Brad Jacobs looks like a man on a mission at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Canada put on a clinic to beat the U.S. team led by skip Daniel Casper 6-3 in just nine ends on Friday to improve its record to 2-0.
The Canadians didn’t force anything and let the game come to them, making the young American team pay for mistakes.
“I think we’re starting to get comfortable,” Canadian third Marc Kennedy said, per the Canadian Olympic Committee. “That first game there’s a lot of emotion, you’re trying to get used to the ice, you’re trying to get used to the ice, you’re playing a good team. I thought we adjusted well, came out today and had a good feel for the ice early. We had good energy, Brad was dialed. We couldn’t ask for a better start.”
In the fourth end, Jacobs cranked up the pressure. Tied 1-1, Canada wanted to get two in the end and after a great draw to the button by Casper with his last, it didn’t look possible to even score.
Jacobs saw a chance through a skinny port to make a hit on his own to push the U.S. rock sideways and went for it. Calm and confident, he delivered a beautiful hit to push the American stone far enough to score his two.
In the fifth, Casper had a chance to earn two of his own. But he missed an easy draw, only scoring one. Canada held a 3-2 lead at the break.
The game was decided in the eighth end. Jacobs knew he was in the zone and wanted to put pressure on the U.S. to possibly get a steal, while his teammates wanted to play it safe and force.
After a long talk, Jacobs convinced the team of his way and backed it up by making two great shots. Casper had nothing but a long-angled runback on the outside with his last and ended up giving Canada a steal of two for a 6-2 lead.
“I just think we’ve done a really good job of detaching ourselves from the results and just focusing on the things that need to be focused on in order to execute,” Jacobs said. “We’ve been saying for quite a while now, the importance of staying loose and playing free and I think what you’re seeing is us executing on that, which allows us to make a lot of shots.”
The Canadian skipper has waited 12 years since first appearing on the Olympic scene to represent his country again, and he’s aiming to bring home another gold medal.
Elsewhere in Draw 3 of the men’s event, Great Britain gave up four in the first end and couldn’t complete the comeback as host Italy won 9-7, Norway picked up its first win of the tournament against China 8-6 and Switzerland handled business against Czechia to win 7-3, improving to 2-0.
It’s a busy day for the Canadian clubs. Rachel Homan’s team will go against the U.S. at 8:05 a.m. ET / 5:05 a.m. PT (CBC Gem, Sportsnet+). Jacobs will be back on the ice at 1:05 p.m. ET / 10:05 a.m. PT (CBC Gem, Sportsnet+) to take on Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin, which is 0-2 to start the tournament.
Canada’s last gold medal in either the men’s or women’s event came back in 2014 when Jacobs and Jennifer Jones both won. The only medal for Canada since then was Brad Gushue’s bronze medal in 2022 – Jacobs’ second Brett Gallant was on that team.
Each team will play nine round-robin games and the top four teams will advance to the semifinals.
