Team meeting and sharp front end leads to bounce-back win for Brad Jacobs and Team Canada

There’s nothing like a friendly chat about teammates to get everyone refocused. Brad Jacobs and his team had one of those sessions Saturday evening and turned it into a bounce-back victory Sunday at Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.

After a tough 9-5 loss to Switzerland, Jacobs said the team gathered to talk and deal with things happening on and off the ice and came out Sunday with renewed purpose that led to a 6-3, nine-end win over Xu Xiaoming of China.

“I think one of the main reasons we played so good today was because we had a really good debrief last night,” said Jacobs. “The coaches were here at the rink, matching rocks and doing things. Sometimes it’s great to just be together as a team and think of a few things we need to improve on in order to bounce back.

“And we came up with a few things we were able to execute tonight. It was mostly about energy, engagement, intensity and really going out there with that passion and will to want to win. And sticking together and being a world class team and teammates to one another.”

Not only did Jacobs, third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Herbert bring energy and passion, they also brought their A game, especially Gallant and Hebert.

Leads and seconds don’t often get the credit they deserve for team victories, but it was the play of the front end that paved the way for Canada to beat China and keep pace with the front runners.

Canada stole half of their points in the nine-end win as Hebert and Gallant constantly set the house or provided the key guards that allowed Jacobs and Kennedy to then finish off the ends with control in their hands.

Gallant finished the game shooting 99 percent and Hebert was 94. Kennedy had one of his best games at third, shooting 92 percent while Jacobs, as skip usually facing the most difficult shots, finished at 82 percent.

“We put our energies in the right place today,” said Gallant. “There was a lot of noise it seemed like the last couple of games, and we just put our attention to the details and what gives our team success. I think we did a really good job of that tonight and it turned into a win.

“This felt like normal focus, good for the confidence to get back on track.”

The win improved Canada to 4-1, good for second place behind unbeaten Yannick Schwaller of Switzerland at 5-0.

Playing in the same draw Sunday, the United States (Daniel Casper) beat Magnus Ramsfjell of Norway 10-8 and Switzerland scored one in the extra end to nip Great Britain (Bruce Mouat) 6-5. That left Great Britain and the U.S. tied for third spot at 4-2.

For three ends Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist, tried to score a deuce with last rock. Each end Canada had the house set to score two – actually a potential three in the first – and each time Xu took away the multiple scoring opportunity.

The China skipper made last-rock hit and rolls in the first two ends that Canada blanked, and then a wonderful tap back that ultimately forced Jacobs to take a single.

Denied a deuce, Team Canada jumped on a missed tap back by Xu to steal one in the fourth for a two-point margin.

Having worked hard to prevent Canada from getting that lead, China came right back in the fifth to tie the game. They put two counters in the house, covered by guards, that Canada could never totally eliminate. Xu made a perfect draw around the guards to the button to get their two points.

The sixth end was a battle of the draws and tap backs with neither team missing much and ultimately leaving Jacobs with a last rock attempt to angle tap back a Canadian stone to count three. He was a touch heavy, and Canada took their deuce for a 4-2 edge.

China blanked seven to get hammer in eight, but as their shooting accuracy declined in the second half of the game, Canada went to its power – the hitting game to ensure their opponents couldn’t mount any serious challenge for a multiple scoring end.

Just when China got some rocks in the house in the ninth, Kennedy, 2010 gold medallist playing in his fourth Olympic Games, made back-to-back doubles to clean the house of any China stones. China was left to draw for a single and shook hands.

In the one other game played Sunday evening host Italy (Joël Retornaz) beat Czechia (Lukáš Klima) 10-5.

Following the top four in the standings are Italy and Norway at 3-2, Germany at 2-3, Sweden at 1-4 with China and Czechia both winless in five games.