Jacobs beats Dunstone 6-2 at Canadian curling trials, closes in on bye to final

HALIFAX — Calgary’s Brad Jacobs has surged ahead of the pack in the race for a bye to the men’s final at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials.

Jacobs (5-1) moved into sole possession of top spot in the men’s standings with one draw to go after a 6-2 win over Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone in Wednesday’s morning action.

Jacobs put the game away with a steal of two in the 10th end.

Dunstone fell into a tie for second at 4-2 with Saskatoon’s Mike McEwen and Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L. McEwen defeated Gushue 9-7 Wednesday morning.

Jacobs, the ’14 Olympic champion, was set to face Gushue, the 2006 gold medallist, in a key game in the final round-robin draw Wednesday evening.

The winner of the men’s and women’s competitions get a bye directly to their respective best-of-three final, while the second- and third-ranked teams face off in a knockout semifinal.

The tournament winners will represent Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy.

In other early results, Toronto’s John Epping defeated Calgary’s Kevin Koe 8-4 and Winnipeg’s Jordon McDonald edged Saskatoon’s Ryan Kleiter 7-6.

Koe was at 3-3 entering the final draw, with Epping at 2-4 and McDonald and Kleiter at 1-5.

The final women’s draw was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, with elite skips Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., and Rachel Homan of Ottawa set to face off with the top seed on the line.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2025.