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Brad Jacobs in action at the 2016 Players’ Championship in Toronto. (Anil Mungal)

Eight Ends: Jacobs back in business on curling tour

That’s more like it for Team Brad Jacobs.

The Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., crew completed an impressive 8-1 run through Saskatoon to claim the College Clean Restoration Curling Classic by doubling up on Norway’s Thomas Ulsrud 6-3 in Monday’s final.

The win snapped a bit of a title drought for the reigning Olympic champs dating back to their previous tour victory at the Players’ Championship in April 2015. They were notably absent at last season’s Humpty’s Champions Cup for that precise reason with the requirement being teams had to win a high-profile tournament to get in and without any wins they were left off the list to the year-ending Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event.

Jacobs had a handful of semifinal finishes last season and a return trip to the Players’ Championship final with a nail-biter match against Brad Gushue up until an unlucky pick in the seventh end saw his title defence slip away. The Northern Ontario team also had undefeated round-robin record through a deep Tim Hortons Brier field only to lose back-to-back playoff games and edge out Manitoba’s Mike McEwen for a bronze medal.

The Humpty’s Champions Cup field includes a handful of World Curling Tour winners based on those events’ strength of field multiplier (SFM). The Saskatoon tournament this past weekend carried the second-highest SFM up to this point in the season — and more WCT spots can open up if there are repeat winners — so Team Jacobs are at least “in good standing” for now.

Of course we haven’t even played the first Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, never mind the last one, so perhaps we shouldn’t think too far ahead just yet. Still, getting back into the win column this early into the season is exactly what Jacobs needed.

1st End: Super spare, Part I — Gushue out, Simmons in

Team Gushue will look to another “super spare” to help power them through a tournament.

Pat Simmons joins the St. John’s team for their trip overseas to the Swiss Cup Basel this weekend with Gushue still recovering from a hip/groin issue that has kept him sidelined for the start of the season.

The team has actually done quite well in the interim by maintaining their top spot on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit (OOM) relying on fill-ins Adam Spencer and Charley Thomas during their first two weeks on tour.

2nd End: Super spare, Part II – Jones out, Kreviazuk in

Team Jones also continues the season without skip Jennifer Jones as the Winnipeg squad heads to Sweden for the Stockholm Ladies Cup.

Joining them is former Team Homan second Alison Kreviazuk, who now lives in Sweden and was recently hired by the Swedish Curling Association as a head coach for mixed doubles, junior and development.

Kreviazuk will play second with Jill Officer moving up to third and Kaitlyn Lawes handling skip duties, according to the World Curling Tour team page for the event.

The two-time Canadian champion Kreviazuk spared for the team at the event last season filling in for lead Dawn McEwen.

Jones gave birth to her second daughter Skyla last month.

3rd End: Elsewhere this week

The Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling Classic goes down in Vernon, B.C. Local rink Team Morris leads the men’s field set to compete in the event.

The women’s side features a deep field including defending champ Stefanie Lawton of Saskatoon, whose win last year booked a spot into the Humpty’s Champions Cup. Tournament of Hearts winner Chelsea Carey of Calgary, Val Sweeting and Kelsey Rocque of Edmonton and Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson are among the top Canadian women’s teams set to face off. World silver medallist Satsuki Fujisawa of Japan and 2009 world champ Bingyu Wang of China will also be in action.

The Avonair Cash Spiel takes place in Edmonton as SooHyuk Kim of South Korea looks to make it a three-peat at the tournament on the men’s side.

The KKP Classic is also on this weekend at the Fort Rouge Curling Club in Winnipeg.

4th End: Rewind — Men’s tour recap

Winnipeg’s David Bohn successfully defended the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic title in his hometown defeating Chang-Min Kim of South Korea 6-5 in an extra end during Sunday’s final.

Richard Krell of Waterloo, Ont., also won on home ice at the KW Fall Classic with a 5-4 extra end victory over Ryan LeDrew of Sarnia, Ont., on Sunday.

Stuart Thompson topped Chad Stevens 5-4 Sunday in an all-Halifax team battle for the Lakeshore Curling Club Cashspiel in Lower Sackville, N.S.

5th End: Rewind — Women’s tour recap

Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater scored a point in the extra end to edge Julie Tippin of Woodstock 6-5 Sunday during an all-Ontario team battle for the KW Fall Classic.

Michelle Englot picked up her first title win with her new Winnipeg-based team defeating Joelle Brown 7-6 Sunday at the Mother Club Fall Curling Classic. Englot’s teammates Kate Cameron, Leslie Wilson-Westcott and Raunora Westcott won the event a year ago with their previous skip, Kristy McDonald.

Nancy McConnery of Dartmouth stole a point in the eighth to beat Halifax’s Jill Brothers 5-4 Sunday and claim the Lakeshore Curling Club Cashspiel.

6th End: Horgan repeats as Stu Sells junior champ

Team Horgan ran the table this past weekend to successfully defend the Stu Sells Junior Tankard men’s title.

The Sudbury, Ont., team of skip Tanner Horgan, third Jacob Horgan, second Nicholas Bissonnette and lead Maxime Blais have now earned a berth to the Stu Sells Toronto Tankard to take on the top men’s teams during the Thanksgiving weekend.

Joining the Horgan brothers at the Toronto event are their older sisters Tracy Fleury and Jenn Wylie. Their rink, Team Fleury, will be in action in the women’s division at the tournament.

Hailey Armstrong’s Ottawa-based team won the Stu Sells Junior Tankard women’s title the previous weekend to qualify for the women’s Toronto tournament.

7th End: Four weeks to the WFG Masters

The WFG Masters teams were announced this past week headlined by the world No. 1 ranked Team Homan and Team Gushue. Expect the draw schedule to be announced later this week.

For the full list of teams to the event, click here.

Also, with four weeks to go until the start of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season, we kicked off “Masters Mondays” to highlight the history of the event. Check out our retrospective look at the World Cup of Curling years by clicking here.

Tickets are now available for the WFG Masters, running Oct. 25-30 in Okotoks, Alta., visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets for more details.

8th End: Tour Challenge Tuesdays

A quick glance of the schedule indicates a short window between the Masters and the following Pinty’s GSOC event, the Tour Challenge, taking place Nov. 8-13 in Cranbrook, B.C.

The cut-off date to qualify for the Tier 1 portion, featuring the top 15 men’s and women’s teams, is this weekend. Once those fields have been finalized, the Tier 2 invitations will be distributed to 15 more men’s and women’s teams: 10 based on OOM rankings and five local teams each.

Tickets are also available for the Tour Challenge, visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets for more details.