Biggest break of the year!

Alberta’s Team Brad Jacobs eliminates defending champions en route to Montana’s Brier final

It’s been 10 years since Brad Jacobs has played in a Canadian men’s curling championship final. But that scenario changed on Sunday afternoon at the 2025 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI.

Jacobs last played in a gold-medal game in 2015 at age 29. Since then, the 39-year-old skip has sought the winning combination for years to return to the big game. It turned out he was the secret ingredient his teammates — vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Mike Caione and coach Paul Webster — needed after adding the skip to their lineup this past off-season.

Team Jacobs bested three-time defending champions, Canada’s Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., with a 7-5 win in the semifinal game on Sunday afternoon at Prospera Place in Kelowna, B.C.

“That was a heavyweight bout. I said to the guys multiple times throughout that game, there’s just no place we’d rather be and we were having a lot of fun. Anytime you can be in a big game like that, in front of that many people and so many shots made, it’s just a lot of fun. It makes it so rewarding as an athlete to be part of something like that,” Jacobs said. “Really proud of the guys for how they played and how they grinded; we grinded all game, both teams did. And we were able to just stick with it right until the end and then, what can I say, we got the biggest break of the year.”

The “biggest break of the year” was a heavy Gushue tapback attempt. Canada had an opportunity to score a deuce to win the game but a combination of adrenaline and lack of time led to Gushue giving it a little extra and not getting the connection required to head to a fourth-straight Montana’s Brier final. 

“Yeah, just a lot of disappointment, a lot of heartbreak for my teammates,” said Gushue. “I thought, you know, obviously when you have a shot to win the game and you don’t do it, you feel bad for your teammates because they put me in a position for us to win that game and just overthrew that last rock, threw it six feet harder than what I needed to throw it.”

The loss ends his team’s hopes of earning a few record-breaking moments. Gushue, third Mark Nichols and lead Geoff Walker had the chance to set the record for most championship wins with seven, in addition to the most consecutive Brier wins with four.

Jacobs’ teammates experienced roadblocks in the past two semifinal games with their former skip, Brendan Bottcher, who is now playing second/vice-skip for Team Gushue. In 2023 and 2024, that team faltered in the semifinal.

“It’s been a long time and it feels like we put in a lot of hard work and effort to get here and it feels like we deserve it, quite frankly,” said Jacobs. “So we’ll try to make the best of this opportunity and just come out with a lot of energy tonight. It’s going to be a little difficult. We just put out a lot of effort and a lot of energy in that game. But hey, we’ve got one chance and we’re going to give it everything we’ve got.”

Team Jacobs faces Manitoba’s Team Matt Dunstone of Winnipeg in the gold-medal game later Sunday at 5 p.m. (all times Pacific). Team Dunstone earned a direct path to the final on Saturday after defeating Team Gushue in the Page 1v2 game.

After a series of blanks and single points, the teams amped up the energy by each orchestrating three-enders to swing momentum back and forth like a pendulum. 

In the fifth, Alberta-Jacobs forced Team Gushue into a precise hit-and-roll on a new path on the ice. Canada ticked the corner guard, which led to Team Jacobs having a hit for three. 

After a couple of forces, Canada returned the favour in the eighth. Team Jacobs had a series of raises on its last, but went deep. Canada ran its own rock into an Alberta stone on the side eight-foot and then rolled the shooter into another Alberta stone on the back four to score three.

Jacobs replied in the ninth end by playing a pick for two, but Team Gushue still had control of hammer in the 10th end before the fatal error.

“Five per cent,” Jacobs said when asked about his likelihood of winning the game as Gushue settled into the hack for his last shot. “I would say with how good brushing is and how good Brad is and how much distance was between our rock and the guard. Maybe five per cent or less, to be honest with you. So like I said, that is the biggest break of the year. Maybe the biggest break that I’ve seen for us in my career.”

The gold-medal game winner will represent Canada at the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship March 29-April 6 in Moose Jaw, Sask.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

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For ticket information for the 2025 Montana’s Brier, go to www.curling.ca/2025brier/tickets/

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2025brier/nouvelles/?lang=fr