Tim Hortons Curling Trials Profile - Team Jacobs

With the Tim Hortons Curling Trials quickly approaching, TSN.ca will profile one men’s team and one women’s team each day before the first rocks fly on Nov. 20 at the SaskTel Centre in Saskatoon.

Team Brad Jacobs

The Lineup

Skip: Brad Jacobs (Age 36)
Third: Marc Kennedy (39)
Second: EJ Harnden (38)
Lead: Ryan Harnden (35)
Coach: Caleb Flaxey (38)

Curling Club: Soo Curlers Association in Sault Ste. Marie

2021-22 Season

Events: 5 (1 win)
Record: 23-7
CTRS Ranking: 2

Highlights: Team Jacobs are having a very solid season on Tour as they advanced to four straight finals to start the season. They won the season opening Oakville Labour Day Classic bonspiel after beating Tanner Horgan in the final. From there, they would lose the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard final to Bruce Mouat followed by the Western Showdown final to Kevin Koe. At the Masters in October, Jacobs and company dropped another championship game to Mouat and the Scots. At the National in November, also on the Grand Slam circuit, Team Jacobs failed to make the playoffs with a 1-3 record. 

How They Got Here

Qualified for the Tim Hortons Curling Trials via Curling Canada’s Canadian Team Ranking System.

Trials Schedule

Nov. 20 – John Epping
Nov. 21 – Matt Dunstone
Nov. 22 – Brendan Bottcher
Nov. 23 – Brad Gushue
Nov. 24 – Jason Gunnlaugson
Nov. 25 – Kevin Koe
Nov. 26 – Mike McEwen, Tanner Horgan

Expert Analysis from TSN's Russ Howard

Team Jacobs will win the Trials if…

"Team Jacobs is the only team with all four players having Olympic experience. Bringing on Marc Kennedy has paid dividends already. The key for Team Jacobs to win the Trials is recognizing when to bail and make room for Kennedy to set the table for Brad. They have the best defence in the field. Defence wins championships."

Trials Experience

Brad Jacobs entered the 2013 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials as the skip of the most exciting and up-and-coming foursome in men’s curling. 

Just 10 months prior, the then-28-year-old native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and his team of third Ryan Fry and the brother duo to EJ and Ryan Harnden – otherwise

known as the ‘Brush Bothers’ – captured their first Tim Hortons Brier in Edmonton. They made headlines across the sport for their intensity on the ice and their commitment to physical fitness off of it.

They didn’t miss a beat at the Trials, going 7-0 in the round robin, capping it off with a dramatic last shot victory over Kevin Martin, the defending champion.

The shot earned Team Jacobs a bye straight to the final where he would meet John Morris, who was skipping a team in British Columbia that season.

Jacobs’ rink shot a collective 93 per cent in the final and headed to the Sochi Olympics where they won gold for Canada in men’s curling for a third consecutive Olympics.

Four years later, Team Jacobs entered the Olympic Trials in the nation’s capital with the same lineup. They didn’t have the same success, however, and finished two games out of the playoffs with a 3-5 record.

Last Four Years

Jacobs has been a perennial Brier contender ever since his Tankard win in 2013 but has never gotten back to the top of the podium.

In late 2018, Fry took a leave of absence from the team following an incident at the Red Deer Classic. With Fry away, 2010 Olympic gold medalist Marc Kennedy filled in at vice and helped Team Jacobs win the prestigious Canada Cup in Estevan, Sask., beating Kevin Koe in the championship game.

"I think we controlled our emotions very well. That's one of the most relaxed I think I've ever seen our team in a final. At least in a long time," said Jacobs after the game.

Kennedy, who was competing against his former Olympic squad in Team Koe, said he felt the team meshed well together.

“I think we just really enjoyed each other and had a lot of fun. Sometimes that’s the secret to winning,” he said.

Fry was back with his team for the 2019 Canadian championship as Team Jacobs once again found themselves in the playoffs for a sixth straight time. Losses in the 1 vs. 2 game and the semifinals ended their Brier hopes and marked the unofficial end to Fry’s tenure with the team. At the end of the 2018-19 campaign, Team Jacobs announced Kennedy would be the team’s new third with Fry joining John Epping’s Toronto foursome.

The new-look Team Jacobs looked like a well-oiled machine early with many wins on Tour in 2019-20, including three-straight Grand Slams, and were primed to do some damage heading into the Tim Hortons Brier in Kingston.

After a slow start, Jacobs’ squad fought and clawed to get into the page playoff after winning a pair of tiebreakers. They ran out of gas in the 3 vs. 4 contest, losing to Brad Gushue.

Jacobs’ streak of seven straight Briers with a playoff appearance ended last year inside the Calgary bubble.