A sense of relief
Jacobs hammers Great Britain to complete curling sweep for Canada
‘The biggest word that comes to mind right now is relief. I’m relieved that this is all over with and we’re Olympic gold medallists. Wearing that maple leaf, there’s a lot of expectations.’
BRAD JACOBS Canadian skip
Brad Jacobs is a 28-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., who sold television sets at Future Shop before landing a job as an account manager at the Royal Bank of Canada and, more recently, a place at the Sochi Olympics. Asked for his dream dinner guests, he once replied: “Charlie Sheen and two of his goddesses.”
He’s been tagged as the vanguard in a new breed of curlers: cocky bordering on brash, his muscles and temper clashing with a sport layered in etiquette. Some also wonder if he might become the leader of the next great dynasty in Canadian curling, emotions and all.
“Banging your broom now and then, that’s OK,” Swedish men’s coach Eva Lund said. “I mean, it’s tense out there in the field of play. But maybe a little bit too much. I love to watch them play ... they are great, and I think they can be even more if they could control that emotion and their energy.”
On Friday, on the biggest stage of his life, Jacobs betrayed no hint of emotion until it was clear it was time to show emotion. He decimated an older, more worldly opponent, David Murdoch, to earn a 9-3 win over Great Britain. Murdoch shook hands after eight ends.
The win gave Canada a sweep of the curling medals in Sochi, after Jennifer Jones rolled to the women’s title Thursday. It is the third Olympic gold medal in a row for Canada’s men and the first time any country has swept both gold medals at one Games.
The pressure on the young skip was enormous. Jacobs made it to the championship game, but so had every single Canadian man to skip a rink at the Olympics. Making it to the big game was only part of the deal. Winning gold was the expectation.
“The biggest word that comes to mind right now is relief,” Jacobs said. “I’m relieved that this is all over with and we’re Olympic gold medallists. Wearing that maple leaf, there’s a lot of expectations.”
And youth became one of the storylines. Brad Gushue was only 25 when he won gold — and became a hero in Newfoundland — at the 2006 Turin Olympics, but he had enlisted the help of an old veteran, Russ Howard, on the way. Kevin Martin won in Vancouver, as a 43-year-old skip.
Jacobs has already been curling for almost 20 years, coming from a family of curlers. His rink is a reflection of that, with two first cousins — Ryan and E.J. Harnden — making up the front end. Ryan Fry, the journeyman veteran from Winnipeg, is the vice.
They won the Brier last year, the first time a rink from Northern Ontario won the national championship since before Jacobs was born.
And despite that win, they still had to take a longer road to Sochi, battling through a pre-qualifying tournament just to get to the actual Olympic qualifiers in Winnipeg in December.
Jacobs won his Olympic debut, against Germany, but lost his next two, dropping down to seventh in ish coach’s comments. “It doesn’t affect us; it doesn’t make us mad or any of that. It actually makes us play better.”
Murdoch, meanwhile, struggled. He rolled too far after a takeout in the second end, stuck with one point when a tie was possible. The Scotsman surrendered three to Canada in the third end, and then misfired twice in the fourth to allow a steal of one, going down 6-1 in front of an only partially-filled Ice Cube Curling Centre.
“It just feels like a bit of a kick in the teeth,” Murdoch said.
In the seventh end, down 8-2, Murdoch was curling at just 63 per cent, while Jacobs — who had not betrayed a hint of emotion — was at 94 per cent, staring blankly ahead.
“We’re an emotional team,” Ryan Harnden said. “We’re always going to be like that. I think it’s good for the game. I think it’s changing the game. That’s what the game needs.”