The countdown is on for the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship, and Team Brad Jacobs is looking forward to representing Canada on home soil.
Skip Brad Jacobs will be representing Canada along with third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant, and Regina native Ben Hebert at lead.
For Jacobs, this is his first time back at the world championship since winning a silver medal in 2013 in Victoria, B.C. He is also an Olympic gold medalist, winning at the 2014 Games in Sochi.
He said he can’t wait to get on the ice and play in front of the crowds here in Moose Jaw.
“A lot of people have come up to me and said, ‘Oh no, it’s too bad you guys don’t get to go on a big, long trip, see somewhere fancy and experience something new.’ My response to that is I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but in Canada,” Jacobs commented.
He added that he’s expecting a raucous crowd that will be cheering Canada on.
“I think anytime that you can have the crowd behind you, it can definitely create an advantage, and I’m just looking forward to throwing on the Maple Leaf at home in front of our Canadian fans and hopefully creating a lot of excitement as a team for everyone in the arena as much as we can,” he said.
To qualify for the world championship, Jacobs won the 2025 Montana’s Brier, and he did it in dramatic fashion.
After going 8-0 through the round robin, he lost the qualifier game to defending champion Brad Gushue. Jacobs won three straight single-elimination games to get to the final before defeating Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone 5-3 in the championship final.
Jacobs said he’s hoping to carry that momentum from the Brier over to the world championship.
“We are going to have to play as good as we just did, or maybe even a little bit better, if we want to win the world championship,” said Jacobs.
“That’s the reality, but hopefully we can get a good map of the sheets really quick, get comfortable out there and get rolling exactly like we did at the Brier.”
Kennedy is no stranger to the world stage as well. He’s a two-time world gold medalist, winning in 2008 with skip Kevin Martin and 2016 with skip Kevin Koe, and won Olympic gold in 2010 in Vancouver with Martin as the skip.
He talked about the advantage Canada will have with the hometown crowd behind them.
“You feel at home, you feel supported. People are going to cheer loud when you’re making shots. It almost makes you want to make the shots even more, knowing that you’re going to get a great reaction from the crowd,” he said.
Kennedy said they are expecting some strong competition, especially from the No. 1 ranked team of Bruce Mouat from Scotland. He said they’ve had challenges with Yannick Schwaller. Sweden’s Niklas Edin hasn’t had a strong season, but as the defending champion, Kennedy didn’t write him off.
“Looking at the schedule, I think we’re preparing for no easy games. We’re going to do everything we can to try and get in the top two so we can get that bye to the semis, but this is really going to be a one-game-at-a-time approach, going in healthy and rested and just try to get as many wins as we possibly can,” Kennedy commented.
Gallant added that he is also looking forward to coming to Moose Jaw. As a 2017 world champion with Gushue, he’s hoping to bring that experience to the 2025 championship.
“It’s been about eight years since that, so I’m pretty excited to play, wear the Maple Leaf in Canada. It’s another great curling town, Moose Jaw, and it’s going to be pretty wicked,” Gallant said.
Team Canada is expected to arrive in Moose Jaw this week with a practice on Friday at 1 p.m. They open the championship on Saturday at 2 p.m. when they take on Japan.