'Confident' Brad Jacobs won't be rattled by tight loss to Scotland at curling worlds

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The roll has been real for Brad Jacobs and his decorated curling crew from Calgary.

Real strong …

Real confident …

And real sincere … for a few well-timed months now.

Peaking at just the right time, Team Jacobs — a.k.a. Canada at the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask. — went into Monday’s massive game with top-ranked Scotland’s Bruce Mouat on a remarkable 16-1 run dating back through the Montana’s Brier.

Despite a 6-5 extra-end loss to mighty Mouat, the result in the epic battle isn’t likely to shake what smacks of a Rachel Homan-esque juggernaut force at work at worlds.

“I think we’re feeling like we did at the Brier — back in our groove and comfortable,” said Canada’s ever-positive third, Marc Kennedy. “But we also know what’s coming our way (with Scotland on Monday, defending champ Sweden on Tuesday morning and improving Italy on Tuesday night).

“One thing I’ve learned over the years is to not get too high when things are going great and not get too low when things are going bad,” continued Kennedy. “All it takes is one bad game and the questions are the exact opposite, like ‘Where’d your confidence go?’

“We’re doing our thing, we’re playing well, and our skip is comfortable. So we’ll just keep rollin’.”

The skip being comfy is key, no doubt.

And the 2014 Olympic gold medallist and two-time Brier king is certainly that and talking like it’s been more than a decade since feeling that way with a team, which has amounted to quite the conviction for Team Jacobs.

“We’ve felt (confident) since the start of the Brier,” Jacobs said. “We’ve been really rolling since the beginning of March — and it feels great.

“There isn’t a shot out there that we’re scared to throw, right up and down the lineup.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt this type of confidence in my teammates and in myself. It’s a really satisfying thing.”

Like-wise, say his rink-mates.

Kennedy: “I’ve always known Brad as a really good momentum player — like once he gets going, look out. And we’ve been seeing that for the last couple of months. So I think it’s our job to just continue to support that and keep his roll going and try to make it as easy as possible on him.

“But stay out of his way.”

Second Brett Gallant: “Playing against Brad for a number of years, I never really liked it, because he was kind of always a gamer. Just his intensity and what he brought as a skip, you knew you were in for a tough game.

“Even before we started to hit the ice together this year, I knew he was going to be a great fit for our team. And when we started, playing our first few games together, his leadership and his style is just perfect for our four guys. And so, yeah, it’s been fun to have him at the helm, and he’s a real easy guy to play for.

“He’ll run through a wall for us, and it’s pretty easy to support a guy like that.”

Lead Ben Hebert: “Brad never asks us to do anything that he doesn’t do and do as good or better than all of us. You know … he’s a great leader.

“One thing I knew about Brad — same as Brett — was he’s a big-time gamer, competitive, fiery, awesome shooter … but a great human being. He’s good family man, fits in great with our team and hilarious. I like a good sense of humour. And Brad’s hilarious — he keeps me on my toes. I’ve got to stay sharp. I don’t want to give him the funniest guy on the team (title) yet, but he’s right up there.

“But he keeps things loose and is super serious, as well. He has a great perspective, and his leadership’s been great.”

HOW THE RINK CAME ABOUT

Kennedy, Gallant and Hebert went looking for a new skip last spring when it wasn’t working with previous boss Brendan Bottcher.

Jacobs was out there after leaving his Manitoba team of Reid Carruthers, Derek Samagalski and Connor Njegovan to step away from the game indefinitely.

And so The Glencoe Club squad sent out the invite, under the first-hand recommendation of Kennedy. The world-class third played under Jacobs and alongside star-studded front-enders E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden — winning a Brier bronze in 2019 Brandon — from 2018-22.

So he knew a thing or two about Jacobs’ personality and leadership skills.

“I think my past experience with Brad certainly helped, kind of knowing what he would bring to the team,” Kennedy said. “Then you kind of try to mix my history with Brad and the current team and stability that we had with Brett and Ben and (coach) Paul (Webster), and we saw it and how it might work.

“And I think it’s worked better than we ever anticipated.”

