Jacobs, Dunstone advance to AMJ Players’ Championship semifinals
TORONTO — Team Brad Jacobs and Team Matt Dunstone made it through the all-Canadian men’s quarterfinals in the Players’ Championship.
Jacobs made a tap to score two in the eighth end to eliminate Team John Epping 8-6 and Dunstone downed Team Mike McEwen 6-1 Saturday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
The Calgary-based Team Jacobs will play Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat while Dunstone and his crew from Winnipeg go up against Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller in the evening semifinals (7:30 p.m. ET; Sportsnet One and Sportsnet+).
The reigning world champion Mouat and world silver medallist Schwaller received byes to the semis.
Jacobs earned bronze at the men’s worlds, losing only two games during the week, both of them to Mouat, in pool play and the semifinals.
Dunstone finished runner-up in the Canadian men’s curling championship to Jacobs. All four men’s semifinal teams sit at the top of the world rankings.
Jacobs’s win over Epping also meant Team Brad Gushue will get the third and final pre-qualifying berth based on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) standings for next season’s Montana’s Brier. Epping needed to win the AMJ Players’ Championship outright to earn enough points to surpass Gushue. The 2026 Montana’s Brier will take place in Gushue’s hometown of St. John’s, N.L.
Mouat, who won three straight Grand Slam of Curling titles to start the season, is looking to become the first to win four in the series during a single season. With compatriots Team Ross Whyte taking the WFG Masters, a Mouat title win would also make it the first time Scotland has swept all five Grand Slam men’s championships.
Canada’s Team Rachel Homan faces South Korea’s Team Eun-jung Kim and Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg plays Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni in the women’s semifinals.
Homan stole two points in the eighth end to eliminate Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura 6-4, and Hasselborg doubled up on South Korea’s Team Seung-youn Ha 6-3 earlier in the quarterfinals.
The record 17-time Grand Slam women’s champion Homan is seeking a first at the AMJ Players’ Championship to become just the second women’s skip to capture every title in the series.
Hasselborg was the first and is looking for a second straight title in the series after defeating Homan in the WFG Masters final in January.
Homan is also aiming for a fifth consecutive Grand Slam final. She finished runner-up to Team Kerri Einarson in the HearingLife Tour Challenge and captured back-to-back titles at the Co-op Canadian Open and KIOTI National.
Tickets are available at the Mattamy Athletic Centre box office and online at Ticketmaster.ca. Live streaming of every game is also available in free preview via HomeTeam.
