STONEWALL — Brad Jacobs can now add a Buffalo jacket to his long list of career accomplishments.
Jacobs — who won gold at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi 10 years ago this month — skipped Team Reid Carruthers to the Manitoba men’s provincial curling title Sunday with a 6-3 victory over Fort Rouge’s Braden Calvert inside Stonewall’s Veterans Memorial Sports Complex.
When the dust settled, the import skip from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., third Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski, and lead Connor Njegovan embraced in a group hug on the ice as they will represent Manitoba at next month’s Brier in Regina (March 1-10).
“I’m sure there were some Northern Ontario fans and people that were watching that game from home, probably a little sad that I’m not in Northern Ontario playing with my cousins. But, with that being said, I love being on this new team with these guys,” said Jacobs. “They’ve got my back, they’ve supported me all week, and I’m really proud to throw that Buffalo on and represent as best as I possibly can with my teammates.”
Despite being the tournament No. 1 seed and having loads of experience, this week was far from a cakewalk for Carruthers and Co. Charleswood’s Riley Smith knocked them off on Friday in a massive 8-7 upset. They quickly dusted themselves off to win three straight before losing another 8-7 thriller, this time in an extra-end to Calvert in the 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game Saturday night.
The loss forced them to take the sceneic route to the final where they met Assiniboine’s Jordon McDonald in the morning semi. The junior team pushed them to the limit as Jacobs had to connect on a double takeout on his last rock to come away with a 10-7 win and a chance at redemption later in the day against Calvert.
Carruthers, 38, is now an eight-time men’s champion (three with Stoughton, two with Mike McEwen, and two at skip).
“This was the toughest test I’ve ever faced in a provincial. Not to say that some of the other battles weren’t crazy, but overall, these provincials, holy smokes we had some insane games against some good, young teams,” said Carruthers.
“It just makes me want to retire.”
Jacobs — who took a step back from full-time curling last season — is in his first year curling out of Manitoba as he signed on to join Carruthers in the off-season after sparing with the team on a few occasions last year following the departure of Jason Gunnlaugson.
Calvert — who hadn’t lost a game all week — gave the No. 6-ranked team in the country everything they could handle. Most of the game was a chess match after both sides traded pairs in the first two ends. Momentum shifted in Carruthers’ direction in the eighth when Calvert missed a raise double that would’ve put them in position to potentially to score a deuce. It opened the door for Carruthers to steal a single to go up 4-3. They’d steal two again in the 10th to finish things off.
“I know that wasn’t the result Team Calvert wanted. I feel gutted for them, I really do,” said Jacobs, 38. “They played unbelievable today and all week. I would say that was probably the toughest final I’ve played in to go to the Brier, and I think that says a lot because I’ve played in a lot of finals.”
A trip to the Brier still evades Calvert, the talented 28-year-old from Carberry. Sunday was the first men’s final appearance for the former world junior champion. Third Corey Chambers was a runner up with Sean Grassie back in 2013. Lead Brendan Bilawka lost the 2019 Manitoba title game with William Lyburn. Second Kyle Kurz, teammates with Calvert for over a decade, was playing in his first final as well. Calvert and Kurz formed a new team last summer with Chambers — an experienced skip on the Manitoba circuit — and Bilawka.
“It’s devastating, obviously,” said Calvert, the tournament’s No. 3 seed. “At the top of our game, we can hang with them, and we almost did. It’s a childhood dream (to go to nationals). We’ll try again next year.”
Last year in Neepawa, Carruthers, Samagalski, and Njegovan lost the tankard to Matt Dunstone.
Dunstone didn’t have to compete at these provincials as he pre-qualified for nationals based on last year’s ranking.
Carruthers started the year at skip before handing off the last rocks off to Jacobs, the longtime Northern Ontario representative who captured the 2013 Brier, in December.
Before heading to Regina, Carruthers will head to women’s nationals in Calgary (Feb. 16-25) to coach Gimli’s Kerri Einarson in their quest to win a fifth-straight Scotties Tournament of Hearts championship. Njegovan will also be there to coach his wife Selena Njegovan with Team Kaitlyn Lawes.
“This feels unbelievable. Just what our team has been through this year, and last year what happened with playing with three at provincials, bringing Brad on board and all of us committing to a lineup change that we thought would suit our positions the best,” said Samagalski.
“This means so much to me and we’re definitely going to enjoy this tonight and maybe have a couple beers.”
McDonald, 20, turned a lot of heads by taking his fresh-faced team to the final day. The reigning Manitoba under-21 champion will now look to defend his provincial junior crown later this month in Carman (Feb. 21-25).
Both of McDonald’s losses this week came against Carruthers.
“I’m super proud of the boys for how the week went. It’s super disappointing the way we lost there, but I thought we gave it the best we could. To make them throw their last rock, and not an easy shot either, I’m super proud of that,” said McDonald, who plays with third Dallas Burgess, second Elias Huminicki, and lead Cameron Olafson.
“This puts our confidence through the roof. We know we can play with some of the best teams in the world now.”
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Taylor Allen
Reporter
Eighteen years old and still in high school, Taylor got his start with the Free Press on June 1, 2011. Well, sort of…
