OTTAWA – Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs put a couple of tough losses behind him on Sunday afternoon by edging Manitoba’s Mike McEwen 7-6 to win bronze at the Tim Hortons Brier.
Jacobs was the only unbeaten team in round-robin play at TD Place but two straight playoff defeats sent the reigning Olympic champion to the third-place game.
McEwen forced an extra end with a double takeout to score a pair. Jacobs had hammer in the 11th end and drew to the four-foot for the victory.
“This raises our spirits a little bit,” Jacobs said. “Coming back out here and playing well and winning a bronze medal is something that I think we’ll be proud of. And like I said, it feels good.
“We were really feeling the pain of those two losses last night so this lifts our spirits.”
Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue was scheduled to play Alberta’s Kevin Koe in the championship game on Sunday night.
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Jacobs was in control of the Page Playoff 1-2 game on Friday night but Gushue came back to win and lock up a berth in the gold-medal game. Northern Ontario lost on a measurement to Koe in Saturday night’s semifinal.
On Sunday, McEwen stole a pair in the opening end but Jacobs followed with a deuce of his own. Jacobs took the lead with a single in the fourth end and stole another point in the fifth.
The Manitoba skip came through with a nice double to pull even in the sixth end, but Jacobs answered with a deuce in the eighth.
“We couldn’t put together eight shots in an end during the middle half of that game,” McEwen said. “It’s tough to win that way.”
Announced attendance was 7,183. The building holds 8,200 for curling.
McEwen, who was playing in his first Brier, lost to Koe in the 3-4 Page Playoff game.
Gushue won Olympic gold at the 2006 Turin Games but has never won the national men’s curling title in 12 previous appearances. Koe won the Brier in 2010 and 2014.
The winning team will receive $225,000, including $144,000 in Sport Canada funding over two years. The silver medallist will earn $61,000.
The champion will also get 88.678 points in the Canadian Team Ranking System. The silver medallist gets 69.676 points and Jacobs picked up 53.840 points.
Alberta’s Chelsea Carey won the women’s national title last month in Grande Prairie, Alta. She will represent Canada at the upcoming world women’s curling championship in Swift Current, Sask.
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