Provincial title hopes ended for Jacobs, Glibota

Team Northern Ontario was going to have a very different look regardless when the 2023 Tim Hortons Brier begins in London, Ont. on March 3.

With Brad Jacobs stepping away from competitive men’s curling at the end of last season, Team Jacobs third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden joined new teams this season.

Jacobs’ return was confirmed just after Christmas when he joined Reid Carruthers and his Manitoba-based team for the remaining Grand Slam of Curling events this season.

Jacobs was also in action this week at the Northern Ontario Curling Association provincial playdowns in Kenora, Ont., skipping a team that included third Jordan Chandler, second Kyle Chandler, and lead Jamie Broad.

After starting the event with a pair of wins, the Jacobs rink has its run come to an end on Saturday following a loss to Tanner Horgan in the triple knockout event.

Looking to clinch a page playoff spot on Friday afternoon, Jacobs dropped a 7-1 decision to Trevor Bonot of the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay in the A bracket qualifier.

After the teams traded singles in the opening two ends, Bonot scored a pair in the fifth end before steals of one in the sixth, two in the seventh, and one more in the eighth to cap off the win.

The loss dropped Jacobs to the B bracket qualifier, where the team dropped an 8-5 decision to Sandy MacEwan of Curl Sudbury.

Trailing 5-4, MacEwan scored four in the ninth end to pick up the win and drop the Jacobs rink to the C bracket qualifier with one final opportunity to earn a page playoff berth.

There, Jacobs dropped a 6-4 decision to Horgan, ending the tournament for the Jacobs rink.

With the loss, the northern Ontario rep at the Brier will be skipped by someone other than Jacobs for the first time since 2014 when the team was at the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.

Chris Glibota, also based out of the Sault, had his tournament come to an end on Saturday with a C bracket qualifier loss to Kory Carr of Thunder Bay’s Port Arthur Curling Club.

The page playoff matchups will see Bonot face MacEwan in the 1v2 game and Horgan face Carr in the C bracket qualifiers game.

The winner of the Bonot/MacEwan matchup will advance directly to the final, with the loser taking on the winner of the Horgan/Carr game in a semifinal.

The tournament winner will advance to the Brier as Team Northern Ontario.