KELOWNA — Brad Jacobs had a huge grin on his face and a gold medal dangling from his neck, and he'd just been serenaded by a group of men in kilts with flasks in their hands, a performance Jacobs encouraged by pumping his arms.
Moments earlier, the skipper had let fly the final shot of the 2025 Brier.
"I knew it was good when I let ‘er go," Jacobs said, smiling. "That was pure."
On Sunday night in front of a sold out crowd of 5,483 fans at Prospera Place, Jacobs made a takeout with his last shot to win his first national title in 12 years, and the second of his career.
"Unbelievable," the Team Alberta skipper said, with his hands on his hips and a smile on his face.
"It’s relieving. It’s been too long since I’ve won this championship," Jacobs added. "To finally have this over and be champions is unbelievable."
And what a mountain Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second Brent Gallant and lead Ben Hebert had to climb to earn their way to the title, to that 5-3 comeback win over Matt Dunstone’s Manitoba rink. Team Jacobs won four straight elimination games to hoist the Tankard, and earlier Sunday had to get through an absolute barn-burner of a semifinal against Brad Gushue, which also came down to the final stone thrown.
“That was a long road. That was a tough grind,” Jacobs said. “I’m just so proud of the guys for playing the way that they did, hanging in there and grinding all week.”
Down by a point in the final end in the championship game, Jacobs had hammer, and coach Paul Webster told the team: "Let’s make eight shots in a row and win the Brier."
"And that’s exactly what we did," Jacobs said.
Kennedy, who won his fourth Brier title on Sunday, came up huge on both of his final shots. His second snuck past a pair of guards to take out Manitoba’s stone and sit three for Alberta, and the veteran third let out a big wide-eyed sigh.
"I was pretty tight to the guards," Kennedy said. "Like if we wreck on that it’s a different story."
"I almost blew it on that line call on Marc’s last," Jacobs added. "But boy, when we made that shot, I felt pretty confident that we might have something a little bit easier on our last. And we did, and we made it, and it was amazing."
On his last, Jacobs had to take out a freeze by Dunstone.
"If there’s a shot I’ve got 100 per cent confidence in Brad throwing it’s that peel-weight bomb," Gallant said, grinning, after winning his fifth Brier title. "When we had that one to win, it was a dream."
After Jacobs nailed it, then came a whole lot of yelling and hugging on the ice. Hebert says Jacobs "almost broke" his ribs. "He’s jacked!"
"It all came out of us, I think," Jacobs said.
Hebert's smile was stretched right across his face not long after he hoisted the Tankard for the fifth time. “Oh my god!” he said, clapping his hands together, and soon after that, the 41-year-old lead’s eyes started to well up with tears.
"It’s been a long time… So this is amazing. We put in a lot of hard work and bringing Brad into the fold and heading back to my home province of Saskatchewan for the worlds. It's emotional, f---. But yeah, I mean, I’m not getting any younger. You never know how many of these you’ve got left. I’m gonna stop crying, but I’m f---ing stoked. And to do it with these guys means a lot."
This team got together at the start of the season when Kennedy, Hebert and Gallant decided to cut ties with their former skip, Brendan Bottcher, to join forces with Jacobs.
Dunstone also made a change this season, bringing in E.J. Harnden at second after Team Gushue let him go. Dunstone, who was also a Brier silver medallist in 2023, had tears in his eyes when it was over.
"I wasn’t good enough for them down the stretch," the 29-year-old skip said of his team of Colton Lott, and brothers E.J. and Ryan Harnden. "I’m just heartbroken for them. This is a really good group."
A group that includes Jacobs’ cousins, the Harnden brothers, who Jacobs won his other Brier title alongside, and 2014 Olympic gold. “It sucks to have to play in a really, really big game like that knowing that either they’re gonna win or myself,” Jacobs said. “I’m certainly feeling for them right now, I’m sure they’re gutted, particularly my cousin Ryan, I think. But I hope they’re doing ok and I know they are. And I know they will be ok, but it just kind of sucks.”
The key to this game, Hebert said, was "patience." This was not a high-scoring tilt, with the first four ends blanked.
"I know the crowd was yelling 'boring' but it was like three and four doubles every end, so it’s like, goddammit we’re trying to throw guards here," Hebert said.
Lott had a triple takeout in the first end, and Jacobs had two early double takeouts that were key to avoid Manitoba deuces.
After nailing his second double in the second end, Jacobs said to Kennedy: "I’ve got eight more ends in me. That’s it." That’s how much curling these guys had done up to the big game.
Dunstone got on the board in the fifth end after Jacobs narrowly missed a tough double, and the Manitoba skip floated in the open draw to give his team a 2-0 lead heading into the break.
The sixth end marked the first time Jacobs had hammer, and he was forced to a single, dragged there by some solid sweeping from Hebert and Gallant to reduce Manitoba's lead to one. Jacobs earned a steal in seven to tie things up, and that’s when a pair of Mounties came out with the big, shiny Tankard.
The turning point came in nine, when Alberta managed to force Dunstone to a single after the skip sailed his first shot through the house on an attempted knock to sit two.
"When he missed his first one in nine, I think the blue side over here, these blue jerseys, were feeling pretty confident going into 10 that we’d be able to muster a deuce," Hebert said.
Instead, they mustered three.
Jacobs’ team becomes the first in Brier history to win four straight elimination games en route to the title, and with it, a $108,000 purse, and the right to represent Canada at the world championships, which open later this month in Moose Jaw.
"It means everything," Jacobs said, of the chance to represent Canada again, 11 years after he did the last time. "We’re gonna throw that maple leaf on our backs with pride, and we’re going to do everything we can at the worlds to fight for a world championship and bring one back to Canada."
"It’s going to be f---ing awesome," Kennedy said, grinning.
They’ll be playing for another big title in a couple of weeks, but the newly appointed Team Canada has to take care of a few things first.
"Celebration plans," Jacobs said, with a grin. "We’re gonna drink out of the Tankard tonight."
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