SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. — Defending champion Glenn Howard drove his last stone of the final end straight to the button to score the winning single in a 5-4 victory over Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs during Draw 5 action at the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling National Thursday night.
Howard, from Penetanguishene, Ont., now holds a 3-0 record in the tournament while Jacobs dropped to 1-2.
It was an intense day for Team Howard that also saw them complete a late comeback to defeat Team Mark Kean 6-5 thanks to a deuce in the seventh followed by a steal of two points in eight after Kean’s final shot rolled too far.
“The game this afternoon we got super lucky,” Howard said. “I personally played awful and we got really fortunate with Mark Kean missing his last rock. I finally made a good hit and roll with my last shot, Mark missed it and we stole two and that was it. We came out and played a lot better against Brad, as you know you have to, but it’s big. To get to three wins in a hurry makes me feel pretty good.”
Jacobs got on the board first with a single in the opening end before Howard jumping ahead with a deuce in the second. Jacobs kept the game tight and tied it with a point in the third. Howard pulled back into the lead 4-2 with his second deuce of the game in five. Jacobs settled for a single in the sixth and stole one in the seventh to knot it 4-4 but gave up the hammer coming home.
The hometown crowd roared for every score Team Jacobs made throughout the match.
Pinty’s GSOC National: Latest scores & stats
Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers (3-0) scored two in the sixth and added a steal of one in the seventh for a 5-2 win over Calgary’s Kevin Koe (1-2). Carruthers led 2-0 thanks to a single in two followed by a steal of one in three but Koe responded by doing the same over the fourth and fifth ends. Koe held the hammer in the eighth but couldn’t charge back and ran out of rocks.
Team Carruthers looked like they were in trouble when third Braeden Moskowy was stuck in airport limbo due to snowy weather and missed the team’s first two games. The rink made a roster shuffle and Grand Slam MC Peter Steski stepped into the lineup playing lead, helping them earn a 6-1 win over Team Rob Rumfeldt and a 9-3 win over Team Peter de Cruz.
“It was an interesting day, to say the least,” Carruthers said. “Having Braeden not able to show up until our evening game was a little bit interesting but Pete played amazing. We’re very fortunate he was able to play for us. We found him some shoes and he honestly just got them out of a box and put them on and he played really, really well. To win the evening game was really good and to get to 3-0. Any other wins we can get from here on out is gravy for the playoffs.”
Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher also moved up to a 3-0 record with a 7-5 victory over de Cruz (0-3). Bottcher scored three in the fourth but de Cruz, from Switzerland, replied with a three-ender of his own that tied it 4-4. Bottcher added a deuce in the sixth and held on from there.
Calgary’s John Morris (1-2) stole one in the seventh and three in the eighth to earn his first victory at the National with a 7-3 win over Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen (2-1).
Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton (2-1) grabbed a single in the final end to edge Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock (1-2) with a 7-6 win.
