 VIRGINIA, Minn. — It’s only October, and yet the electric atmosphere Friday night inside the Iron Trail Motors Event Center in Virginia, Minn., had the vibes of a late winter showdown with medals on the line. It’s that kind of atmosphere that brings out the best in Calgary’s Team Brad Jacobs, and the reigning Montana’s Brier champions provided further evidence with a 6-5 extra-end win over the host team skipped by John Shuster to close out men’s round-robin play at the 2025 United States Steel Pan Continental Curling Championships. Shuster grew up in Chisholm, Minn. — a 20-minute drive from the arena that was jam-packed with friends, family and fans, all of them firmly in the corner of the U.S. reps. But it was Jacobs, vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Tyler Tardi, team coach Paul Webster and national coach Jeff Stoughton who rose to the occasion when it was needed to close out the round robin at 7-0, and will have last-rock advantage for the playoffs that begin with Saturday’s 3 p.m. (all times Eastern) semifinals. “That was a good one,” said Kennedy with a smile. “It was fun, a well-played game. I thought there were a lot of really good shots made. I thought Shuster made some beauties. Yeah, it was a fun game to be a part of.” Canada will play fourth-place Team Xiaoming Xu of China (4-3) in one semi, while the U.S. (6-1) will take on third-place Team Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi of Japan (5-2). The winners move on to Sunday’s 1:30 p.m. gold-medal game, while the losers will battle for bronze Sunday at 9:30 a.m. After a pair of blank ends to open the game, Canada opened the scoring on the third on a wonderful skip’s deuce. Jacobs made a tough double-takeout on his first shot, and when Shuster rolled his shooter out on a hit-and-stick attempt, it left Jacobs with a difficult split opportunity. With an assist from a great sweep from Hebert to drag in the shooter, the split was made for two points. The U.S. tied it with two in the fifth, but Canada struck back immediately with another deuce, on another great shot from Jacobs, a delicate come-around tap to move a partially frozen U.S. stone and leave Canada with a pair of counters. The U.S. hung tough, and managed to force an extra end when Jacobs came up light on what would have been a game-winning draw to the full four-foot. But in the 11th, after Shuster made yet another crucial draw to force the issue, Jacobs had to make a tough slash takeout to remove the U.S. counter and record the win. “Shoosty put us under some pressure,” said Kennedy. “He made some great draws. But I love getting in those games with Brad. He definitely amps up the intensity a level and gets himself to that higher level of play, which is what we're going to need if we're going to win some of the big events coming up.” Before those big events, there are two games to play this weekend with the ambition of winning the final edition of the Pan Continental Championships. Canada won the first-end hammer in all seven round-robin games, and Jacobs said it’s a huge advantage to have it guaranteed in the playoffs, especially if a rematch with the U.S. takes place in the final. “We've scored points early (thanks to having the first-end hammer) and it's always swung the momentum in our favour early in games, which is great,” he said. “It would be great to hopefully play (the U.S.) again, but we don't want to look too far ahead. We have a job to do and they have a job to do in the semifinals, but that would be a great final matchup because both teams are playing well.” Another packed crowd like Friday night’s would make it even better. “That's a great environment to play in,” said Kennedy. “Good crowd, good ice, down to the wire, need to make a good shot to win. Those are the games that you learn a lot in and help you prepare for some of the bigger events. So I think we're pretty grateful we had that opportunity tonight.” In other men’s games, Japan downed China 9-7; New Zealand’s Team Sean Becker (1-6) won its Southern Hemisphere showdown against Australia’s Team Hugh Millikin (0-7), prevailing 9-5; while South Korea’s Team Soo-Hyuk Kim (3-4) shaded Team Marc Pfister of the Philippines (2-5) 9-8 in an extra end to clinch a fifth-place finish and a berth for South Korea in the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship March 27-April 4 in Ogden, Utah. Canada’s Team Rachel Homan (4-2), meanwhile, will complete its round-robin schedule on Saturday morning with a 10 a.m. assignment against Team Tabitha Peterson of the United States (5-1). Homan’s Ottawa team locked up a semifinal berth with a win earlier on Friday. Canada would finish second in the round robin and have last-rock advantage in the semifinal with a win over the U.S. and a South Korean win over Japan. The women’s semifinals are set for Saturday at 8 p.m. Scores, standings and full team lineups are available by CLICKING HERE. All games will be available on World Curling’s streaming platform, The Curling Channel. This story will be posted in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/nouvelles-media/ |
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