TORONTO — It’s always a “Braddle” when Team Brad Jacobs and Team Brad Gushue face off, and Wednesday afternoon’s matchup in the AMJ Players’ Championship was no exception.
Jacobs came out on top this time, needing an extra end to solve Gushue 5-4 during Draw 5 action of round-robin play at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Both teams are now level at 1-1 in the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the season. Pool B might as well be called the Brier pool, featuring not only Jacobs and Gushue, but also Team John Epping, Team Matt Dunstone and Team Mike McEwen. Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz rounds out their group as the lone non-Canadian team.
Revenge might be on the minds of some of Jacobs’s opponents as his team captured the Brier and earned bronze this past Sunday at the World Men’s Curling Championship.
“It is a little bit funny, actually,” said Jacobs, who fell 8-1 to Epping during Tuesday’s opening draw. “My cousin Ryan (Harnden, lead on Team Dunstone), a few weeks back when the pools were announced, said, ‘It feels like we’re going to be playing the Brier all over again,’ and he’s right.
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Watch early draws from the AMJ Players’ Championship on Sportsnet+
Watch early draws from the final Grand Slam of Curling event of the season on Sportsnet+ this week. Daily draw play begins Tuesday morning.
“But it doesn’t matter who you play. You’ve got to come out and try to play your best. These events are really tough to win. Some of the teams that have been off for a little while have been playing against some of us who were at the worlds and are coming in a little tired.
“We’re doing the best we can to get some rest between games. We had a good sleep last night, and I think that’s why we played better today, because everyone had a good rest last night. We’re starting to feel like ourselves and are getting back to feeling normal and having some energy. Hopefully, we can continue to get some rest and keep that energy up throughout the week.”
The game was their 65th career meeting, according to CurlingZone.com, with Gushue holding a lifetime 34-31 advantage. Jacobs does have the upper hand this season, leading 3-1, and if they are destined to meet again, it’ll happen with elimination on the line in the playoffs.
Some surprising roster changes over the past 12 months have made the latest chapters in their rivalry intriguing. Jacobs joined forces with third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert at the end of last season after the Calgary-based trio split with Brendan Bottcher. Gushue then parted ways with second E.J. Harnden, Jacobs’s cousin, in the fall and added Bottcher to his lineup.
Their matchup during the KIOTI National quarterfinals in Gushue’s hometown of St. John’s, N.L., with a capacity crowd on hand, was pure theatrics as Jacobs intentionally gave up a steal in the seventh to tie the game but retain the hammer for the final end, where he scored the winning point. Boos rained down on Jacobs, who embraced the heel role and riled up the crowd even more.
Jacobs’s lineup has a different look this week, with Tyler Tardi and Connor Njegovan filling in for second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert, respectively. Gallant is resting and recovering as he prepares to represent Canada again at the upcoming World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship, while Hebert is injured.
Tardi, who throws second stones for skip Kevin Koe, served as Jacobs’s alternate at the men’s worlds. Njegovan is no stranger to Jacobs either, as they played together on Reid Carruthers’s team last season.
“It’s very seamless,” Jacobs said. “I’ve played with Connor before, so stepping back out on the ice with him was very easy. He’s a very easy guy to play with and so is Tyler Tardi. It’s no surprise to me we’re getting along really well and communicating really well and hopefully, we can just continue to build throughout this week.”
Jacobs opened the scoring in the third, nudging his stone in the house to bump out Gushue’s shot rock and score two.
Gushue was forced to draw for a single in the fourth and stole back-to-back singles to pull ahead 3-2. Jacobs faced a trio of Gushue’s stones in the fifth and made a double to limit the damage, then attempted an angle raise against a pair in the sixth and took out only one.
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AMJ Players’ Championship on Sportsnet
The world’s best curling teams clash in the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the season at the AMJ Players’ Championship in Toronto. Watch live coverage Thursday to Sunday on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
The skip from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., regrouped in the seventh and drew for two points to jump back into the lead. Gushue was forced to hit for just a single in the eighth to push the game into an extra end. Jacobs didn’t need to throw his last as Gushue was unable to bump his shot rock far enough to outcount it.
“It feels great to get our first win here at the Players’,” Jacobs said. “We played pretty good today, faltered a little bit in the middle of that game with a couple of steals. We were really close on some runbacks on Marc’s and mine. We were just a little bit off and it cost us a little bit on the scoreboard.
“Bouncing back with the deuce in seven and making eight really good shots in the eighth end, we were able to take that to an extra, and just being in the win column feels good.”
Elsewhere in Draw 5, Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller (2-0) picked up a 5-3 win over Germany’s Team Marc Muskatewitz (0-2).
In women’s play, Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg (2-0) scored a 6-3 win over South Korea’s Team Seung-youn Ha (1-1), and Sweden’s Team Isabella Wranå (1-1) scored five in the second during an 8-3 victory over Switzerland’s Team Xenia Schwaller (0-2).
NOTES
The AMJ Players’ Championship features the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening. Six teams qualify for the playoffs in both divisions, with the top two receiving byes to the semifinals. … If necessary, one tiebreaker draw is slated for Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday. Both finals are on tap Sunday.
