Clean Sweep! Brad Jacobs beats Matt Dunstone in Trials final to lock up Olympic spot

Team Jacobs skip Brad Jacobs throws a stone during Canadian Olympic curling trials finals action against Team Dunstone in Halifax on Saturday, November 29, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

HALIFAX — Brad Jacobs owned a poor performance in his opening game at the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials.

He didn’t lose again at Scotiabank Centre and is now on his way back to the Winter Olympics.

Jacobs and his Calgary-based team held off a spirited challenge from Matt Dunstone’s Winnipeg side on Saturday night, making a hit in the 10th end for a 6-5 victory and two-game sweep in the best-of-three men’s final.

Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert will wear the Maple Leaf at the Milan Cortina Games in February.

“We’re just four curling maniacs together on the same team,” Gallant said. “Like, we’re all a little bit different and maybe approach the game in slightly different ways, but when put together it’s a great combination.”

Afterward, coach Paul Webster said Jacobs is one of the “most open, honest and accountable” skips in the game.

Jacobs sat down with his teammates after a 6-5 defeat to Kevin Koe last weekend and told them the loss was “on him” after throwing too many heavy draws, Webster recalled.

“He was just accountable,” Webster said. “He owned the loss and said, ‘Hey, what do we have to do next?’”

The veteran squad figured things out quickly. Six straight wins followed against one of the deepest men’s fields in recent memory.

The run of victories gave Jacobs a bye to the final. A 9-8 victory in Game 1 on Friday at Scotiabank Centre was followed by a second straight one-point win over the top-ranked Dunstone.

“This was the one event that was circled on the calendar four years ago that this team wanted to show up for and win,” Jacobs said.

“To work toward that and have all of the systems and preparation in place to come here and play our best and win is something special.”

Earlier in the day, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan defeated Christina Black of Halifax in the women’s final.

After a rollicking back-and-forth affair a night earlier, Jacobs was forced to a single in the opening end and picked up a steal in the second when Dunstone was light on a draw.

Dunstone, vice Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden pulled even with a deuce in the third but Kennedy shone in the fourth end.

He made a highlight-reel runback triple-takeout and Jacobs followed with an angle-raise to salvage a single.

“It was almost like he was possessed with the amount of shots that he was making,” Jacobs said of his vice. “Marc blacked out in that game from like the first end to the last shot of the game.

“And I’m just so proud of how he played today. Nobody deserves to win this week, I’d say, more than that guy.”

Dunstone picked a Jacobs rock off the button for a single in the sixth end. Jacobs answered with a double-takeout for a pair in the seventh and ticked off his own rock for a highlight double again in the eighth to force Dunstone to draw for one.

Jacobs was content to give up a steal of one in the ninth to keep hammer for the final end.

“Those were the two best teams in Canada going at it,” Dunstone said. “We beat them three times in a row going into this event and they got us three times here. That’s just the way it’s going to go.”

Jacobs won Olympic gold in 2014 at the Sochi Games with a team that included Dunstone’s current front end. This was the first Trials final appearance for Dunstone and vice Colton Lott.

Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert won Olympic gold in 2010 on a team skipped by Kevin Martin. Kennedy and Hebert returned to the Games in 2018 with skip Kevin Koe.

Gallant, who earned Olympic bronze three years ago on a team skipped by Brad Gushue, has also qualified to play mixed doubles for Canada at the 2026 Games with Jocelyn Peterman.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 29, 2025.

Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press