Indeed, after a few hiccups early in the season, the new Team Jacobs got it going to become finalists at two Grand Slam of Curling events — the KIOTI National and the WFG Masters — boosting their faith in what might follow.

What did follow was that sensational run to the Montana’s Brier title — with a phenomenal 12-1 record in Kelowna, B.C. — and now a 3-1 run at the worlds after Monday afternoon’s duel with Scotland (4-1).

“You know … it probably took a little time to get going with us this year,” Kennedy said. “But right from the beginning, the foundation was created with — with practice habits and work ethic. And Brad probably pushed the envelope for us and brought us to an even higher level. He really led by example with just how hard he worked to try to fit into the group and be our leader. And he got to a point with this team where we were ready to go through a wall for him at any given minute.

“And so that evolution — that trust in each other, the belief in the service to one another — we are really out there trying to win for each other. And that’s an extra level of strength when it comes to a team.

“We knew that he believed in us, and we were out there playing extremely hard for each other. Add that to everything that we’ve worked on — mechanically, technically, strategically — to just try to be the best team in the world, and you’re seeing it all come together at the perfect time.”

Turns out timing is everything in curling.

The proof is in the chance taken by the trio of Kennedy, Gallant and Hebert on a skip a decade-plus removed from top-shelf national and international success.

“Brad’s exactly what our team needed to get to this level,” Hebert said. “So we’re pretty grateful to have him.”

As is he, the skip says, to have them.

“I know that the guys had a ton of faith in me as their skip and their leader, and I’ve really felt that,” Jacobs said. “I think that’s helped carry me through to (now).”

“It’s been a long time since Brad’s worn the Maple Leaf, and I think he’s really embracing it and cherishing it,” added Kennedy. “I think we’ve given him and environment and a culture where he can be his best self. He feels really comfortable, and he’s practised all the right things and he’s working hard, and he’s got a team that believes in him.

“It’s been quite the journey.”

HOW DID CANADA FARE AGAINST SCOTLAND?

Scotland scored just once in the first seven ends, but it was big production — three in the second frame to go up 3-1 after limiting Canada to just a single in the opening end.

Big shots in the third end by Jacobs meant a deuce for Canada to draw even at 3-3.

The eighth looked to be a turning point for the home side, as it forced Mouat into settling for a single and giving the hammer — finally back — to Jacobs & Co.

But Scotland forced Canada into making a difficult decision in the ninth, with Jacobs opting to allow Mouat a steal rather than drawing himself for just one. That meant another point surrendered to go down 5-3 but keeping hammer for the 10th end.

“We’ve done it before — there’s threes out there,” Jacobs told TSN of the decision to keep the hammer for the 10th. “We’ve seen that quite a lot, I’d say, in the last few seasons.

“We felt more comfortable in that situation just keeping the hammer.”

Then it was an epic final end with an epic last rock, with Jacobs executing an amazing raised triple take-out — with an extra bump of another Scotland rock — enough to score two and force an extra end.

And it came down to last rock, with Mouat successfully eliminating a Jacobs shot-stone for the tight victory.

“Just not our best,” added Jacobs. “We can play a lot better than that. That’s probably one of our worst games in the last 20 or so. But that’s OK — this is the time to have that game if we’re going to have it.”

EXTRA ENDS

Mouat & Co. couldn’t continue the magic in Monday’s night-cap, as the Scots lost to Czechia (3-2) 8-2. Germany’s Marc Muskatewitz (1-4) finally engineered a first win at these worlds with a 9-3 trounce of Austria (0-5) early Monday but then lost to China (4-1) 11-10 in the evening … Other Monday morning games saw: Italy (2-3) edge Czechia (2-2) 7-5; and Switzerland (4-1) defeat Japan (1-4) 8-5 … The other afternoon games saw: Switzerland top China 7-5, Sweden over South Korea (0-5) 6-3; USA (2-2) knock off Norway (4-1) 8-6 … Draw 9 late Monday also saw: Norway squeak by Italy 9-8; and Japan top Austria 9-7 for its first win of the event … Draws 9, 10 and 11 are slated for Tuesday respectively at 11 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. — all times ET and on TSN.

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

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