Brier Takeaways: Another Battle of the Brads on tap early

It may not be the final, but Saturday's Page 3-4 showdown sure will feel like a championship clash.

In Brad Gushue’s final Montana's Brier, taking place in his hometown of St. John’s, N.L., he will go head-to-head with one of his biggest competitors in his legendary career, Brad Jacobs, in a winner-take-all game.

It’s just happening a couple rounds earlier in the playoffs than anybody expected.

Nevertheless, we will get the Battle of the Brads Part II (in this Brier) on Saturday in the Page 3-4 game. Both teams rebounded to win their Page 3-4 qualifier games Friday night after losing the Page 1-2 qualifier games earlier in the day. 

Gushue defeated Ontario’s Jayden King 12-6, while Jacobs beat Manitoba’s Braden Calvert 7-3 in the night session.

So, after a crazy Friday, how did we get here? Here are some takeaways:

King’s aggressive plan in seven backfires

For the six-time Brier champion Gushue, just like in the round-robin game against King, where he won 8-4, his team controlled most of this game. However, unlike the first game, this one was still close on the scoreboard until the seventh end. 

Gushue was coming off a sixth end in which he gave up just his second stolen point of the entire tournament after hitting King’s shot stone on top of the button too thin. Gushue was able to kill the stone, but King still stole one to trail just 5-4, making the crowd nervous to watch.

However, things changed in the seventh end.

The end was setting up like a straight deuce for Gushue with rocks split on either side of the rings and an Ontario guard out front. After multiple attempts from Ontario to try to force a miss from Gushue’s rink, King had enough. 

Instead of playing just a normal hit and roll to try and get as close as possible to the other Gushue stone, attempting to set up a double on King’s last, he rolled the dice.

His team decided to play a tight guard behind the other one sitting way out front. The idea was that Gushue would have to try a double peel, and then King could draw around to either get the force or steal one with his last stone. 

Neither happened, though, as the guard was too heavy, and after Gushue drew to sit three, King had to attempt an even harder hit and roll that didn’t work out. On Gushue’s last, he made no mistake and scored three, busting the game wide open.

Give Ontario credit. So many times we see teams just concede the two points and move on to the next end. King, skipping a rookie team that has not backed down all week, took a chance, and while it didn’t work out, it was a respectable effort given the scoreboard situation.

From there, though, the game was basically over. Ontario got two back in the eighth end, only for the team to fall apart in the ninth with multiple complete misses that cost them a four-spot. 

The Newfoundland and Labrador crowd could breathe easier as King shook, sending Gushue to the Page 3-4 game. 

Jacobs finds the energy to will his team to victory

It’s been a long month of curling for Brad Jacobs and his gold-medal winning teammates Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert. But, surprisingly for the Brier, they haven’t looked fatigued. Well, that was until Friday. After losing to Kevin Koe in the Page 1-2 qualifier, it looked like they just ran out of energy — both mentally and physically. 

The first three ends versus Calvert, the team just wasn’t making the same shots it had been consistently all week, and they found themselves down 2-1 after giving up a steal.

In the fourth end, Jacobs put his foot down, though. Canada had a decision: do they play the safer shot by drawing to the four-foot for one or risk a hit for two and potentially give up a steal of four if it went the wrong way.

Jacobs, being the confident shot-maker that he is, went for the risk. 

He played the perfect soft weight for the angled runback on his own to eliminate Calvert’s stone sitting back four, while not jamming on his other stone to score the deuce.

“There we go, we’re back, baby,” Jacobs yelled to his teammates.

He wasn’t lying. From there, the momentum was all in Jacobs' favour as the team went on to steal the next two ends after Calvert blanked the fifth.  

It feels like Jacobs is still in the elite zone he was in during the Olympics, and he will need to keep it up. 

Just like last year, to defend his Brier championship, his team will need to win four winner-take-all games.  

One shot is the difference in both Page 1-2 qualifier games 

At this level of curling, one shot is all it can take to change a game, and we saw that in both Page 1-2 qualifying games. 

First, it was Koe. A lot of people have been talking about the flashes of vintage Koe this week, and there might not be a better example than his shot in the seventh end versus Jacobs. 

Down 3-2, Koe wanted to hang a crooked number on the board instead of just being forced. So, Koe went to the fountain of youth and lined up a potential triple takeout for three.

To make the shot, Koe needed to hit the top of Jacobs’ stone razor-thin so it would redirect into the other two in the back-eight-foot area. Just like he’s done so many times with massive hits in his career, Koe drilled it. 

Afterward, he even showed some emotion as he went on to win 7-4. 

Then it was Gushue. Up 5-4 in the 10th end, it looked certain that it would be going to an extra end if Gushue could just make a guard. Unfortunately for him and the crowd, he hogged the stone, opening the door for Dunstone to win the game.

Dunstone made no mistake, capitalizing to win 7-5. 

Now Koe and Dunstone will meet in the Page 1-2 game on Saturday night, with a berth in the final on the line. The loser will drop into the semifinal on Sunday.