Jacobs, McEwen, Gushue post victories to remain unbeaten at Brier

Gregory Strong · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 04, 2025 3:02 PM EST | Last Updated: March 5

Loaded with acquisition and title pedigree, the four-man Alberta squad skipped by Brad Jacobs astatine the Montana's Brier offers a survey successful contrasts.

Lead Ben Hebert has the strength and earthy sweeping powerfulness fewer tin match. Brett Gallant's chiselled framework tin besides enactment the broom and helium has the shooting crippled to spell with it.

Vice Marc Kennedy owns a boyish charm and awesome table-setting accomplishment acceptable for Jacobs, who has guided the Calgary-based squad to a 4-0 commencement astatine Prospera Place successful Kewlowna, B.C.

Their latest wins came Tuesday with a 6-3 determination implicit Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter, and a 7-3 verdict successful the precocious gully implicit Nova Scotia's Owen Purcell.

"It's conscionable a acquisition successful perfection a small spot retired there," said Saskatchewan 2nd Matthew Hall. "They're making everything."

Jacobs was a near-flawless 97 per cent and his squad was astatine 94 per cent overall, conscionable up of Kleiter's broadside astatine 91 per cent.

The Saskatoon skip tried to people 2 with a big-weight double-takeout successful the ninth extremity but gave up a bargain erstwhile helium couldn't clasp his stone. The matchup was the archetypal existent trial of the contention for the Alberta side, which controlled the crippled by keeping mistakes to a minimum.

"We've enactment a batch of clip successful to effort to amended our crippled and absorption connected the areas that matter," Kennedy said. "It seems to beryllium moving close now."

McEwen, Gushue improve to 5-0

Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen, a 7-5 victor implicit Yukon's Thomas Scoffin and 14-2 victor successful the precocious gully implicit winless Aaron Bartling of the Northwest Territories, leads Pool B astatine 6-0. 

Canada's Brad Gushue (5-0), the lone undefeated skip successful Pool A, bushed New Brunswick's James Grattan 8-3 successful the day draw.

Both Manitoba rinks posted victories arsenic Reid Carruthers bushed Northern Ontario's John Epping 8-6 and Matt Dunstone edged Ty Dilello of Newfoundland and Labrador 5-4 successful an other end.

Carruthers (5-1) was successful 2nd spot down Gushue with Dunstone (4-1) and Epping (4-2) close behind. The apical 3 teams astatine the extremity of round-robin play Thursday volition marque the playoff cut.

After 12 draws, Kleiter, Ontario's Sam Mooibroek and Quebec's Jean-Michel Menard are each tied for 3rd successful Pool B — down McEwen and Jacobs — with 3-2 records. Kleiter scored 3 successful the seventh extremity and stole 2 successful the eighth to bushed Mooibroek 9-4 successful the precocious draw.

Scoffin (2-4) stole 2 successful the 10th extremity to decision winless Tyler Smith (0-6) of Prince Edward Island 8-5 successful the different precocious game.

The Alberta team's connection has been connected constituent truthful acold and its method crippled is successful form. With astir 500 combined Brier crippled wins betwixt the 4 Olympians, they cognize what needs to beryllium done — peculiarly successful big-game settings.

"We gag around, we're beauteous easygoing," Jacobs said. "But erstwhile we request to flip the power and compete, nary 1 is much serious."

The squad brought successful manager Paul Webster successful 2022 to assistance them done the quadrennial with a extremity of winning the Montana's Canadian Curling Trials this November.

Brendan Bottcher skipped the squad astatine the clip but was chopped past spring. Jacobs, a 39-year-old autochthonal of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., came connected this play arsenic his replacement.

"There's a ceiling that I deliberation helium thought mightiness person been connected his crippled that conscionable went higher," Webster said. "(He) has the quality to spot a fewer other percent points retired determination on with the different guys."

'Getting amended each the time'

On paper, the new-look squad looked similar a powerhouse with 12 combined nationalist titles. But Jacobs said it took clip for the foursome to find a rhythm.

"There are galore reasons wherefore we weren't (strong) that we had to enactment done and fig out," helium said. "I consciousness similar we've conscionable been gathering and getting amended each the time."

Jacobs noted the squad doesn't fto things fester if they spell done a unsmooth bonspiel. Instead, questions are asked astir however to improve, starring to "good, open, honorable conversations."

"That leads to america coming up with truly large solutions and we look to bounce backmost successful the adjacent lawsuit truly well," Jacobs said. "That's what I similar the most."

Kennedy, who antecedently played with Jacobs from 2019-22, said his teammate leads by example, adding the squad is ne'er disquieted astir making mistakes due to the fact that they cognize the skip tin bail them out.

"Nobody works harder. Nobody puts much into it," Kennedy said. "Nobody wants to triumph much for his teammates. He's a precise selfless skip, precise unselfish, which isn't ever the lawsuit astatine this level.

"So that makes him precise casual to play with."

Camaraderie disconnected the ice

The celebrated strength curling fans archetypal noticed erstwhile Jacobs won a Brier successful 2013 and Olympic golden successful '14 hasn't gone away. His teammates tin show akin vigour and they've developed a beardown enslaved and camaraderie disconnected the ice, too.

"Behind closed doors we're large friends, similar to person amusive and are a spot immature," said Jacobs. "We crush Bublys and play a batch of cards."

Kennedy said the squad inactive loves the crippled and the "ups and downs that spell with it," adjacent aft astir 700 combined Brier games played.

"That's a batch of games, a batch of experience," helium said with a laugh. "We emotion competing and emotion challenging ourselves.

"We're perpetually trying to get better."