Jacobs crew: historic greatness

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This article was published 05/03/2015 (4072 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CALGARY — They’re 9-0 this morning and have played just 82 ends in those nine games at this Brier, which is testimony all by itself to how dominant they’ve been.

But if you want the full picture of just how completely Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs has dominated the other 11 teams in the field at the 2015 Tim Hortons Brier, take a bite out of this:

In 82 ends of play thus far, Northern Ontario has trailed for one end.

One end. (If you care, they were down 3-2 to Alberta in the fourth end in Draw 3. They went on to win 9-5.)

All of which is to say we are maybe witnessing history in the making here at the Scotiabank Saddledome this week with a Northern Ontario team that may yet go down as one of the greatest teams Canadian men’s curling has ever known.

While it’s true other teams have gone through the Brier undefeated over the years — it’s happened four times previously, most recently in 2009 when Kevin Martin did it — the run this Northern Ontario team is on right now is unprecedented because it actually extends back two years.

Consider: With a win in the Brier final Sunday, Jacobs and the rest of his foursome — third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden — will have won a Brier, Olympic gold and a Brier in three successive years.

That’s nothing less than curling’s holy grail, bookended on either side by Canadian curling’s holy grail.

It would be a monumental achievement in a slippery game, and it would forever inscribe this team’s name in curling’s history books, if it’s not there already.

With a pair of wins Wednesday, Jacobs has already clinched Friday night’s 1-2 game regardless of what his team does in its final two round-robin games. History awaits, in other words, if they can seize the opportunity this weekend.

“Every game from now on is building and being part of something great in the sport of curling,” said Harnden. “That’s really our goal now — to win as much as we can but also to leave a positive impact on the sport.

“We want people to remember us as an intense team and a very competitive team and one of the better teams to ever play the game.”

How sharp are they right now? Well, Saskatchewan skip Steven Laycock authored a quadruple takeout to lie three in the ninth end against Northern Ontario Wednesday afternoon — only to watch Jacobs make a triple takeout on the very next rock.

Seven rocks removed in two shots for what was one of the more spectacular blank ends you’ll ever see. And, of course, Northern Ontario went on to win.

Northern Ontario heads into today two wins clear of second-place Newfoundland, who have won four in a row to improve to 7-2 — thanks in part to a circus shot by Brad Gushue Wednesday afternoon in a last-rock win over Alberta’s Kevin Koe.

Gushue was asked after the win to describe the game-winning shot. “A double-raised double around the horn something or other. I’m not even sure,” laughed Gushue.

“I’m not going to lie — I think I’m a really good curler but I’m not going to make that too many times. One in 50, maybe at best.”

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Quebec’s Jean-Michel Ménard and Team Canada’s John Morris — who is 4-0 since moving third Pat Simmons up to skip — hold down the final two playoff spots at 6-3.

The Team Canada story is compelling. After limping out to a 2-3 start with Morris at skip, a switch to Simmons throwing the last rock has made for a completely different team.

Just like he drew it up, says Morris. “It just wasn’t clicking and we needed a change and we needed a spark,” said Morris.

“We were just missing something. And sometimes you need to tweak something here and there and make a change. A lot of people would think it’s really brash and bold, but I truly felt this would give us our best chance.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek