Canada’s Morris vs. Jacobs in final
CALGARY— Team Canada’s John Morris will face Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs in Sunday’s final of the Canadian men’s curling championship.
Canada beat Brad Gushue of Newfoundland and Labrador 8-6 in Saturday’s semifinal at Scotiabank Saddledome.
It was the seventh win for Canada since Morris demoted himself to third and handed skipping duties off to Pat Simmons midway through the preliminary round.
The Glencoe Club rink from Calgary claimed the fourth and final playoff berth with a 7-4 record in the round robin. Canada edged Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock 8-7 in an extra end in Saturday’s earlier playoff game between the third and fourth seeds.
Jacobs topped the preliminary round with a 10-1 record. His Sault Ste. Marie team won a Canadian title two years ago and Olympic gold last year.
Sunday’s winner represents Canada at the world men’s curling championship in Halifax later this month.
Gushue will face Saskatchewan for the bronze medal Sunday.
Earlier Saturday, Canada had lastrock advantage in the extra end against Saskatchewan. Laycock’s attempt at tapping Canada’s shot stone off the back of the button with his final stone missed. Simmons didn’t have to throw his final stone.
“We managed to just hang in there,” Morris said. “A win’s a win and we’ll take it. We live to see another day here. We’re running on adrenaline now, so it’s all good.”
Simmons, second Carter Rycroft and lead Nolan Thiessen won last year’s Tim Hortons Brier in Kamloops, B.C., with Kevin Koe at skip.
Koe left to form a new team, so his former teammates recruited Morris to skip the first team to wear the Maple Leaf at the Brier. A Team Canada was incorporated into this year’s championship for the first time.
Saskatchewan and Canada both finished 7-4 in the preliminary round to earn berths in the Page playoff between the third and fourth seeds. Laycock earned the higher seeding for the Page playoff game between them virtue of a win over Canada in the round-robin.
Laycock will play for the bronze medal Sunday against Gushue. His current team of third Kirk Muyres, second Colton Flasch and lead Dallas Muyres finished just out of the playoffs at 6-5 in last year’s Brier.