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With the team back together, Team Jacobs opened the 2022 Tim Hortons Brier with a victory on Saturday.
The Jacobs rink, representing Northern Ontario in the annual Canadian championship, picked up a 5-3 win on Saturday against Jason Gunnlaugson of Winnipeg who is competing in the event as one of three wild card teams in the 18-team field.
It was the first game together for the Jacobs rink, which includes skip Brad Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden, since the final of the Olympic Curling trials earlier this season.
The Jacobs rink played the Northern Ontario provincial championship with Jordan Chandler filling in for Kennedy, who was with Brad Gushue’s team at the Olympics in Beijing.
Chandler joined the team for the Brier as well to serve as an alternate with the Sault-based team.
Jacobs was pleased with the tournament-opening win against Gunnlaugson.
“We had a really good handle on the ice and the rocks today,” Jacobs said in media availability provided by Curling Canada. “We were able to get some rocks in good spots and put pressure on him early. We were able to convert the hammer early and get some steals. It was all around a really great effort. Everybody feels comfortable.”
After blanking the opening end, Gunnlaugson looked to blank the second end as well by removing a Jacobs rock from the house.
On his final shot, Gunnlaugson didn’t catch enough of the Jacobs rock to remove it, leading to a steal of one for the Northern Ontario rink.
Gunnlaugson blanked the third end and faced a runback to remove a Jacobs rock from the house but was unsuccessful; giving Jacobs another steal of one and a 2-0 lead through four ends.
Facing three in the fifth end, Gunnlaugson made a runback to score one and get on the board.
With the hammer in the sixth, Jacobs blanked the end before scoring one in the seventh to take a 3-1 lead.
After Gunnlaugson scored one in the eighth to cut into the lead, Jacobs made a draw for a pair in the ninth end to go up 5-2 and limited Gunnlaugson to a single in the 10th to cap off the scoring.
The Jacobs rink returns to action on Sunday with a pair of games.
The team is scheduled to face Team B.C., skipped by Brent Pierce, in the morning draw at 10:30 a.m. Sault time before facing Gushue’s wild card team in the evening draw at 8:30 p.m. Sault time.