Gold medal curling: Canada versus Great Britain tale of the tape

Over to you, Brad Jacobs.

After Jennifer Jones' stellar performance in the women's gold medal game, what are Jacobs and his crew's odds of beating David Murdoch and Great Britain? (Friday, 8:30 am Eastern time, on CBC)

Here's a break down of some of the statistical numbers, as well as some commentary from four-time world champion Brent Laing, of the Glenn Howard rink.

After a sluggish start, Canada has won 7 straight games and has a record of 8 and 2.

Great Britain has played an extra game, having to go through a tie breaker against Norway in order to claim a medal round spot. They are 7 and 4.

These two teams met fairly late in the round robin, with Canada scoring a 7 - 5 win. In that game, Jacobs shot an 85%, while Murdoch booked an 80%. Over the course of the week (including all games, round robin and beyond), Jacobs and Murdoch each scored a rating of 84%.

As whole units, the Canadian men have accrued a shooting mark of 85%, the team from Scotland a mark of 84%.

Apart from the skip's numbers, above, a break down at each position shows a slight edge for Canada at lead and second and a slight advantage for Great Britain at vice. Again, these numbers have been gathered through all games, not just round robin.

(Canadian team members followed by Great Britain):

Third: Ryan Fry, 85%. Greg Drummond, 86%.

Second: E.J. Harnden, 83%. Scott Andrews, 81%.

Lead: Ryan Harnden, 88%. Michael Goodfellow, 85%.

E.J. Harnden, Murdoch, Andrews and Drummond all went up slightly from their averages, in the semi's. Jacobs dropped a point. Ryan Harnden soared from his 88% average to 97% in the semi-final. Fry also saw a big increase, going from 85% to 94%. Goodfellow jumped to 94%, as well, in the semi's.

As a team, Canada improved to 90% in their 10 - 6 semi-final win over China. Great Britain improved to 88% in their 6 - 5 semi-final win over Sweden.

According to CurlingZone.com statistics, Jacobs and Murdoch have met four times as skips since 2010, including the round robin game at Sochi. Jacobs has won all four times. Two of those victories came at the 2013 World Championship.

Over the course of the Olympics, Canada has scored just over 8 points per game, while allowing just over 6 per game. Great Britain has scored just under 6 points per game and given up around 5.5, on average.

The Jacobs team has a won/loss record of 57 and 12 this season, according to Gerry Geurts of CurlingZone. The Murdoch rink has a record of 41 and 28.

Jacobs has won five World Curling Tour sanctioned events, this season, including the Olympic Trials. The team stands first in the WCT's Order Of Merit Standings. The Murdoch team has played in six WCT events this season, with its best showing being third place. They stand 16th in the Order Of Merit standings (listed as Team Brewster, after their alternate and two-time world silver medallist skip, Tom Brewster).

Now, fewer numbers and more in the way of gut insight from Laing, who sent his thoughts by email, from Sochi:

As far as what the end result will be, Laing is feeling that Canadian curling fans will be happy:

A gold medal sweep has never been accomplished by any nation at the Olympics.