Jacobs, Homan clinch men's and women's final berths at Canadian curling trials
CBC
Calgary's Brad Jacobs secured a bye to the men's final at the Canadian curling trials in Halifax a few hours before fellow skip Rachel Homan, from Ottawa, achieved the feat on the women's side Wednesday.
Jacobs (5-1) moved into sole possession of top spot in the men's standings with one draw to go after a 6-2 win over Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone in morning action. Jacobs put the game away with a steal of two in the 10th end.
It was later determined there are no scenarios where Jacobs doesn't finish first after Wednesday evening's final draw of round-robin play.
Dunstone fell into a tie for second at 4-2 with Saskatoon's Mike McEwen and Brad Gushue of St. John's. McEwen defeated Gushue 9-7 Wednesday morning.
Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic champion, was set to face Gushue, the 2006 gold medallist and reigning bronze medallist, on Wednesday night while Dunstone battles McEwen.
The second- and third-ranked teams will meet in a knockout semifinal.
In other early results, Toronto's John Epping defeated Calgary's Kevin Koe 8-4 and Winnipeg's Jordon McDonald edged Saskatoon's Ryan Kleiter 7-6.
Koe was at 3-3 entering the final draw, with Epping at 2-4 and McDonald and Kleiter at 1-5.
Homan edged Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., 7-6 on Wednesday to clinch first in the women's round robin.
"That was our goal at the beginning of the week," said Homan. "The field is so tough that we needed everything today to make it to that final and I'm really proud of the girls for battling through.
"[It's] huge. There's no other way to say it. It's a big game for us to get into the final and get a bit of rest [Thursday], get on the ice for a bit and then more of the same looking forward to the weekend."
The two rinks finished the preliminary round with 6-1 records. Homan earned the direct bye to the best-of-three women's final with the head-to-head win.
Homan scored two in the eighth for a 7-4 advantage before Einarson countered with singles in each of the final two ends.
Einarson will face hometown favourite Christina Black in a Thursday semifinal. The final starts Friday.
