Jacobs defeats Koe to advance to men's final at Canada's Olympic curling trials
CBC
Vice-skip Marc Kennedy says the members of Team Jacobs are simply trying to follow their skip's lead at Canada's Olympic curling trials.
The plan is working as another near-perfect performance from Brad Jacobs has the rink one win away from a berth in the Winter Games.
Jacobs used a pair of in-off double-takeouts for big scores in an 8-3 rout of Kevin Koe in Saturday's men's semifinal. Jacobs scored four in the third end and added another four-ender in the fifth.
"Brad has been fantastic and I think when you feel like your skip is going to make everything, it allows everybody to be a little more relaxed," said Kennedy. "That has kind of been the story of the week."
WATCH | Jacobs moves on to Olympic trials finals with win over Koe:
Later in the evening, Jennifer Jones defeated Krista McCarville 8-3 to advance to the women's final against Tracy Fleury.
"These are the moments that you play for," said Jones, who like Jacobs, won Olympic gold in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.
WATCH | Jones earns berth into women's final with win over McCarville:
Koe, who represented Canada at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games but missed the podium, conceded after only six ends.
"It came to a quick thud out there," Koe said. "It sucks."
Jacobs has rolled through the competition at SaskTel Centre with the lone hiccup a 7-6 extra-end loss to Brad Gushue. He was in full control against Koe after the teams opened with a pair of blanks.
"This is just the best team performance I can remember that we've put together to this point," Jacobs said. "I think we all feel very confident heading into tomorrow's final."
The women's final was set for Sunday morning and the men were scheduled to play in the evening. The winning teams will wear the Maple Leaf at the Feb. 4-20 Beijing Games.
Gushue had the same 7-1 round-robin record as Jacobs but earned the top seed thanks to the head-to-head victory.
