For the first time in four years, there’s a new Brier king.
And for the first time in 12 years, Brad Jacobs is wearing the crown.
The Alberta skip and his Calgary crew of Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert triumphed over Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone, the top-ranked team in the country coming into the 2025 Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C.
“It’s a dream come true all over again — it really is,” Jacobs, with emotion in his words moments after the 5-3 victory, told the crowd at Prospera Place. “We formed the team to do exactly what we did here. And I just can’t be more proud (of my team).
“We’re thrilled. Unbelievable.”
It truly was an unbelievable day for the new champs, given they capitalized on two massive breaks from the curling gods to earn the title.
The first came when defending three-time Brier winner Brad Gushue — in a bid to win — somehow missed with hammer in Sunday afternoon’s semifinal.
Then came Dunstone’s error, with a flash with his first rock in the ninth end of the final that eventually forced him to take just one and hand over last-rock advantage to Jacobs coming home — a hammer the Calgary Glencoe Club squad used to win the game and the coveted title.
“When he missed his first one in nine, I think these blue jerseys over here were feeling pretty confident going into 10 that we could muster a deuce,” Hebert, with tears in his eyes, told reporters. “And 10 was a dream, because we made eight shots in a row. And normally when you make eight shots in a row with hammer, you’re going to get a deuce. It was actually our best end, and we had them in a lot of trouble.”
The victors actually picked up the three in that deciding end, made possible by Kennedy executing a perfect hit-and-roll shot that just snuck by his own guard and Jacobs delivering a last-rock peel of Dunstone’s rock in the four-foot circle in Manitoba’s bid to limit Alberta to a count of one and force extra ends.
“Just completely heart-broken for my team,” a down Dunstone told reporters. “I wasn’t good enough for them down the stretch.
“In seven there … we gave up a cheap steal, and momentum swung a little bit from there. And down the stretch, they just placed rocks better than us.”
Here’s an blow-by-blow look of how evening went …
• 1st end — Dunstone blanks; 0-0
• 2nd end — Dunstone blanks; 0-0
• 3rd end — Dunstone blanks; 0-0
• 4th end — Dunstone blanks; 0-0
• 5th end — Dunstone open draw for two; 2-0 Dunstone
• 6th end — Jacobs draw to eight-foot to count 1; 2-1 Dunstone
• 7th end — Dunstone peel too thick, steal of one for Jacobs; 2-2
• 8th end — Dunstone blank; 2-2
• 9th end — Dunstone forced to count one on hit-and-roll facing three; Dunstone 3-2
• 10th end — Jacobs executes peel to count three; 5-3 Jacobs
Last spring, Kennedy, Gallant and Hebert wanted a change at skip, ditching 2021 Brier winner Brendan Bottcher in favour of veteran Brad Jacobs.
The gamble paid off with Sunday’s victory — the second such one for skip Jacobs, while third Kennedy now has four and each of second Gallant and lead Hebert have five.
“I can’t put it into words — this feeling,” Jacobs told the crowd. “They’ve definitely rejuvenated me.
“This was a huge challenge for me to skip this team and lead these guys. I’m all about personal growth and always trying to get better and improve. And without them, that would’ve never happened.
“I’d say that all the credit goes to my team in challenging me to grow and become better.”
Jacobs made his way to the final by winning three straight elimination games, including the semifinal — a 7-6 decision to knock off Gushue.
The Sunday afternoon semi was an epic clash, until the super skip from St. John’s, N.L., came up heavy with a tough draw to win the game.
Tough way for the winner of the last three Briers — and three scattered over his decorated career before that — to go out.
“I’m definitely going to put this one on my shoulders,” Gushue told reporters. “Hugely disappointed, and feel like I’m going to be apologizing to my teammates for quite some time after that.”
“Maybe the biggest break I’ve seen for us in my career,” Jacobs told reporters. “I would say just how good brushing is and how good Brad is and how much distance was between our rock and the guard, maybe five per cent or less (he misses that), to be honest with you.
“But I think Brad was just a little heavy, a little wide and (running on) maybe a little bit of adrenaline, and — sure enough — it just coasted on by.”
Dunstone also dusted off Gushue to get to the final — his victory over the champ, in 7-4 fashion, coming in the 1-v-2 Page playoff tilt late Saturday.
But just as it happened in 2023 London, when he lost to Gushue in the final, Dunstone didn’t get the job done against Jacobs.
The talented skip from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., last won the event in 2013 Edmonton, when he beat Manitoba’s Jeff Stoughton as skip of the Northern Ontario. Ironically, the Harnden brothers — Dunstone’s current lead and second — made up his front end in that Brier victory.
He then made the final but lost in 2015 Calgary to Canada’s Pat Simmons — a decision that started a run of 10 straight playoff losses at the Brier. The last one came this year on Friday — after a perfect 8-0 round robin — in the seeding game, forcing him and his Calgary team to have to win four elimination games, including the finale.
And they did just that — a first in Brier history.
With the title, Jacobs & Co. now advance to the 2025 BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship, March 29-April 6 in Moose Jaw, Sask.
“It’s going to be awesome — can’t wait,” added Jacobs, addressing the 5,103 fans at jam-packed Prospera Place. “It’s been a long time since I threw the maple leaf on my back. Way too long, I think. So we’re going to wear it with pride. We’re going to go to Moose Jaw. We’re going to have a lot of fun. We’re going to play extremely hard for our country and see if we can win a world championship for everyone.
“How does that sound?”
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