The saying “just make eight” has been used all season long by the members of Team Brad Jacobs.
The Alberta foursome did just that in the 10th end on Sunday night and it paid off with a Montana’s Brier title.
Down one with hammer and a national crown on the line, Jacobs capped a run of eight perfect shots with a game-winning pick for three points that gave his team a 5-3 win over Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone.
“It’s one of the best ends we’ve played all week,” said coach Paul Webster. “But they had 25 of those ends all week. They’ve been playing like Brier champs all week.
“We just had to put that final end together.”
Dunstone flashed his first rock in the ninth end and was forced to a single. In the 10th, his team of Colton Lott, E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden tried to bunch up stones around the button area to try to force an extra end.
With Alberta teammates Ben Hebert, Brett Gallant and Marc Kennedy setting the table, Jacobs made a soft tap with his first rock to sit four.
Dunstone left a freeze attempt exposed and Jacobs hit it out to kick off his first Brier title celebration since 2013. Hebert let out a roar and slid down the ice to emphatically hug his skipper while Kennedy and Gallant hugged closer to the rings.
“We didn’t celebrate too many big shots or big moments all weeklong,” Jacobs said. “We were very calm, cool and collected.
“I think at the end it was just all of it coming out of us all at once.”
Jacobs, who played with Reid Carruthers last season, replaced Brendan Bottcher last spring in a move that the team felt would give them a better shot at winning major titles.
“It was a first-line centre for a first-line centre,” Webster said. “But it was just for moments like this. He made so many end-saving shots.”
Alberta was the lone team to go unbeaten in the eight-game round-robin. A qualifying loss was followed by four straight elimination-game victories, including a 7-5 semifinal win over Canada’s Brad Gushue earlier in the day.
“We have a never-quit attitude,” Jacobs said. “We know that we’re going to fight all the way through to the end no matter what.”
The top-ranked Dunstone had hammer to start against his second-ranked opponent. Four blanked ends preceded a Dunstone draw for two after Jacobs missed a cross-house double-takeout attempt.
Dunstone made a tapback to sit two that forced Jacobs to draw for his first point. The Alberta skip followed with a steal when Dunstone jammed on a double.
“Down the stretch they just placed rocks better than us,” Dunstone said.
Manitoba scored a single in the ninth but lost the all-important hammer.
“The 10th was a dream because we made eight in a row,” Hebert said. “Normally when you make eight shots in a row with hammer, you’re going to get a deuce.”
It was the fourth career Brier title for Kennedy. Gallant and Hebert have now won five apiece.
“I’m just completely heartbroken for my team,” Dunstone said. “I wasn’t good enough for them down the stretch.”
In the semifinal, Gushue had a chance to beat Jacobs with his final throw of the 10th end. However, his tap attempt was heavy and the rock slid by Alberta’s shot stone.
“We got the biggest break of the year,” said Jacobs, who reached his first Brier final since 2015.
The result ended Gushue’s bid for a record fourth straight Brier title and seventh overall.
“I just overthrew that last rock,” he said. “I threw it six feet harder than what I needed to throw it. It’s just unfortunate.”
Jacobs earned a berth in the 2026 Brier in St. John’s, N.L., and will represent Canada at the March 29-April 6 BKT world men’s curling championship in Moose Jaw, Sask.
The Alberta team earned $108,000 of the total purse of $300,000. Dunstone’s rink picked up $60,000 and Gushue’s side collected $40,000.
A sellout crowd of 5,483 in the final pushed overall attendance to 89,108.
Ottawa’s Rachel Homan won the Scotties Tournament of Hearts last month in Thunder Bay, Ont. She will wear the Maple Leaf at the world women’s playdowns starting Friday in Uijeongbu, South Korea.
