SASKATOON - Brad Jacobs (Picture: Curling Canada) is through to the championship final at the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials after picking up a lopsided victory against Kevin Koe in Saturday afternoon's semi-final. By: Dylan Chenier Jacobs started the game with hammer and blanked the first two ends. Things really started to take off for Jacobs' rink in the third end, when they put up a huge score of four. Koe was unable to answer back in the fourth end and settled for the single. Team Jacobs took full advantage of hammer in the fifth end scoring another four points. After just five ends of play, Jacobs had built up a remarkable 8-1 lead. Koe's only multiple-point end of the game came in the sixth end, where he put up a deuce on the board. Despite cutting into Jacobs' lead somewhat, Koe's rink recognized just how unlikely the comeback was, opting for handshakes after just six ends of play. With the win, Jacobs is now just one victory away from returning to the Olympic games, after he successfully skipped Canada to gold at the 2014 Games in Sochi. "What can I say? We put a lot of rocks in great spots. Ryan, EJ, and Mark were incredible in front of me this game like they have been all week. We took advantage of a couple of opportunities that were handed to us," said Jacobs. Despite the rather one-sided nature of the game, Jacobs and Koe were rather evenly matched in terms of percentages. In fact, it was Koe's team leading the way at 96% compared to Team Jacobs' 94%. Between the two skips, Kevin Koe curled 96% on 12 shots, whereas Gushue put up 92% on the same number of shots. Jacobs says the team was well prepared coming into today's draw. "Big win, I think one of the keys to our performance today was we came out at noon and we had a really great practice, it was almost like hitting the driving range before going out for your final round. We hit the ice loose, everybody's really just enjoying the experience, we're doing everything we can to just stay grounded, make one shot at a time and it's going well." Up next for Jacobs is a meeting in the championship final with Newfoundland's Brad Gushue. Both skips are previous Olympic champions. Aside from Gushue's front end of Geoff Walker and Brett Gallant, all other men in tomorrow's game have already won Olympic gold. In fact, Team Jacobs' third Mark Kennedy has a chance to become the first Canadian male to compete in three Olympics, after he won gold with Kevin Martin in 2010, and competed at the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang. For Team Koe, the loss makes the end of their quest to make a second-consecutive Olympics. After winning the 2017 Trials in Ottawa, Koe's rink underperformed at the Winter Games, failing to win a medal. "I mean, it sucks right. What can you say? I thought we were ready to play, [but] unfortunately I strung together a few misses in a row from one end. First couple ends went the way we wanted and we knew we kinda had to take some chances against them but you know we missed few shots, and they made us pay," Koe said. It was hoped that Koe would have a shot at Olympic redemption, this time with a new lineup featuring third BJ Neufeld, second John Morris and lead Ben Hebert. However, it was not in the cards for Koe's rink this week in Saskatoon. Despite the fact that the team was the third-best rink in the field, the loss still stings. "It probably hasn't really sunk in yet. Came to a quick [end ] out there. You know, it sucks, I thought we definitely were good enough to get it done and I don't think that score's indicative enough of how we were playing." The men's final at the 2021 Tim Hortons Curling Trials takes place Sunday night at 7:00 PM CT, live inside the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon. SCORES and BRACKETS at wwww.culringzone.com |