The path to the Olympics remains open for Sault Ste. Marie curlers as Brad Jacobs and the Harnden brothers advanced following a dramatic conclusion to round robin play at the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials
The Olympic dream is still alive for Sault curlers Brad Jacobs, E.J. Harnden, and Ryan Harnden.
Round robin play in the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials wrapped up Wednesday night in Halifax and all three players have moved on.
Jacobs, who is skipping an Alberta-based team that includes third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and lead Ben Hebert earned an automatic spot in the best-of-three final thanks to a 6-1 record in round robin play.
The Jacobs rink sealed their final berth on Wednesday morning thanks to a 6-2 win over Matt Dunstone’s Manitoba-based rink that includes the Harnden brothers.
The Dunstone rink dropped a 9-5 decision to Mike McEwen in Wednesday’s evening draw to fall to 4-2. McEwen grabbed one of the two available semifinal spots thanks to the win while Dunstone would be forced to await the result of Jacobs’ final game of the day against Brad Gushue to find out whether they would advance.
A win by Gushue over Jacobs would have knocked the Dunstone rink out of the tournament.
Leading 4-3 through eight ends, Jacobs would score a steal of one in the ninth end to take a 5-3 lead into the 10th with Gushue having the hammer coming home.
On his final shot, facing a triple for the win, Gushue missed and gave up a steal of one, giving Jacobs a 6-3 win and ending his own tournament in the process.
Dunstone would grab third in the standings and will now face McEwen again on Thursday evening with a spot in the final against Jacobs on the line.