Only one team is consistently throwing in the 90s at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship.
When it’s your skipper who’s leading the way, the victories will follow.
Canada’s Brad Jacobs has posted the best numbers at the fourth position and he was in form again Wednesday in an 8-3 win over Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell.
“We’ve got the best player in the world on our team and he’s throwing the seven and eight rocks,” said Canada lead Ben Hebert. “So that’s always a comforting feeling when your skip is dialed and in the zone the way he is.”
Jacobs threw a solid 86 per cent in the morning session, making a draw for three in the fourth end and forcing Ramsfjell to make pressure shots late in the game.
Norway gave up a steal of two in the eighth to end it as Canada moved into a first-place tie with China’s Xiaoming Xu at 6-1.
Canada has shot 91.9 per cent overall in round-robin play, tops among the 13 teams in the field.
At 93.1 per cent, Jacobs has a healthy lead in the percentage race among fourths. Scotland’s Bruce Mouat, who dropped an 11-7 decision to Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller, was next at 88.6 per cent.
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Hebert, second Brett Gallant and vice Marc Kennedy have helped set the table for Jacobs, who’s wearing the Maple Leaf at this event for the first time since taking silver in 2013.
“We’re giving him a lot of chances and setting up a lot of good ends too,” Hebert said. “We’re playing well and we’re all comfortable with the ice.”
The rocks were textured after the late session Tuesday, giving the stones a couple feet of extra curl and forcing players to adjust their speed accordingly.
Ramsfjell struggled with hits — shooting just 43 per cent on takeouts — and was a game-low 66 per cent overall. Jacobs gave credit to alternate Tyler Tardi for a “really great” scouting report on the Norwegians, who fell to 4-3.
“We did try to force them to their weaknesses,” Jacobs said. “And when we did that, we got misses.”
Sweden’s Niklas Edin beat American Korey Dropkin 7-1 to join Switzerland and Scotland at 5-2. Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi beat South Korea’s Hyojun Kim 7-4 in the other early game at the Temple Gardens Centre.
An afternoon draw was scheduled ahead of the evening session, which was to feature Canada against Czechia’s Lukas Klima (4-3).
Round-robin play will continue through Friday night. The top six teams will qualify for the weekend playoffs.
Canada’s last title at this competition came in 2017 when Brad Gushue skipped the host team to victory in Edmonton.
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