Jacobs continues to roll at Canada Cup despite team shakeup
Northern Ontario rink improves to 4-0 without regular third Ryan Fry
Brad Jacobs's rink seems to be doing just fine without regular third Ryan Fry.
The team from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., which added Marc Kennedy after Fry started an indefinite leave last month following an incident involving excessive drinking with another squad, improved to 4-0 at the Canada Cup with a 7-4 win over Winnipeg's Matthew Dunstone (0-3) in Thursday's afternoon draw.
Earlier Thursday Jacobs beat Winnipeg's Reid Carruthers 5-4 on last rock, making a wide out-turn tap of a Carruthers stone partially buried in the four-foot.
Carruthers fell to 0-3.
The wins by Jacobs guarantees his team at minimum a playoff tiebreaker game.
Kennedy feels the team's chemistry is strong in his first event with Jacobs.
"You get into that inner circle and you see what makes guys tick, what gets them up, why they play, their love for the sport, their values, their morals, their ethics," said Kennedy.
"I've been beyond impressed with what I've seen, and a lot in common with them, to be honest — more so than I ever thought. I think we've meshed together pretty well."
Thursday didn't go as well for John Epping, who fell to 2-2 with a pair of losses.
Carruthers toppled by Koe
Defending men's champion Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg has yet to earn his first win through six draws at the Canada Cup.
Carruthers was toppled by Kevin Koe 4-2 in Thursday's evening draw to fall to 0-4, while the Calgary skip improved his record to 3-1 with the victory.
Edmonton's Brendan Bottcher downed Matthew Dunstone 8-6 in the other men's late draw to keep pace with Koe at 3-1. Regina's Dunstone sits at the bottom of the standings with Carruthers at 0-4.
Jones shuts down Homan
There's a three-way tie atop the women's standings after Winnipeg's Jennifer Jones, Casey Scheidegger of Lethbridge, Atla., and Winnipeg's Kerri Einarson earned evening draw victories to move to 3-1.
Jones beat Ottawa's Rachel Homan (2-2) 9-5, Scheidegger defeated Winnipeg's Allison Flaxey (1-3) 12-2 while Einarson got past Winnipeg's Darcy Robertson (1-3) 8-7.
Round-robin play continues on Friday.