Two days, two wins for Team Jacobs (14 photos)

The start to the National, the third Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, for Brad Jacobs and his team from the Community First Curling Centre, has been a strong one.

After a 7-2 win over Brendan Bottcher on day one, Jacobs picked up a 6-3 win over Tanner Horgan of Sudbury in the fifth draw of the six-day event at the Essar Centre locally.

The Jacobs rink, which includes skip Brad Jacobs, third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden, got off to a tough start in the game when an opportunity for five in the opening end turned into a steal.

“We had a shot for five that we just barely missed and I don’t think any of us were very happy about that,” Jacobs said.

After Horgan stole one in the first end to take the early lead, Jacobs scored a pair in the second end to take the lead. With the hammer in the third end, and lots of rocks in play, Horgan was unable to remove Jacobs’ shot-rock and the local rink took a 3-1 lead with the steal.

Jacobs said that after the steal he felt the team “had full control of the game.”

“We really just played the scoreboard well,” Jacobs said.

Horgan attempted to erase the Jacobs lead in the fourth end with a raise but could only get one as he couldn’t get both rocks to settle in the house.

Jacobs agreed with the attempt by Horgan saying “It just over-curled on him.”

Horgan, who won silver at the Canadian Juniors, said the event has been an eye-opening experience after facing Jacobs and Brad Gushue on the opening two days of the event. He added that with some added experience he hopes to not have to put himself in situations to make tougher shots like that going forward.

“To get ourselves to the next level I think we have to put ourselves in a position where I don’t have to make a shot like that,” Horgan said.

Jacobs would score two more in the fifth end before stealing one in the sixth en route to the win.

“What’s great about the first couple of games is we’ve played a lot of touch-shots and we’ve played a lot of draws,” Jacobs said. “Our upweight ability, I’m very confident in. Figuring out where to put the broom and how to throw the rock for the soft weight shots. We’ve had quite a few of those. We’re building on our confidence.”

For Horgan, the tournament has been a positive experience through two days despite a pair of losses.

“It’s something to aim for,” Horgan said. “It’s not the same watching them on television. Until you get on the same sheet as them, you don’t really know just how good they are. Now that we’ve had a couple of games against some of the best teams in the world, it’s definitely showing us what we need to work on

Team Jacobs returns to action on Thursday evening in the ninth draw against Brad Gushue of St. John’s, Nfld. beginning at 7 p.m. Horgan is back in action in the morning draw, beginning at 8:30 a.m. against Bottcher in the first of two games that will see Horgan face Steve Laycock (Saskatoon, Sask.) in the evening draw.

In other action on Wednesday involving northern Ontario teams, Sudbury’s Tracy Fleury dropped her tournament opener in a 6-5 decision against Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont. The two teams traded singles in the opening two ends before Fleury took a 3-1 lead with a pair in the third. Flaxey would take the lead in the fourth end after scoring three and took a 5-3 lead after stealing one in the sixth end. Fleury scored a pair in the seventh before Flaxey picked up the victory with a single in the eighth end.

Thunder Bay’s Krista McCarville dropped an 8-2 decision in seven ends to Rachel Homan (Ottawa, Ont.). After scoring one with the hammer in the opening end, Homan proceeded to pick up steals of one each in the third and fourth ends. McCarville cut Homan’s lead to 3-2 with a pair in the fifth end but the tournament’s reigning women’s champ scored three in the sixth and tacked on a steal of two more in the seventh to seal the win.

Fleury and McCarville face each other in Thursday’s morning draw, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The other morning draw games see David Murdoch (Scotland) take on John Epping (Toronto, Ont.), and John Morris (Vernon, BC) takes on Peter De Cruz (Switzerland).

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OTHER SCORES

Draw 2

Men

Peter De Cruz of Switzerland beat Scotland’s David Murdoch 6-1 in six ends. De Cruz stole a pair in the second and another in the third to jump out to a 3-0 lead. After Murdoch cut the lead to 3-1 in the fourth before De Cruz scored two in the fifth and another in the sixth to seal the win.

