HALIFAX — Brad Jacobs watched his yellow rock settle, then the skipper from Sault St. Marie, Ont., threw his broom to the ice to free up both arms for hugs, and he slid down the ice towards his teammates with a massive smile on his face.
Marc Kennedy’s not sure why, but he jumped when he saw Jacobs’ final stone stop, and when he looked up he saw Ben Hebert “smirking at me,” as Kennedy put it, because they’d done it again: They were going to the Olympics as teammates for an incredible third time.
While Hebert had planned to shake hands with Matt Dunstone before celebrating the 6-5 win, the lead noticed his teammates “were all going crazy,” so he joined them, wrapping Jacobs in a hug and picking him up off the ice as they all yelled along with a crowd of more than 7,000 at the Scotiabank Centre.
On Saturday night, Jacobs, Kennedy, Hebert and lead Brett Gallant won the best-of-three Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials as quickly as they could, with a second straight victory over Winnipeg’s Dunstone to book a trip to Milano Cortina 2026.
“I’m extremely glad this event is over and we won,” a smiling Jacobs said, clad in his new Team Canada jacket, after what was his team’s eighth straight win. “This is hard. This is a grind.”
Twelve years after he won Olympic gold, Jacobs is headed back to the Winter Games, this time leading a veteran Alberta squad who will all be making return trips to the biggest stage, and what will be a fourth Olympic Games for Kennedy.
“A little overwhelming,” Kennedy said, shaking his head.
“Crazy, man,” a grinning Hebert added. “I’m still a little bit in shock.”
“Oh, it’s incredible,” Gallant said, smile as wide as he could make it. “This team’s only been together for a year and a half and we’ve achieved some incredible things together. I mean, we’re just four curling maniacs together on the same team.”
On Saturday, those four curling maniacs on Team Jacobs beat Canada’s top team in a game that came down to the very last shot.
Jacobs, 40, said he didn’t think his heart rate measured much above 100 as he threw his final stone.
“I was very excited for the shot, loved the fact that we had a shot for the win, was super confident that we could make that as long as I threw the right weight and hit the broom with our brushing,” the skip said. “And we did. It was a relatively simple shot for the win. We’ll take it all day long, but a super exciting moment to get it done.”
While it was getting done, Hebert said he just “tried to stay calm and sweep it properly.”
Kennedy was calling line and reminded himself: “Calm your heart down.”
“I knew me and Brett could steer it a little bit and heard a couple ‘cleans’ and then I was just trying not to fall on it,” Hebert added, of the clincher. “When the rock stopped, place went nuts. I was kind of trying to stay as calm as possible because sometimes in those moments I black out and I don’t remember those shots.”
Speaking of blacking out, Jacobs suggested Kennedy was “possessed” and potentially blacked out himself because of how well the third played, nailing takeout after takeout and curling a sparkling 88 per cent.
“I’ll tell you what the difference was in that game: Marc Kennedy,” Jacobs said. “That’s the best I’ve ever seen Marc Kennedy play.”
“Holy (expletive) did he play amazing tonight,” Hebert added. “Pretty good for an old guy, that Marc Kennedy, I’ll tell you that. Forty-three, he’s still dialled in.
“I don’t know, me and Marc were gonna quit after this year. God dammit.”
That was the plan for Hebert and Kennedy, to retire soon, but there’s a campaign to change their minds.
“I’m really hoping that Marc and Ben can hang on a little longer,” Jacobs said, and not just because they’re 2025 Brier champs and off to the Olympics, but also because they get along so well.
That was clear if you saw the hugs and celebrating from the world No. 3 team out on the ice Saturday.
Dunstone, who came into this event as the favourite, having made every Grand Slam final this season, stared up at the roof when it was over. As he left the ice, fans gave him a standing ovation, and tears rolled down Dunstone’s face.
“Cups (Jacobs) made some big shots tonight. He just rose to the occasion,” Dunstone said, fighting tears as he spoke. “Anytime we had an opportunity to score multiples, Cups did what Cups does. And that’s why he’s one of the best.”
This showdown between the top two teams in the country was all tied up until the seventh end, when Jacobs made a double takeout with his last to take a 5-3 lead. He followed that up in eight with another double takeout to sit three, forcing Dunstone to draw for a single.
In the ninth end, Jacobs gave up a single to carry the hammer into the final end with the game tied, 5-5. Before this game started, the team said that’s what they wanted: To be all tied up with the hammer heading into the 10th.
“I can’t give enough credit to Brad Jacobs,” Kennedy said. “To skip at this level and be that good for that many games in those stressful moments — he’s one of, if not arguably the best player in the world right now.”
Milano-Cortina will mark a second Olympic experience for Jacobs, who won gold in 2014. It’s a third for Hebert; both he and Kennedy won gold in 2010 with skip Kevin Martin and returned in 2018 with Kevin Koe. Kennedy was also an alternate on the Brad Gushue team that won bronze four years ago, with Gallant on the front end. Gallant had already punched a ticket to Milano-Cortina: he’s also competing in mixed doubles with his wife, Jocelyn Peterman.
The 35-year-old Gallant fought tears as he talked about having his family at the Games this time around, since they weren’t there four years ago in Beijing due to COVID restrictions. “That’s really special,” he said, eyes watering. “Really special.”
For Jacobs, the trip comes 12 years after his first, which was alongside his cousins E.J. and Ryan Harnden, who were on the losing side on Saturday, making up the front end of Team Dunstone. Jacobs was looking forward to speaking with them more after the chaos of winning had settled, but on the ice, E.J. hugged Jacobs and told him: “I love you.”
This curling maniac version of Team Jacobs got together after the 2024 Grand Slam season with this goal in mind, and the win here comes four years after Jacobs lost in the Trials final to Brad Gushue by a single point.
Recently, Jacobs was reflecting about how he felt 12 years ago when he won this event.
“I think I appreciate it more now,” he said, and as he thought about getting to go to a second Olympic Games, the skip shook his head and said, “It’s just mind-blowing to me.”
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