There will be a new champion at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship in Moose Jaw, Sask. this year. And it won’t be Canada.
Brad Jacobs dropped a 7-4 decision to Scotland’s Bruce Mouat in semifinal play Saturday at the Temple Gardens Centre. Mouat, who eliminated defending champ Niklas Edin of Sweden in a morning qualifier, will play Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller for the gold medal.
WATCH | Canada’s Jacobs falls to Scotland’s Mouat, will play for bronze at men’s curling worlds:
Canada’s Jacobs falls to Scotland’s Mouat, will play for bronze at men’s curling worlds
Down one with hammer in the 10th end, Jacobs tried an angle-raise triple-takeout for the win rather than draw for the tie and an extra end. The Canadian rocks spilled out and Scotland stole two for the victory.
“We fought, we battled, we tried,” said Jacobs. “They were better than us today. But we’re going to regroup here and come out and try to get ourselves on the podium and get a bronze medal.”
Jacobs and his third-ranked team of Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert will play China’s Xiaoming Xu in the third-place game.
Xu beat Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell 8-7 in the morning qualifier but dropped a 7-3 decision to Switzerland in the other semifinal.
Scotland will try to win its second world men’s title in three years. Mouat beat Canada’s Brad Gushue in 2023 at Ottawa.
“We’ve maybe not had our best week but we definitely had our best games today against Sweden and against Canada,” said Mouat, the fifth seed in the playoffs after an 8-4 round-robin record.
Scotland entered the Canada game with confidence after eliminating Edin, a seven-time champion.
The top-ranked Mouat also handed Jacobs his only loss of round-robin play.
A Scotland deuce in the second end was sandwiched between Canada forces. Two blanks followed ahead of an interesting sixth end.
Mouat had a chance to sit three but his hit-and-stick rolled just out of the rings. Jacobs’ final rock rolled out and Mouat’s soft-weight hit for three generated just a pair.
The host team brought the sellout crowd of about 4,200 to its feet in the seventh end with a highlight-reel double-takeout to tie the game.
With a Canada stone biting the 12-foot ring, Jacobs made the double with the Scottish stone just missing his rock on the edge.
The skip emphatically pumped his fist after making the high-pressure shot. A miss likely would have given Scotland control the rest of the way.
“I thought we were really resilient throughout that game and I’m proud of us for being that way,” Jacobs said.
Mouat was forced to one in the eighth, giving Scotland a 5-4 lead but returning the hammer to Canada. A blank set up the dramatics in the 10th end.
“I liked the choice,” said Canada coach Paul Webster. “In that type of end, we’ve got to go for it. We had 15 rocks in play it seemed on the final shot.
“That’s the kind of (situation) you want when you’re trying to generate two in the last end.”
Both teams were under time pressure. Only 10 seconds remained on the clock when Jacobs made his final throw.
“We almost had them,” said Hebert. “We just kind of pinched a little bit there at the end for time. We kind of had to rush a couple shots and calls.”
Canada hasn’t won world men’s gold since Gushue was victorious in Edmonton in 2017.
“I’m disappointed, but I’m not disappointed in the way we played,” Hebert said. “Two of the best teams in the world duking it out.
“They made a couple more than us today.”
