It was the first meeting between the teams since Team Jacobs routed the Chinese team 11-2 in the bronze-medal game at the 2025 BKT World Men\u2019s Curling Championship last April in Moose Jaw, Sask.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the seasoned veteran team in us really emerged tonight,\u201d said Jacobs, whose team needs a top-four finish here to secure a berth for Canada at next spring\u2019s LGT World Men\u2019s Championship in Ogden, Utah. \u201cIt was conditions that I would say we\u2019re not used to playing all the time. It was a little quicker, a little straighter, very release-sensitive, and I think we just adopted well to the conditions and we hit our weights really well tonight. We were able to manage stones down the sheet and I think that was important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadians were in control most of the way, taking one in the first end and stealing another in the second. The Chinese tied it with a deuce in the third, but Canada put together a well-crafted deuce of its own in the fourth, as Jacobs finished it off with a draw to an open house.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/CLS_2025102000963.jpg\")
Ben Hebert, left, and Brett Gallant await sweeping instructions during Monday night\u2019s win. (Photo, World Curling\/Caroline Sherman)<\/p>\n
After a blanked fifth and a forced single for China in the sixth, a wonderful shot from Jacobs, aided by superb sweeping from the front end of Hebert and Gallant and a nervy line call from Kennedy put a game-turning three on the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, those are the shots that I most look forward to as a skip; when I know that we need to be very precise,\u201d said Jacobs with a smile. \u201cThere\u2019s a tough line call awaiting, we have to sweep it as best we can and we know the reward at the end is probably that we\u2019re going to win the game. So I get really excited for those shots and I know that the team does, too, and we\u2019ve made a lot of those shots as a team since I\u2019ve come on board. Hopefully we can make a bunch more.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadian men are back in action Tuesday at 3 p.m. (all times Eastern) against reigning Pan Continental B Division champions Team Marc Pfister of the Philippines (1-0\/0-1).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t want to put too much emphasis on it but it\u2019s nice when you get that first one under your belt,\u201d said Kennedy. \u201cEverybody gets comfortable, and momentum\u2019s important to us and to our skip. So if we can get the train rolling early, it\u2019s a good feeling. Everybody will be in good spirits tonight and ready to attack tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other Monday night men\u2019s games, Team John Shuster of the United States, playing in front of an abundance of friends and family, raced to an 8-1 win over Japan\u2019s Team Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi; Team Marc Pfister of the Philippines knocked off Australia\u2019s Team Hugh Millikin 9-3; and South Korea\u2019s Team Soo-Hyuk Kim defeated New Zealand\u2019s Team Sean Becker 11-4.<\/p>\n
The Canadian women\u2019s team of skip Rachel Homan, vice-skip Tracy Fleury, second Emma Miskew, lead Sarah Wilkes, alternate Rachelle Brown, and coaches Renee Sonnenberg and Viktor Kjell opens play Tuesday at 10 a.m. against Japan\u2019s Team Satsuki Fujisawa, and is back on the ice at 8 p.m. against New Zealand\u2019s Team Bridget Becker.<\/p>\n
Scores, standings and full team lineups are available by CLICKING HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n All games will be available on World Curling\u2019s streaming platform, The Curling Channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n