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Team Jacobs celebrates a win during the Boost National in Sault Ste. Marie, ON on December 7, 2016.

Jacobs tops McDonald to kick off Boost National

CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, N.L. — Team Brad Jacobs picked up right where they left off in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling.

The Sault Ste. Marie crew, who captured their fourth title in series at the Tour Challenge last month, scored a 7-5 victory over Team Scott McDonald of Kingston in an all-Ontario battle during the opening draw of the Boost National Tuesday night.

Jacobs also entered the event coming off of a spirited Canada Cup victory this past Sunday.

“It’s always great, obviously, to get a win here at the Grand Slam,” third E.J. Harnden said. “We know no game is easy and Team McDonald’s had a really great year so far this year, so we knew we were going to be in tough. We’re all a bit tired. I think we’d be lying if we weren’t all a bit emotionally drained coming off of a big win at the Canada Cup, but we wanted to refocus, get ourselves re-energized and have another good week here and we’re off to a good start so far.”

Team Jacobs shuffled the lineup with third Ryan Fry on hiatus due to personal reasons. Harnden, who usually throws second, originally played third on the team prior to Fry’s arrival and is having fun at his new/old position.

“I’d be lying if I wasn’t a little bit excited and a little bit nervous at the same time,” Harnden said with a smile. “Obviously, not wanting to play third under the circumstance but just taking advantage of the opportunity, trying to do as best as I can and enjoy it as best I can. I think step one is complete. Get the win under our belt, get comfortable out there calling line and having some fun and we did that today.”

Winnipeg’s Matt Wozniak, who captured seven Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling titles with Team Mike McEwen, is filling in at second. Harnden said it’s awesome having a former longtime foe now a friend.

“When we knew we’d have to find someone for this Slam, we wanted to find someone that we could have a lot of fun with and enjoy our time on the ice with,” Harnden said. “Obviously, a really good player at the same time and Matt was a no-brainer and a perfect fit for this team. I know I’ve battled against Matt at second for so many years, he’s a great player, so it’s nice to be on his side this time.”

McDonald, who finished runner-up in the Tour Challenge Tier 2 division, started with the hammer, but Jacobs struck the scoreboard first. The 2014 Olympic gold medallist stole a point in the first when McDonald attempted a raise takeout and missed the mark.

Jacobs fell into trouble in the second stanza, however, allowing McDonald to recover and draw to score four points. Harnden explained how patience was the virtue as they did not let that four-ender sink their hopes.

“Brad, I think, we got a little bit misfortunate on his first one. It kind of grabbed and that made us kind of question the line on his second one,” Harnden said. “I think it was just putting it behind us. We had a little huddle before we went into the next end. We said, ‘Let’s get it back. We’re playing well and let’s be patient,’ and that paid off.”

The Jacobs gang regrouped and rallied right back with a deuce in three followed by back-to-back single steals in four and five to pull ahead 5-4. After Jacobs made a great come-around, draw to the button, McDonald was forced to follow the path and settle for only a single in six to knot it up.

Jacobs hit for a deuce in seven to grab the lead for good and ran McDonald out of rocks in eight.

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Elsewhere, Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller spoiled Team Brad Gushue’s homecoming edging the St. John’s side 8-6 in an extra end. The 11-time GSOC title winners were up 4-2 at the break but lost the lead as Schwaller settled for a single in five and stole two in the sixth as Gushue came up light on a draw.

Schwaller, the 2014 world junior champion, added another single steal in seven that brought a nervousness across the soldout Conception Bay South Arena crowd that had been cheering for Gushue all night long. Gushue took two in the eighth to force overtime, however, Schwaller made no mistake on his last in the extra end with a runback double takeout to seal the deal.

Team Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., picked up a 4-1 victory over Team Jason Gunnlaugson from Morris, Man.

In women’s play, Edmonton’s Team Chelsea Carey held off Team Nina Roth of the United States 8-7 and Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa scored four in the fifth end during a 9-5 win over Team Jamie Sinclair of the United States.

The Boost National is the fourth event and second major of the 2018-19 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 15 of the top men’s teams and 15 of the top women’s teams from around the world.

Both divisions are split into three pools for round-robin play with the top eight teams overall qualifying for Saturday’s quarterfinals. The semifinals are also set for Saturday with both finals taking place Sunday.

Round-robin play resumes Wednesday at 9 a.m. NT.

Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and streaming online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES: Winners of the Boost National collect $30,000 of the $250,000 total purse plus berths to the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season finale Humpty’s Champions Cup. … Points are also on the line for the Pinty’s Cup, which is awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship in April. … All games are played to eight ends with 33 minutes of thinking time plus two, 90-second timeouts. The five-rock rule is also in effect.

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