After a perfect run through Labour Day weekend at the Oakville Labour Day Classic, Team Jacobs returned to the ice on Friday in Oakville, Ont. and remained unbeaten on the young curling season.
The Jacobs rink, which includes skip Brad Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harnden, opened up the 2021 Stu Sells Oakville Tankard with a 7-2 win over Edmonton’s Karsten Sturmay on Friday afternoon in the triple knockout event.
After a blank in the opening end, the teams traded doubles in the following two ends, Jacobs scoring a pair in the second end before the Sturmay rink immediately tied the game back up in the third.
Jacobs retook the lead for good with a single in the fourth before steals of one in the fifth and three more in the sixth end sealed the victory.
The Jacobs rink is scheduled to return to action on Saturday morning against Korey Dropkin’s rink from Duluth, Minn.
Dropkin enters the game on the heels of a 7-4 win over Scotland’s Ross Whyte on Friday afternoon.
Last fall, with the tournament being shifted to the KW Granite Club in Waterloo, Ont. due to a delayed opening at Oakville’s club, the playoff round on the men’s side was cut short prior to semifinal action after a player in the event was notified that he was a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
The Jacobs rink was 5-0 in the tournament at the time and scheduled to face Ottawa’s Jason Camm in one of the two men’s semifinal games.
Last weekend, the Jacobs rink posted a 6-0 record at the Oakville Labour Day Classic, which included an 8-2 win in the tournament final over John Beuk’s team from Kingston, Ont.