Jacobs dumps Koe, Jones downs McCarville in semifinal play at curling trials
Vice-skip Marc Kennedy says the members of Team Jacobs are simply trying to follow their skip's lead at Canada's Olympic curling trials.
The plan is working nicely as another near-perfect performance from Brad Jacobs has the rink one win away from a berth in the Winter Games.
Jacobs used a pair of in-off double-takeouts for big scores in an 8-3 rout of Kevin Koe in the men's semifinal on Saturday afternoon. Jacobs, who will play Brad Gushue in the final, scored four in the third end and added another four-ender in the fifth.
"Brad has been fantastic and I think when you feel like your skip is going to make everything, it allows everybody to be a little more relaxed," said Kennedy. "That has kind of been the story of the week."
Later in the evening, Jennifer Jones defeated Krista McCarville 8-3 to advance to the women's final against Tracy Fleury.
"These are the moments that you play for," said Jones, who like Jacobs, won Olympic gold in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
Koe, who represented Canada at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games but missed the podium, conceded after only six ends.
"It came to a quick thud out there," Koe said. "It sucks."
Jacobs has rolled through the competition at SaskTel Centre with the lone hiccup a 7-6 extra-end loss to Gushue earlier in the week. He was in full control against Koe after the teams opened with a pair of blanks.
"This is just the best team performance I can remember that we've put together to this point," Jacobs said. "I think we all feel very confident heading into tomorrow's final."
The women's final was set for Sunday morning and the men were scheduled to play in the evening. The winning teams will wear the Maple Leaf at the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Games.
Gushue had the same 7-1 round-robin record as Jacobs but earned the top seed thanks to his head-to-head victory.
Both teams have plenty of Olympic experience. Kennedy won Olympic gold at the 2010 Vancouver Games with Kevin Martin and returned to the Games in 2018 with Koe.
Jacobs and his front end of E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden won in 2014 while Gushue and third Mark Nichols were victorious at the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.
Koe managed just a single in the fourth and tacked on a deuce in the sixth with the game essentially over.
"That's the best I've seen the Brad Jacobs team in a couple years," said Koe second John Morris. "They've got that look in their eye that they're really hard to beat."
In the afternoon tiebreaker, McCarville scored a single in an extra end for a 4-3 victory over Kerri Einarson.
Einarson, who beat Casey Scheidegger 8-6 in a morning tiebreaker, had a chance to beat McCarville in the 10th end but was heavy with her draw for two.
"I thought it was very close when I let go of it," Einarson said. "The way it was curling, I thought it was good but it wasn't."
Jones earned the first semifinal berth as the No. 2 seed. Fleury went unbeaten in round-robin play to earn the direct berth to the final.
In the semifinal, Jones scored a deuce in the eighth end and forced McCarville to try an angle-raise double in the ninth to score her deuce. McCarville couldn't clear the stones and gave up a steal of two.
"Fortunately for us we got a couple of misses that kind of turned the momentum of the game our way," Jones said.
Einarson, McCarville and Scheidegger were tied for third place in the round-robin standings at 4-4.
The men's semifinal was moved to the afternoon from the evening due to the women's tiebreaker schedule.
The change allowed both semifinals to be televised and kept the feature games on the same sheet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2021.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canadian gov't proposes new foreign influence registry as part of wide-spanning new bill
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is proposing a suite of new measures and law changes aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada, amid extensive scrutiny over past meddling attempts and an ever-evolving threat landscape.
Boeing Starliner capsule's first crewed test flight postponed
The long-awaited first crewed test flight of Boeing's new Starliner space capsule was called off for at least 24 hours over a technical issue that launch teams were unable to resolve in time for the planned Monday night lift-off.
Teacher charged in historical sexual assault of Calgary teenage girl
Calgary police have charged a teacher with the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl more than 20 years ago.
Winnipeg man admits to killing four women, argues he's not criminally responsible
Defence lawyers of Jeremy Skibicki have admitted in court the accused killed four Indigenous women, but argues he is not criminally responsible for the deaths by way of mental disorder – this latest development has triggered a judge-alone trial rather than a jury trial.
Man banned from owning animals after fatal Calgary dog attack
The owner of three Calgary dogs that got loose and mauled a woman to death in 2022 has been ordered to pay a $15,000 fine within one year and banned from owning any animal for 15 years.
East-end Ottawa family dealing with massive rat infestation
Residents in Ottawa’s Elmridge Gardens complex are dealing with a rat infestation that just won’t go away. Now, after doing everything they can to try to fix the issue, they are pleading with the city to step in and help.
Mediterranean staple may lower your risk of death from dementia, study finds
A daily spoonful of olive oil could lower your risk of dying from dementia, according to a new study by Harvard scientists.
An El Nino-less summer is coming. Here's what that could mean for Canada
As Canadians brace themselves for summer temperatures, forecasters say a weakening El Nino cycle doesn’t mean relief from the heat.
Newfoundland and Labrador latest province to tighten rules on Airbnbs
Newfoundland and Labrador is the latest jurisdiction to bring in stricter rules for short-term rentals, with a coming set of regulations that will force operators to register with the provincial government.