Jacobs and Canada go for Sochi gold after semi-final win over China

In a game like this, the little mistakes are the ones that haunt. But only if the opposition takes advantage of it.

Take advantage is just what Brad Jacobs did in the seventh end of Canada's 10 - 6 semi-final win over China at the Sochi Olympics. Now, Jacobs and his teammates - Ryan Fry, and brothers E.J. and Ryan Harnden, will play for gold in Friday's championship game.

In a 4 - 4 tie and facing a big seventh end from Canada if he didn't make a fairly routine double takeout, Chinese skip Rui Liu missed by a hair, leaving Jacobs with a free draw to the four-foot for three. Despite being heavy on a couple of draws early in the game, Jacobs hit the button and the Canadians were ready to take control, something that looked certain a few times as the game progressed, but hadn't come to pass.

It did, however, in the late stages, and that late game dominance sends the Canadian men into the gold medal game against Great Britain, Friday at 8:30 am, Eastern time.

This was a game where each team had to fight for every inch of perfectly-placed rocks, even if it was dotted with early mistakes by both sides.

Canada had a glorious opportunity to jump out to a two or even three - nothing lead in the first end. Jacobs' first rock didn't curl they way he wanted and an attempted tap on a Chinese stone instead removed a Canadian one and he was ultimately forced to draw for one. Slamming his broom on the ice a couple of times when the end was through, you knew the skip was not pleased with himself.

You wondered, though, if Jacobs and his mates might actually pull away after they had one of 'those moments,' in the third end; the kind of moment where the team from Sault Ste, Marie, Ontario, raise their brooms and let out a collective, leather-lunged bellow. Well, all of them except the skip, on this particular occasion.

When Jacobs successfully bumped up one of his own stones and double-tapped two Chinese counters to score an exceptionally difficult two points in that third end, he gave a quiet fist pump while his mates whooped it up. 3 -1, Canada, at that point and while they couldn't put the accelerator completely to the mat, they kept the stubborn Chinese team just out of reach, with help from the odd mistake from Liu's team.

One of those mistakes came in the fourth end, immediately after Jacobs had made one of his own. Canada seemed ready to put the screws to China, but Jacobs threw a draw a wee bit too heavy, leaving Liu with a straightforward draw for two points. Instead, the Chinese skip over-curled his shot and almost tapped a Canadian stone up for a steal. As it was, an easy two became a frustrating one and Canada retained the lead.

China found its legs to begin the second half of the game and that burst may well have come from the lips of their coach, Canadian Marcel Rocque. According to CBC commentator Bruce Rainnie, Rocque told his team that they weren't having enough fun, when he met with them during the fifth end break.

Right after that, they came out and played a whale of a sixth end, with the skip nailing a pistol of a tap back to score two and tie the game at four. When Rocque - who has changed the curling culture of the Chinese rink - came out to talk to them during a timeout in the seventh, he suggested the team try and play a double to stay close in the late stages. Liu, who is normally as good a hitter as there is, clipped just one Canadian rock out of the rings, leading to Jacobs' big draw for a three spot.

After that, holding China to a score of two and playing solid hitting defence in the ninth - leading to another score of three - had Canada on its way.

Jacobs and his teammates have now won seven straight games, after stumbling to a 1 and 2 start. They will try to become the third straight Canadian men's team to score Olympic gold, following Kevin Martin's and Brad Gushue's teams in 2010 and 2006, respectively.

The team Canada is playing or gold - Great Britain - narrowly made the playoffs after winning a tiebreaker against Norway. Their 6 - 5 win over Sweden in the other semi-final means the Swedes and Chinese will play for bronze. In round robin play, Jacobs defeated Great Britain - skipped by two time world champion David Murdoch - by a 7 - 5 score.

Should Canadian men and women both win gold at these Olympics, it will mark a first, as a double gold has never been scored by any nation, since curling was reinstated as a full medal sport in 1998.

The women's gold medal game goes on Thursday, when Jennifer Jones and her Canadian rink take on Sweden, at 8:30 am, Eastern time. Jones remains perfect at these games, after defeating Great Britain, 6 - 4, in the semi-finals.