News Canadian Open

NISKU, Alta. — Calgary’s Team Brad Jacobs doubled up on Winnipeg’s Team Matt Dunstone 4-2 during Draw 3 Tuesday in the Co-op Canadian Open at Silent Ice Center.

It was a bit of a revenge win for Jacobs, who had defeated Dunstone during last month’s HearingLife Tour Challenge to qualify for the playoffs but lost the rematch in the quarterfinals.

“They got our number, they got us at the end of the last Slam and knocked us out, so we always know we’re going to have a close game with them,” Team Jacobs second Brett Gallant said. “They’re great shooters and it’s just nice to get back on top in this one.”

Jacobs was in charge with the hammer to start. After blanking the first couple of ends, his patience paid off in the third as Dunstone hit a guard and allowed Jacobs to draw for a deuce and a 2-0 lead.

Dunstone responded with a draw of his own for two in the fourth to tie it up heading into the break.

Jacobs repeated his starting pattern with back-to-back blanks and a strong seventh end. The seven-time Grand Slam champion nicknamed Cups made a double takeout on his first skip stone plus a short raise tap on his last to pot another pair of points.

“We either had the hammer or the lead all of the game, so we always felt like we were in control,” Gallant said. “For the first game of the event, I thought we played really well and it was good. Cups made a couple of great shots when we had the hammer for our deuces and he made a nice double to force them to two in the fourth end when it was looking a little scary. It was a great game.” 

Dunstone was in trouble in the eighth end and things went from bad to worse as he slipped and fell out of the hack with his first skip stone going through the house untouched. Jacobs guarded up Dunstone’s only path to possibly score a tying two points and opted to shake hands.

Meanwhile, Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen scored four in the first end and rolled out to a 9-3 victory over Team John Shuster of the United States.

Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller beat Team Rylan Kleiter of Saskatoon 6-2 and Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat held on for a 5-4 win over Switzerland’s Team Marco Hösli.

UP NEXT

Round-robin play continues with Draw 4 at 8:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. MT. Online streaming for every game is available in free preview at thegrandslamofcurling.com.

Coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ begins Thursday at 2 p.m. ET / noon MT.

NOTES

The Co-op Canadian Open is the second Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening. The top eight teams advance to the playoffs. If necessary, one tiebreaker draw will be played Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with both finals on tap Sunday.