The path to the Olympics remains open for Sault Ste. Marie curlers as Brad Jacobs and the Harnden brothers will meet in the best-of-3 final at the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials in Halifax
Regardless of the final outcome, Sault Ste. Marie will have at least one representative at the Winter Olympics in the new year.
With Brad Jacobs already in the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials final after posting a round robin record of 6-1 and grabbing top spot in the standings, local brothers E.J. and Ryan Harnden grabbed the other spot in the best-of-3 final with Matt Dunstone’s Manitoba-based rink with a semifinal win on Thursday.
Team Dunstone earned the second spot in the final thanks to a 9-5 win over Mike McEwen on Thursday night in semifinal action in Halifax.
Down 4-3 through five ends, Dunstone scored three in the sixth end to take the lead and added two more in the ninth end to take an 8-5 lead coming home.
In the 10th end, Dunstone left McEwen with a double angle raise to try to score, but McEwen missed the shot, and Dunstone stole one in the end to cap off the win, which came 24 hours after McEwen beat him in the final round robin draw on Wednesday night.
Dunstone got into the playoff round with a 4-3 round robin record and a little bit of help when Jacobs picked up a win over Brad Gushue in Wednesday’s evening draw. A win by Gushue would have got the Newfoundland and Labrador-based rink the final playoff spot.
The Olympic Trials final between Jacobs and Dunstone will see the winner represent Canada when the Olympic curling tournament opens in Italy in February.
The men’s round robin will see Team Canada open the tournament on Feb. 11 against Germany.
