News National

This week’s Throwback Thursday feature rewinds to the National in November 2014, a homecoming event for Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team.

The second event of the 2014-15 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season was held at the Essar Centre and marked Jacobs’ first major event on home ice since capturing the Olympic gold medal at the Sochi Winter Games.

Jacobs had yet to win a Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title at that point and was looking to score No. 1 right in his own backyard.

It almost looked like Jacobs wouldn’t even qualify for the playoffs at first as his team held a 1-2 record in round-robin play. Like in the Olympics though, where he also got off to a 1-2 start, being on the verge of elimination seemed to get his team fired up. Jacobs, third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden won four consecutive games to punch their ticket into the final.

Meanwhile, the Winnipeg crew of Mike McEwen, B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld were off to a sensational start to the season winning four consecutive World Curling Tour titles and finishing runner-up at the Masters. As you may recall, it was during the Masters final where McEwen made an unbelievable triple takeout to score four against Brad Gushue. While McEwen’s shot stole the show, it was Gushue who went home with the hardware.

Although McEwen already had three Grand Slams to his name, he was also experiencing a bit of a title drought at the majors with a trio of second-place finishes since winning his previous championship at the Canadian Open in 2011.

The National final between Jacobs and McEwen was a more conservative affair than the Masters, with singles going steady all the way and not one multi-point end.

McEwen struggled through the early stages of the game giving up a steal in the first and settling for a single in the second when he was looking to score a handful. McEwen swiped a point in the third and Jacobs added another in the fourth to make it all square at the midway mark.

“I didn’t feel normal through the first four ends,” McEwen said after the game. “I was a little shaky, I wasn’t feeling myself but the boys played so well in front of me that despite me being a little bit off that they hung in there, made a lot of shots in front of me and I was able to make some big ones for the team at the end.”

McEwen also misfired on a blank attempt in the fifth as he put one more on the board instead to go ahead 3-2. Jacobs blanked the sixth. Another steal for McEwen in the seventh made it a two-point deficit for Jacobs, who held the hammer coming home.

Down but not out, Jacobs had an opportunity to tie it in the eighth as he looked to make a double raise double takeout with his last shot to keep his title chances alive. The angle on the second raise was just a little off, however, and McEwen’s stone jammed to stick around for shot rock.

Team McEwen spoiled the homecoming party with a 5-2 victory to earn their fourth career Grand Slam championship together and fifth tour title of the season.

“It feels like a lot of validation of the things that we’re doing as a team,” McEwen said, “and that feels really good.”

While it was certainly a pro-Jacobs crowd, you can always count on curling fans to cheer for good shots regardless of which side they’re on.

“There was a huge crowd and a lot of support for curling and their hometown team but it was awesome, it feels great,” Wozniak said during a post-game interview. “It was fun to play in front of them even though Jacobs was getting most of the cheers, but we were getting some too so it was good.”

Red playoff pants ruled on that day, however, Jacobs settled the score later that season earning his first Grand Slam title at the Players’ Championship by defeating McEwen in the final.

The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling returns to the Essar Centre for the 2016 Boost National running Dec. 6-11. Full-event passes are now on sale for a special early bird rate, click here for details to purchase yours today.