Gold medalists Brad Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant, Ben Hebert and Tyler Tardi of Team Jacobs celebrate during the victory ceremony.Jennifer Lorenzini/Reuters
The Canadian men’s curling team struck gold on Saturday night in Italy, a triumphant finish after a turbulent run at the Winter Olympics.
Team Brad Jacobs pulled off an epic 9-6 victory over Bruce Mouat’s world championship rink from Great Britain in Saturday’s gold-medal final.
A Jacobs triple in the ninth end flipped the final game on its ear, paving the way for Canada’s first Olympic gold medal in men’s or women’s curling in 12 years.
It’s the second time atop the podium for Jacobs, who skipped Canada to gold at the Sochi Winter Games. This time he did it with lead Ben Hebert, second Brett Gallant and third Marc Kennedy.
Canada defeats the U.S. to win bronze in women’s curling
Mouat’s top-ranked team, who has won virtually everything else in curling, settled for silver at a second straight Olympics.
The Canadians overcame a media firestorm halfway through the bonspiel, when Swedish third Oskar Eriksson accused Kennedy of double-touching stones after the hog line – against the rules – and Canada’s third reacted with profanity while wearing a hot microphone. It kicked off a whirlwind of controversy that stretched for days and made Olympic news around the world.
“What you saw happen here today was the curling Gods helping us out and being on our side after everything we went through,” said Jacobs. “This is the most deserving win I’ve ever felt in my entire life.”
The team stood by Kennedy as he faced a storm of online hate and became the butt of jokes, memes and cheating accusations. He went into a media blackout and the team huddled around him.
“It means the world to me to see my teammates with a medal around their neck … people will never understand what we went through this week as a team, what I put them through this week,” said Kennedy.
“There’s a lot of hate out there, but we made a choice to not let any of that hate in the room, not give it a voice in our heads, and just trust one another.”
Hebert says the controversy resulted from Niklas Edin’s Swedish team simply having a bad week. The 2022 Olympic gold medalists finished 2-7 and missed the playoffs in Cortina.
“Olympic champion, and being such a special team that they were, they were feeling that heat,” said Hebert. “I think they got carried away with something probably that if they were still the team that they were four years ago, I don’t think that would have happened.”
Canada's Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert in action.Issei Kato/Reuters
All members of Canada’s team had made Olympic podiums before, but this was their first time at a Winter Games together.
Hebert and Kennedy had earned gold at Vancouver 2010 with Kevin Martin. Gallant earned bronze with Team Brad Gushue at Beijing 2022. This one was different, with the field stronger than ever.
Canada was up against the world’s top-ranked team Saturday, winners in two of the past three men’s world championships.
It was back-and-forth battle between Canada’s side and Mouat’s talented team of Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan Jr. They applied pressure off the top, putting three in the house and forcing Canada to draw for one.
Then Mouat’s draw added two for the lead in the second end. Canada clapped back with two of their own to steal the lead.
Jacobs then forced Mouat to take a single.
In the fifth, Jacobs tried to blank the fifth end to get hammer in the even ends down the stretch, but his stone stuck around the house, and Canada instead scored one.
Mouat made good use of the hammer in the sixth, throwing a surgical double takeout to score a deuce and snatch back control.
Singing, chanting, flag-waving Team GB fans at Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium went bananas.
Once again, Canada was aiming to blank the seventh to get hammer in the even ends. But MacMillan and Lammie swept a perfectly thrown Mouat shot around a group of guards for a takeout. It forced Canada to go for the single.
But everything changed in the ninth end. Great Britain tried to score a double but couldn’t make it work, leaving Jacobs with a monster opportunity, and the veteran skip delivered by chipping GB out of the house to score a massive three.
It was tense until the final moments, as Mouat tried to tie it up and send the game to an extra end. Jacobs delivered a critical double takeout to make it tougher. Mouat’s final shot overcurled.
The Canadian men leapt in the air and bear hugged one another. They scooped coach Paul Webster into their circle, then grabbed Canadian flags. Meanwhile, Mouat and his guys consoled one another.
“That was mentally exhausting,” said Hebert. “Really, really tough game against, the best team in the world,
Hebert, left, and Gallant celebrate.MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP/Getty Images
The Canadian wives and kids lined up together to watch the champs take the podium and sing along to O Canada for the first time in the Cortina hub of these Olympic Games.
“I feel surprisingly good, like I could run through a big wall right now,” said Gallant, after playing both the men’s bonspiel and the mixed doubles event with his wife Jocelyn Peterman, where they missed the playoffs.
“I credit my guys. I was pretty disappointed after the mixed doubles, not happy with that performance, and they came in with awesome energy and lifted me up. That’s what got us through, even these tough playoff games against Bruce and those Norwegians and the whole week – the team unity.”
There will be little rest for Team Jacobs. They’ll get right back to Canada and play in St. John’s, Nfld. next week, in The Brier.
Follow our live daily coverage of the Winter Games