra end in men’s action while Englot beat Einarson 8-6 in the lone women’s game of the draw.