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Brad Jacobs in action at the 2017 Humpty's Champions Cup in Calgary. (Anil Mungal)

Jacobs hammers Morris to start Champions Cup run

CALGARY — Brad Jacobs wasn’t quite sure what to expect entering the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup.

Without any ice to practice on back home in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Jacobs hadn’t thrown rocks around since the WestJet Players’ Championship two weeks ago in Toronto.

That didn’t seem to faze him as the reigning Olympic champ jumped out of the gate hammering John Morris of Vernon, B.C., 7-2 in Draw 4 action Wednesday afternoon.

“These Grand Slams are so tough,” said Jacobs, who threw a perfect 100 percent in the game. “Every win is important. We came out and played really well. We didn’t really know what to expect going into this week because we haven’t had ice since the Players’ and I don’t think a lot of people have curling ice. It seemed like we just picked up where we left off.”

Already up 2-1 after three, Jacobs (1-0) and his crew were firing on all cylinders in the fourth to score a five-ender.

A frustrated Morris (0-1) settled for just another single in five and shook hands during the sixth before the teams even got around to throwing the final rocks with Team Jacobs continuing to pour on the pressure.

“When we got the five on them it’s just one of those instances where I think they’re down and on themselves and we’re in total control of the game. So as long as we don’t mess too badly the game is pretty well a lock,” Jacobs said. “We just played really well that game. The boys made everything in that end that we got five and really set it up for my shots to finish it off and we finished it off which was good.”

It was a rematch of last month’s Princess Auto Elite 10 final where Morris edged Jacobs for his 11th career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title. Catlin Schneider is playing second again on Team Morris this week with Rick Sawatsky out and Tyrel Griffith shifting over to lead.

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Elsewhere, Toronto’s John Epping earned a 7-6 extra-end victory over hometown hero Kevin Koe of Calgary. After falling behind by three, Epping erased the deficit and then some with a four-ender in the fourth to take the lead.

“That end was kind of okay then they got us into a bit trouble, looked like we were going to get forced and then Kevin missed his first one in that end and when the smoke cleared I had a shot to sit four,” Epping said. “Obviously that’s a big game-changer when we were looking like we were down and out and then all of a sudden we’re back in the lead. Big momentum.”

Koe was forced to a single in five to tie it, Epping matched in six and stole in seven to take a two-point advantage. The 2016 world champ Koe scored a deuce in eight to force the extra and Epping made a draw against two counters to secure the wild win.

“The guys knew the spot and gave me a good feel for what to throw,” Epping said. “It was perfect. We really needed that one.”

Epping opens with a 1-0 record while Koe is now level at 1-1.

Meanwhile, Braeden Moskowy won in his return to the skip role defeating Scotland’s Grant Hardie in a 6-3 set.

With Reid Carruthers away at the world mixed doubles championship, Moskowy (1-0) has taken over the Winnipeg-based squad and is calling the shots for the first time in years. Derek Samagalski and Colin Hodgson have also moved up in the lineup with new alternate/adviser Craig Savill in at lead. The two-time world and 12-time Grand Slam champ Savill just joined the club late last month.

Hardie dropped to a 0-2 record.

Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland scored her second win of the day holding on to beat American Jamie Sinclair 7-5. Tirinzoni (2-0) took two in the first and stole three in the third for an early 5-0 lead.

With Tirinzoni up 6-2 after five, Sinclair (0-2) narrowed the gap with a deuce in six and stole one in seven. Tirinzoni held the hammer coming home and tallied another point to escape with the victory.

Jacqueline Harrison of Mississauga, Ont., edged out China’s Bingyu Wang 5-4. Harrison starts at 1-0 while Wang fell to 0-2.

Round-robin action continues through to Friday evening at WinSport Arena with the top eight men’s and women’s teams qualifying for the weekend playoffs. TV coverage begins Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sportsnet One.