News National

FORT MCMURRAY, Alta. — Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., stole one point in the eighth and two in the extra end to edge Regina’s Brock Virtue 8-6 during Draw 2 action Thursday at the Syncrude National.

It was the first game for Jacobs since capturing the Olympic gold medal at the Sochi Winter Games last month. The Syncrude National is the third of four stops on the Grand Slam of Curling circuit featuring 18 of the top men’s teams from around the world competing for a $100,000 CAD purse.

Elsewhere in Draw 2, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen thumped Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 7-1 in only five ends. McEwen scored three points in the first and stole two in the second to jump out to an early 5-0 lead. Bottcher settled for his single in the third to get on the scoreboard, but McEwen continued to press on the pedal replying with a single in the fourth and a steal of one in the fifth.

Oskar Eriksson of Sweden shook off a rough start to win 7-3 over Soo-Hyuk Kim of South Korea. After giving up single steals in the first couple of ends, Eriksson got on track scoring three in the third and stealing pairs of points in the fourth and fifth ends. Kim was limited to one in the sixth and shook hands.

Halifax’s Mark Dacey defeated Pascal Hess of Switzerland 6-4. Dacey broke a 1-1 tie with a three-ender in the third, but Hess responded with a single in the fourth followed by a steal of two in the fifth to knot it back up again. Dacey grabbed the lead for good with a single in the sixth and tacked on a steal of one in the final frame.

Edmonton’s Kevin Martin scored a single in the extra end to win 6-5 over Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock. It was the second round-robin match for both teams as Martin improved to a 2-0 record while Laycock is now level at 1-1.