Roar Of The Rings: Jacobs’ aggressive nature shows his confidence is brimming

Brad Jacobs and his Soo crew have that swagger back. It's on display at the 2013 Roar Of The Rings and it's reminiscent of their best moments, earlier this year. Tuesday's 6-5 win over Glenn Howard, which bumped their record to 3 and oh, contained glimpses of what became a glorious week last March.

During his 11-4 win over Jeff Stoughton in the 2013 Brier final (He's beaten Stoughton here as well), Jacobs illustrated fully that his confidence was at a high when he chose a difficult pick shot for three over a safe draw for two, with his team leading by a single point, in the fourth end. Feeling the moment had arrived to take control of the game, Jacobs made the shot and jumped into a 6-2 lead. Never looked back.

Now, at the Roar Of The Rings, with the intense pressure of an Olympic berth on the line, Jacobs clearly has shown that his confidence level - both in himself and his teammates - is back in spades.

Another fourth end scenario clearly revealed it. In Team Jacobs' Tuesday morning game against Howard, the skip from The Soo could have played it safe and thrown a runback with his first stone of the end, one that featured a busy house and a Howard stone fairly locked in at the button. That runback could have allowed him to bail a bit and possibly set up a scenario where he'd get one, with hammer. The game was tied at one.

Instead, Jacobs chose another route, one that left him with a difficult come around tap with his last, after a Howard guard over-curled just slightly. With perfect weight and line, Jacobs played that come around tap to pop the end open for three and a 4-1 lead.

"The run back is kind of like a safer shot and it’s a real tough shot to begin with," Jacobs said during the fifth end break. "Make it and we probably get out of the end with one. The tap was more of an aggressive call and... make a beauty on the last one. And, we were fortunate that’s what happened," he said.

Jacobs' aggressive, confident calling and shooting in the fourth was followed up by more of the same in the fifth.

Without hammer, the skip mulled tossing his last stone into the boards and letting Howard freely draw for two. Instead, he decided to play - again aggressively - a tapback take out, wiggling a Howard stone between two other rocks. Jam it, and he'd give up three. Jacobs made it and forced Howard into a delicate hit and slight roll for a deuce (which he made).

That Howard made the shot is not the point. That Jacobs has his edgy eye back is important. It's the kind of game he and teammates E.J. Harnden, Ryan Harnden and Ryan Fry employed to win The Brier as their confidence grew through that week.

While the crew form Northern Ontario had its struggles in earning a berth into the trials, they seem to have left doubt and indecision as far away as Winnipeg is from Kitchener, Ontario.

It was in Kitchener (at The Road To The Roar) where they downed Brad Gushue in the final battle for a berth in this week's Canadian Olympic qualifier. That victory came after a Saturday night stinker against John Morris, one that had Jacobs absolutely fuming afterward.

It's obvious that Team Jacobs has done a good job of regrouping after that. Their 3 and oh start at The Roar makes that obvious. Within those victories have been signs that the team's Brier wave may well be repeating itself.

Not insignificantly, part of that wave is being comfortable with ice conditions, which have continued to bamboozle some skips. "Sometimes they run straight sometimes they don’t," Howard was heard to say during the game.

Jacobs is not so perplexed. Or, at least, isn't letting on.

"Compared to the first day there’s definitely a little more movement," Jacobs said of the ice at MTS Centre. "Draws seem to be moving about the same (as Day One), hits are probably curling a little bit more."

Then added, with a grin, "We like it."