Team Jacobs wraps up Olympic trials

The 2017 Roar of the Rings came to an end for Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre on Friday afternoon.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden and alternate Peter Steski, dropped a 7-2 decision in seven ends to Toronto’s John Epping Friday to finish the nine-day event with a 3-5 record.

After Jacobs took a 1-0 lead with a steal in the second end, Epping would tie the game with a single in the third and then steal points in the following three ends. Epping took the lead with a steal of one in the fourth before steals of three in the fifth and two more in the sixth sealed the victory.

Steski played in place of E.J Harnden, who returned to Sault Ste. Marie on Friday to be with his wife Rachelle, as the family is expecting their second child.

The playoff round on the men’s side sees Calgary’s Kevin Koe advance directly into Sunday’s 7 p.m. final thanks to a 7-1 record in the round robin. Brad Gushue (St. John’s, Nfld.), who finished the round robin at 6-2, will face Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen, who posted a 5-3 round robin record.

Chelsea Carey of Calgary went 8-0 in round robin action on the women’s side to earn a spot in Sunday afternoon’s women’s final. She will face the winner of Saturday’s semifinal between Rachel Homan of Ottawa and Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg. Homan went 7-1 in the round robin while Jones was 5-3.

The winners on each side will represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.