Jacobs rink rallies late to claim Canada Cup

ESTEVAN, Sask. — Brad Jacobs finally has his Canada Cup.

The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., skip defeated 2015 champion Kevin Koe of Calgary 5-4 in the men’s final Sunday.

Jacobs was the runner-up at the 2014 Canada Cup in Camrose, Alta.

“This is a great event, top Canadian teams — men and women — so any time you can sneak out a win like this, it means a lot,” said Jacobs. “You only get so many opportunities to win events like this, to put this on our resume feels great.”

The 2014 Olympic gold medallist kept the hammer in the final end and made a final rock hit to seal the victory.

Koe was behind 4-2 after the seventh before scoring one in the eighth and stealing one in the ninth to tie the game at 4-4.

“Our hitting and drawing have been really good this week ... with five-rock [rule] there are still ways you can keep it relatively open and I think we did a very good job of that,” said Jacobs.

“We just controlled the scoreboard. I think we outplayed them tonight up and down the lineup, didn’t give them too many opportunities to score the deuce back. I think we played a nice defensive style curling game.”

Koe had a chance to match Jacobs’ first-end deuce in the fifth when he had a draw for two, but the throw didn’t count because of a time violation.

“I know the officials are here trying their best, but I think they just did a really poor job there,” said Koe, a two-time world champion (2010, 2016).

“We took a timeout and they told us we had 11 seconds and they didn’t correct the clock. I know I missed my shot and we could have communicated better ... even if I throw it good, we don’t get it. That’s not why we lost the game.”

A new timing system, which allots four minutes per end in the first five and 4:15 in the last five, was being tested at the tournament as a possible replacement for the 38-minute game time. It will not be used at this year’s Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Brier or the World Men’s Curling Championship, and the final decision rests in the hands of the World Curling Federation.

Jacobs’ rink will take home $14,000 for the victory, plus $10,000 for its five round-robin victories. Team Koe gets $9,000 for finishing second and $8,000 for its four preliminary-round wins.

Earlier Sunday, Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones beat Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., 8-5 to win her record fourth women’s title at the tournament.