Women

Tied at one through three ends, Anna Hasselborg (Sweden) scored a pair in the fourth end before stealing two more in the fifth end in a 5-2 win over EunJung Kim (Korea).

Silvana Tirinzoni (Switzerland) scored two in the opening end before steals of one in the second and three in the third in a 7-1 win in five ends over Kerri Einarson (Winnipeg, Man.).

Rachel Homan (Ottawa, Ont.) got off to a strong start with an 8-3 win over Chelsea Carey (Calgary, Alta.) in six ends. Homan jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the opening end before tacking on two more in the fourth and three more in the sixth end in the win.

Draw 3

Men

After falling behind 3-0 in the opening end, Reid Carruthers (Winnipeg, Man.) scored four in the second and stole a single in the third en route to a 7-5 win over American John Shuster.

After a 7-2 loss to Jacobs on opening night, Brendan Bottcher scored three in the seventh end in a 7-4 win over Steve Laycock (Saskatoon, Sask.). After falling behind 3-1 through three ends, Bottcher scored a pair in the fourth and stole one more in the fifth to take the lead.

Women

Eve Muirhead (Scotland) rebounded from a loss in the opening draw by beating Kelsey Rocque (Edmonton, Alta.) 8-3. With the score tied at one through two ends, Muirhead scored three in the third and stole two more in the fourth en route to the win.

Binia Feltscher (Switzerland) jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead through two ends in an 8-3 victory over Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg, Man.). Feltscher scored three in the first and stole one more in the second to take the lead. She would score four more in the fifth end to seal the victory.

Draw 4

Men

John Epping (Toronto, Ont.) built a 7-4 lead through six ends and beat John Morris (Vernon, BC) 7-6. Morris initially held a 4-2 lead through three ends before Epping scored a pair in four, stole two more in five and stole a single in six to retake the lead.

Leading 5-4 through seven ends, Charley Thomas (Edmonton, Alta.) stole a pair in the eighth end to beat Niklas Edin 7-4. Thomas took a 3-0 lead thanks to a pair with the hammer in the first end before a steal of one in the second. The teams traded singles in three and four. Trailing 4-1, Edin scored to make it 4-2 in the fifth before a steal of two tied the game in the sixth.

A draw to the button in the eighth end gave Kevin Koe (Calgary, Alta.) a 5-4 win over Peter De Cruz (Switzerland). Koe took a 3-0 lead with two in the first end before stealing one more in the second end. De Cruz would return the favour with two in the fourth and a steal of one in the fifth.

Women

Russian Anna Sidorova built up a 6-2 lead through six ends before holding on for a 6-5 win over Silvana Tirinzoni. Sidorova stole three in the second end to take a 3-0 lead and turned it into a 5-1 lead with a pair in four. After the teams traded singles in the fifth and sixth, Tirinzoni scored a pair in the seventh to cut the lead to 6-4 but only managed to steal one in the eighth end.

Draw 5

Men

Brad Gushue (St. John’s, Nfld.) scored a pair in the seventh end to beat Steve Laycock (Saskatoon, Sask.) 6-4. Laycock had a 3-1 lead through three ends before Gushue scored a pair in the fourth and stole another in the fifth to take a 4-3 lead. Laycock scored a single in the six to tie the game.

Reid Carruthers (Winnipeg, Man.) scored four in the seventh end to beat Mike McEwen (Winnipeg, Man,) 6-3. McEwen held a 3-2 lead after scoring a pair in the fifth end.

Women

Val Sweeting (Edmonton, Alta.) turned a 2-1 deficit into a 6-2 victory in seven ends over EunJung Kim (Korea). Sweeting scored a single in the fourth end to tie and steals of two in the fifth, one in the sixth and another in the seventh to win.

Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg, Man.) beat Anna Hasselborg (Sweden) 6-5. Trailing 3-2, Jones scored four in the seventh end to take the lead and Hasselborg wasn’t able to get the three needed to tie in the eighth end, finishing with a pair.