EDMONTON – Through five Briers, Brad Jacobs has always been just a tad above field filler. He’d make the final weekend, sure, but household names like Jeff Stoughton, Glenn Howard and Kevin Martin always made the headlines.
Lots of playoffs, never any payoffs, as the Northern Ontario moose calls always sounded for someone other than Jacobs come Brier Sunday.
Well, all of that ends now.
Northern Ontario has a Brier champion for the first time since 1985 (Al Hackner) and the game warden might check Jacobs for tags, as he brought down all the big game at the 2013 Tim Hortons Brier in Edmonton.
“We’re Brier champs. This is a dream come true,” Jacobs said through the haze of victory, after dismantling Stoughton’s Manitoba four 11-4 in nine ends.
Stoughton was in the last cab to the taxidermist, as Jacobs’ rink beat former Brier winners in Stoughton, Martin, Howard, Jean-Michel Menard, plus 2006 Olympic gold medalist Brad Gushue along the way.
This final was never close; Stoughton was never in it, after giving up steals of two and one in the opening two ends, then hanging on for dear life against a Northern Ontario team that channelled its inner Al “The Iceman” Hackner, and simply couldn’t miss.
“This is what we’ve wanted ever since we were kids,” Jacobs said. “We were the underdogs the whole way, we never had hammer… To come out and do what we did, it’s phenomenal.
“It’s been too long since Northern Ontario has held that tankard. To bring this back to Sault Ste. Marie means the world to us.”
With second E.J. Harnden, his brother Ryan at lead, and third Ryan Fry, there was a ton of curling history in this rink. Jacobs’ uncle Al Harnden had picked up Jacobs to play for him at the 2007 Brier, and Fry’s father Barry once skipped Manitoba to a Brier championship in 1979.
Of course, there’s always a backstory in the incestuous world of curling, but this one marks the culmination of a lot of Brier dreams that came true on Sunday.
“I was one year old (when his Dad won),” said Fry, who leapt the boards and went into the stands to hug his parents moments after Stoughton executed his second 360 delivery, and shook hands in defeat. “It changed my life, as far as what I wanted to do. I pretty much set myself up totally focused on curling for such a long time. All for the chance to try and get to this point.”
While Jacobs had been slugging it out in the green and gold of N. Ont, Fry had been on the terminally jinxed Gushue rink out of Newfoundland/Labrador.
“This is my sixth Brier, and the fifth time I made the playoffs. Never been able to get to the final,” Fry said. “Taking the opportunity to win it once we were here, it’s pretty unreal.
“I take a lot of pride in being able to do this with the field that was here,” he continued. “Going forward, there are going to be lots of guys who are retiring. The likes of Jeff, Kevin… To be able to win one once they were playing, and competing at a high level, it’s so awesome.”
They’ve been calling this The Bizarre Brier, after a week of unpredictable games that turned 180 degrees in a heartbeat.
Martin, the legendary favourite from Alberta, came out of the gate at 1-4, but went on a hell-bent run that had his foursome hanging around after their Friday night game to see if B.C. could knock off Stoughton in the last game of the final draw. They went 11 ends, but Alberta ended up going home, and Stoughton moved on.
Glenn Howard started 10-0 before losing to Martin in his final draw. He would not win again until taking home the bronze medal Sunday, a booby prize to a curler of his esteem.
Gushue crashed and burned at the Brier — again — leaving his 10th Brier with a fourth place finish. And in the final, Stoughton simply got steamrolled.
“When you get a little bit behind and you have to make some really good shots – and it just doesn’t happen – it’s just disappointing,” he said. “I’m disappointed because the crowd came here for a great game, and we certainly didn’t give them a great game at all. It was gift wrapped.”
“What’s meant to be is meant to be sometimes,” countered Fry. “I guess the stars were aligned.”
Aligned on the winners’ podium, decked out in green and gold.
It’s been a while since the moose calls were the star of this show.