News National

Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., is fresh off of winning Olympic gold, but on the road to the Grand Slam of Curling National title he’ll have to face one of the skips who managed to defeat him in Sochi, Russia: Niklas Edin of Sweden.

Team Jacobs facing Team Edin is just one of the matchups that highlights the round-robin portion of the 2014 Syncrude National as 18 of the top men’s curling teams in the world clash at MacDonald Island Park in Fort McMurray, Alta.

Here are five matches you don’t want to miss at the Syncrude National:

Niklas Edin vs. Brad Jacobs (March 13, 5 p.m. MT)

Jacobs won the gold medal last month, but Edin has been victorious in their previous two high-profile meetings. Edin topped Jacobs in the world championship final a year ago and was victorious again in the round-robin at the Sochi Games. The loss to Edin dropped Jacobs to a 1-2 record in the Olympics but from there won eight in a row to claim the gold medal. Edin fell to Great Britain’s David Murdoch in the semifinals and settled for bronze with a win over China’s Rui Liu.

Brad Jacobs vs. Brad Gushue (March 13, 8:30 p.m. MT)

A matchup between two skips who have won Olympic gold. Gushue, from St. John’s, N.L., earned his gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics. The two teams faced off in the Road to the Roar pre-trial tournament in November where Jacobs grabbed the final spot in the Canadian Olympic trials with a 7-5 win and Gushue’s team was left on the outside looking in.

Mike McEwen vs. Jeff Stoughton (March 14, 5 p.m. MT)

An all-Winnipeg matchup, McEwen and Stoughton are frequent competitors for the Manitoba provincial title. Stoughton has beaten McEwen three times in the Safeway Championship final (2010, 2011, and 2014) to represent Manitoba in the Brier. McEwen bested Stoughton in the Masters final in 2010 for his first career Grand Slam title and again for his most recent championship in the series in the 2011 Canadian Open. It’s also a rematch of last year’s National final where Stoughton downed McEwen 8-2 in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.

Glenn Howard vs. Kevin Koe (March 14, 5 p.m. MT)

This matchup sees the two skips who have already claimed Grand Slam titles this season. Howard, from Penetanguishene, Ont., ran the table to win the Masters in early November while Koe’s Calgary-based club took home the Canadian Open title two weeks later. Although neither team can complete the series sweep for the $1-million prize, both could still win a bonus at the end of the Slam season for finishing among the top three leaders in points. In fact, it was Koe who denied Howard a chance at the big prize during their semifinal showdown at the Canadian Open. Howard finished first overall last season to earn $50,000.

Kevin Martin vs. Jeff Stoughton (March 14, 8:30 p.m. MT)

Only four skips have completed a career Grand Slam and this matchup sees two of them face off. Stoughton won the National a year ago to complete the feat while Martin, from Edmonton, was the first to earn the honour and has won the most Slam titles all-time with 17.