Brad Jacobs of Team Canada competes alongside Ben Hebert and Brett Gallant during their men's Olympic curling round robin opener against Germany on Wednesday.Julian Finney/Getty Images
On a boisterous opening night of the men’s Olympic curling bonspiel in Cortina, Team Canada edged past Germany 7-6 on Wednesday in a game that needed 11 ends.
The Canadians – skip Brad Jacobs, lead Ben Hebert, second Brett Gallant, and third and vice skip Marc Kennedy – each have Olympic medals on their resumes already and have opened their quest for another.
“Electric atmosphere. Holy smokes, amazing. Got the butterflies going,” said Hebert. “It had the hair standing up on your arms ... a lot of Canadian fans here, a lot of USA fans, a lot of good shots. It was awesome. It felt like the Olympics.”
They faced a team of talented German curlers all making their Olympic debuts. The Germans got on the board first, with a takeout by skip Marc Muskatewitz for two in the third end.
Canada tied it up in the fourth, before stealing two in the fifth to take the lead.
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The Germans bounced back in the sixth, drawing to the Olympic rings to score two and tie the game.
A couple of blank ends passed before the veteran Canadian team scored two in the ninth to pull ahead.
The Germans knotted it up in a tense 10th to send it to an extra end. They were the last of the four sheets playing.
Jacobs, who curled 93 per cent, delivered a beauty on the nose for the win in the extra end.
Team Canada celebrates its 11-end win over Germany on Wednesday, moving to 1-0 in the preliminary round of play.Issei Kato/Reuters
“We almost let that one slip. But you know, kudos to those guys,” said Hebert. “We’ll have to crank it up a little bit more. But you know, our, the good news is our skip was money. Brad’s got a little twinkle in his eye.”
Conditions inside Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium for their men’s game on Wednesday were completely different from the straight ice in the latter half of the mixed doubles tournament. The ice crew also changed out the rocks.
Gallant reunited with the men’s team two days after missing the playoffs in mixed doubles with his wife, Jocelyn Peterman. He gets another shot at the podium with the men.
Canada last struck Olympic gold in four-person curling at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, when Jacobs skipped a team to the top of the men’s podium and Jennifer Jones led the women to gold.
On the women’s side in Cortina, Canada’s team, skipped by Rachel Homan, opens its Olympic campaign on Thursday against Denmark. Team Jacobs gets the day off.