 Calgary's Brad Jacobs (Photo: Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver) defeats Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone 6-5, winning 2 games to 0 in a best-of-three final at the Montana's Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Halifax, N.S. on Nov. 29. By Meredith McCullum After a loss in the first draw, Brad Jacobs and his #3 World-Ranked squad won eight straight games to become 2025 Montana's Olympic Curling Trials champions, earning the right to represent Canada at the 2026 Olympics in Milano-Cortina, Italy. "I've said for quite some time I think I have the best job in curling, skipping these guys," said Jacobs, after his squad was given their Team Canada Olympic jackets Monday morning. "They make it easy. But at the same time, we push one another...We really do have, I'd say, a special environment on this team that's been created by our coach Paul Webster, where we learn and grow and we always get better." Jacobs - backed by vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert - dropped his opening game 6-5 to Calgary's Kevin Koe. Team Jacobs improved their play as the week went on, securing wins the next six round robin games, all by a margin of three points or less. Team Jacobs' 6-1 record and #1 LSD ranking earned them a bye to the best-of-three final against Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone, who defeated Saskatoon's Mike McEwen 9-5 in the semifinal. Jacobs won game one of the final 9-8, overcoming a four point score by #2 World-Ranked Dunstone in the fifth end, winning the game with a deuce in the tenth. On Saturday, Jacobs went up 2-0 with a score of one and a steal to open game two. Jacobs crashed on a guard in the third end, allowing Dunstone a draw for 2 to tie the game. Jacobs scored one more in the fourth to go up 3-2. Dunstone blanked the fifth, then made a surgical pick on his final shot in the sixth to get rid of Jacobs' red rock on the button and score one. Jacobs made a double in the seventh to score two. Then in the eighth, Dunstone was setting up to score two and Jacobs made a razor thin double to sit two, forcing Dunstone to draw for one point. After a well played ninth end by Dunstone, Jacobs elected to play a hit on his last shot and intentionally give up a steal of one, keeping the hammer in a 5-5 tie heading into the final end. His decision paid off as Jacobs made a nose hit on his final shot to score one, win the series 2-0 and qualify his squad for the 2026 Olympics. "Anytime you can win this event, anytime you can win any national event in this country it's super special, and you put a lot of work in," said Hebert after game two. "All the hard work does is give you a chance, and then you have to come out and perform, and manage the nerve and all the things, and so, you know, I guess we got lucky again." All four members of Jacobs' rink have been to the Olympics before. Gallant brought home bronze for Canada on Brad Gushue's team at the 2022 Games in Beijing, with Kennedy as the alternate. Hebert and Kennedy competed together at the 2018 Games with skip Kevin Koe in PyeongChang and won gold on Kevin Martin's rink at the 2010 Games in Vancouver. Jacobs won gold at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. "The experience teaches you as you get older to just enjoy it," said Kennedy, reflecting on qualifying for his fourth Olympics. "A totally different perspective, to go out there, have fun, enjoy the moment, try to make a million shots for the guys and I just embraced and loved every single minute out there." For Gallant, this Olympics is going to be extra special, as he is also competing in mixed doubles with his partner Jocelyn Peterman. Gallant is the first Canadian to compete in both disciplines at the same Games. In 2022, Gallant's family and friends were not able to come to Beijing to watch. This time, his whole family will be there, including Gallant and Peterman's son Luke, who gets to watch his parents chase their Olympic dream together. "I took Luke to the rink just a few days before we came out here. He gave me a lot of perspective and he had a lot of fun," said Gallant, pausing to collect himself as he was overcome with emotion speaking about his son. "It brought me back to the joy that I have in curling...It gets really competitive. It's stressful and you kind of forget why we started curling in the first place, and that's because we fell in love with the support...Got to thank [Luke] for that perspective and it's going to be great to have him there in Italy." For Jacobs, it has been a long journey back to the Olympics. He left the sport in early 2022 to take a break and "reconnect with why I love the game." He returned and played with Reid Carruthers briefly before joining Hebert, Gallant and Kennedy for the 2024-25 season. "We know it's a grind. We know that wearing the maple leaf can be a bit of a heavy burden," Jacobs said. "It's not easy to do this, but you know what? We're up for the challenge. We're excited. We know it's going to be probably the toughest bonspiel that we play in. But yeah, just looking forward to hopefully peaking again, bringing our best to the Olympics in February." Jacobs' Olympic journey begins with the first round robin draw on February 11, where Canada faces Germany. |
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Calgary's Brad Jacobs (Photo: Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver) defeats Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone 6-5, winning 2 games to 0 in a best-of-three final at the Montana's Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Halifax, N.
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