The task for Brad Jacobs’ team heading into the playoffs of the Ford World Men’s Curling Championships is not unlike what happened in the Tim Hortons Brier national championships, albeit the manner in which it’s arrived at those points is the polar opposite.
Jacobs’ team from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., has backed up badly heading into the World’s at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria. B.C., starting out 5-0 and posting a 2-4 record in its last six. The experience or, lack thereof, that Jacobs’ team had coming into the tournament for the first time has clearly exhibited itself. A humbling 11-7 loss to Sweden on Thursday night dropped Canada into the fourth (and final) playoff spot. A win would have given the team first place and a greater control of its destiny heading into the playoffs. Finishing first would have meant a victory against the second-place team in the playoffs would have resulted in an automatic bye to the final. A loss would have still resulted in a spot in the semi-final.
Now it cannot afford to lose a game or it’s game-over in the tournament. They play Denmark Saturday and the winner advances to the semi-final. The loser will be playing in the bronze-medal game.
Heading into the playoffs of the Brier, the Soo Crew had little pressure other than the one it felt inside. Yes, it was on a three-game win streak, but the other three playoff teams included two world champions and one Olympic champion. The succession of victories of Jacobs’ team from the fourth spot to the top proved historic and gave the young team plenty of confidence heading into the World’s, but collectively the foursome has come undone, struggling individually and collectively. They have missed shots that they made in the Brier and the opposition is making everything. Their focus seems to have been lost. At one point in the game against Sweden, they pondered calling a timeout, only to realize they had already used up there’s and didn’t have another, one of many rules that are different from the Canadian championships.
Jacobs, 27, is the youngest Canadian skip since Kevin Martin of Alberta debuted on the world men’s stage as a 24-year-old in 1991, looks lost. To know he could have locked up first by beating Sweden and plummeted to fourth surely has to be disappointing. The fact his team has to sit on that loss until Saturday is a long time to be dwelling on defeat. Denmark waxed the Canadians 7-3 Thursday afternoon, which might not have seemed that important had Jacobs’ team shaken it off with a win over Sweden.
The biggest issue right now is Jacobs’ team faces the real possibility of not even grabbing a medal, which is a rarity for Canada in this tournament. Only five times since the tournament began in 1958 has Canada failed to win a medal. Only six times has Canada finished third.
Anything short of a championship win by Canada in the world’s is considered a disappointment, regardless of the other teams in the tournament and their accomplishments. So if Jacobs fails to even get a medal, it is a humbling experience for his team and all of Canada.
The top three teams heading into the playoffs are Scotland, Sweden and Denmark, all of which are led by skips with previous experience in the World’s. Scotland’s David Murdoch is a two-time world champion who has also curled twice in the Olympics. Sweden’s Niklas Edin is a onetime world junior champion who has finished third twice at the world level. Denmark’s Ramsus Stjerne is a onetime world junior champion who is playing in the men’s world championship for the second consecutive year.
It is far easier for these teams to qualify for the World’s than the Canadian representatives, more so when their countries are developing them exclusively to represent them in this tournament and the Olympics and paying them to curl full-time. The irony is because Canada is a strong curling country, other nations are sending their teams here to develop.
Many of the teams playing in the World’s are the same ones teams such as Jacobs have battled on the World Curling Tour, which still has a major tournament remaining on the 2012-13 schedule with the Players’ Championship, April 16-21 at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto. It is the last of this season’s Grand Slam events and has a purse of $100,000. Sportsnet is broadcasting the event and the fields for both the men’s and women’s will be much deeper than the men’s and women’s world championships.
The Canadian women’s team, skipped by Ottawa’s Rachel Homan, finished a disappointing third in the recent Women’s World Curling Championship won by Scotland’s Eve Muirhead, who has the luxury of curling full-time because of her country’s investment in the sport.
It was a learning experience for Homan, whose team hadn’t played in the tournament before, but had a much higher profile than Jacobs because of their overall ranking this season. Homan’s team struggled at the start, but picked it up at the end and had confidence going into the playoffs. They were unlucky to lose in the semi-final giving up a steal of one to Muirhead on the final shot of the game. A bronze gave the team some measure of consolation.
The fate of the Jacobs’ team is purely in its own hands. At least they will be playing on home ice and can expect support from the partisan crowd, compared to Homan’s team which played in a tiny venue in Latvia with only a few family and friends to offer support.
It is the Canadian way to dip deep when it matters most, regardless of the sport, but when it comes to the world curling championships wearing the shirts with the Maple Leaf logo ramps up the expectations. If Jacobs’ team didn’t fully understand that going into the tournament, it is obvious now.