EXPERIENCE RULES!

Canadian veterans overwhelm youthful Koreans at BKT World Men’s Championship

Age and experience versus youth and exuberance — who’s going to win?

Put your money on the seasoned vets every time.

And so it was again Sunday afternoon at the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship at the Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw, Sask., where skip Brad Jacobs and Team Canada proved once again that there’s no substitution for experience.

The Canadians (3-0), loaded with battled-hardened veterans of the curling wars, with world championships and Olympic experience behind them, rolled to a dominant 9-3 win over the youthful, but sorely inexperienced, South Korea’s Team Hyojun Kim (0-3).

Their all-around savvy showed in both game plan and execution, and the result was really never in doubt after the first end.

The win came in their only game of the day for Jacobs, vice-skip Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, lead Ben Hebert, alternate Tyler Tardi, team coach Paul Webster and national coach Jeff Stoughton. It enabled the team from Calgary’s Glencoe Club to hang on to the lead in the 13-team field alone.

Kennedy said he liked everything about the opening weekend and saluted the crowd once again.

“Great crowds, the ice is good, I think we’ve brought good energy, lots of great shots,” he said. “I think we’re staying in the moment and focused on making each and every shot, hitting our weight, and Brad has had a really good feel for where to put the broom. I think our skip is comfortable now and I think that’s probably the most important part. He’s got a team that believes in him.”

Both Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller (2-1) and the Czech Republic’s Team Lukas Klima (2-1) had a chance to keep pace with Team Canada at the top of the standings but suffered their first losses Sunday afternoon. Korey Dropkin’s Team U.S.A. (2-1) knocked off Team Schwaller 12-7, while Norway’s Team Magnus Ramsfjell (1-1) posted a 7-3 win over Team Klima.

Team Bruce Mouat of Scotland (2-0) and China’s Team Xiaoming Xu (2-0) are the only other undefeated teams and both enjoyed the afternoon bye.

In the other game Sunday afternoon, seven-time world and defending champion Team Niklas Edin of Sweden (1-1) hit the win column with a 10-5 triumph over Japan’s Team Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi (0-3).

Also enjoying the afternoon bye were Italy’s Team Joel Retornaz (1-1), Team Marc Muskatewitz of Germany (0-2), and Austria’s Team Mathias Genner (0-2).

Team Canada has the Sunday evening bye.

The quality of the Moose Jaw ice, laid down by chief ice-maker Mike Merklinger and his staff, is evident in some of the statistics posted early this week. Jacobs shot a blistering 98 per cent against the Koreans, to go along with a 97 in his opening game.

So it was no big surprise to see a veteran Team Canada take advantage of that pristine ice surface and flash its experience and shotmaking, much to the delight of the pro-Canadian weekend crowd. Team Canada outshot the Koreans 96-76, which tells you all you need to know.

The Koreans, barely out of the juniors ranks, showed their youth, missing some crucial misses in key situations.

It began early as Team Canada set up a perfect corner guard situation in the first end and parlayed that into an opening three-ender. It helped that the Koreans missed a couple of doubles that could have limited the damage.

The Koreans were forced to take one in the second but Jacobs made two pistols in the third, making a nice tap-back on the button to lie one, and after Hyojun Kim came up short attempting to follow, the Canadian skipper drew to a piece of the button for two.

Team Canada put the game out of reach two ends later when, gifted another miss by the Korean skip, Jacobs had an open draw for two and a 7-2 lead.

Jacobs particularly liked his team’s performance Sunday.

“We had control of that last game from the get-go. The guys played great in front of me and we had a really good set of rocks on a great sheet and made a lot of shots.”

Jacobs said his confidence has seldom been higher.

“There isn’t a shot we’re scared to throw, up and down the lineup,” he said. “It’s been a long time since I felt this type of confidence in my teammates and myself. It’s a really satisfying thing.”

Team Canada takes on Team Scotland in their only game Monday.

Jacobs and Co. are looking to bring a world men’s title back to Canada for the first time since 2017 when skip Brad Gushue (with Gallant at second) won in Edmonton.

The round-robin wraps up April 4, with the top six teams advancing to the playoffs.

Making the playoffs is key, but teams are also eyeing the top two spots and a bye to the semifinals, a big advantage in the sprint to the finish.

 The final goes Sunday, April 6.

The event will also help determine most of the countries that will be competing for gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy.

The 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship continues with draws Sunday at 9 a.m.,  2 p.m. and 7 p.m. (all times Central Standard).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship are available by CLICKING HERE.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 BKT World Men’s Curling Championship, go to www.curling.ca/2025worldmen/tickets/.

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