Team Jacobs splits on first day of Brier action

Team Northern Ontario, represented by Sault Ste. Marie’s Team Jacobs, will head into day three of the 2021 Tim Hortons Brier with a 1-1 record.

On the first full day of competition in Calgary, the Jacobs rink, which includes skip Brad Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, and alternate Lee Toner, split a pair of games Saturday at Markin MacPhail Arena.

The Jacobs rink wrapped up the day with an 8-5 loss to Mike McEwen, one of three wild card teams in the 18-team field.

With the game tied five through seven ends, McEwen stole a pair in the eighth end to take the lead and stole one more in the 10th end after Jacobs blanked the ninth to have the hammer in the end.

The win was a rebound for the McEwen rink, who opened action earlier in the day with a 6-3 loss to James Grattan of New Brunswick in the morning draw.

Team Jacobs opened the day Saturday with an 11-3 win in eight ends over Team Yukon, skipped by Dustin Mikkelsen.

“It was quite a clinic out there,” Jacobs said in media availability put together by Curling Canada. “The guys threw the rock great. We got a good handle on the ice early, which led to some great results on a bunch of shots.”

Kennedy noted the sense of appreciation to be back on the ice after a lengthy layoff due to COVID-19.

“We all just felt very grateful to be out there and to have the opportunity to play with one another again and without masks and see the smiles on each others faces and just enjoy it for what it is,” Kennedy said. “Gratitude is the name of the week for us. All of the other challenges are there, but we’re so happy to be out there, we don’t feel much other than excitement to be out there.”

Against Mikkelsen, the Jacobs rink jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.

The Sault team scored four in the opening end and led 7-1 through three ends.

After Mikkelsen scored another single in the fourth end, the Jacobs rink scored three more in the fifth before stealing one in the sixth to extend the lead further.

Team Northern Ontario is back in action for one game on Sunday.

The team will face Team Northwest Territories, skipped by Gregory Skauge in the sixth draw, scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Sault time.

Skauge will enter the game with an 0-2 record after losses to Glenn Howard’s Wild Card Team and Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher on Sunday.