Howard struggles, but books spot in Brier final

HALIFAX — Glenn Howard and his rink paraded into the Page 1 vs. 2 playoff game of the Tim Hortons Brier sporting Maritime fisherman sou’westers in hopes of winning over the 6,263 fans at the Halifax Metro Centre on Friday night.

The skip then went out and played the first half of the game like he had a patch over one eye before salvaging a 8-6 comeback win over fiery young skip Brad Jacobs, who continues to write an impressive tale while representing a region starving for a winner.

How bad was it for Howard over the first five ends? The 12-time Brier participant was struggling at 68 per cent, compared to Jacobs’s 90 and Howard couldn’t even blame it on the man playing in front of him, third Richard Hart, who was at 88 per cent at the midway mark, easily out-curling Jacobs’s third E.J. Harnden at 68 per cent.

The veteran Ontario skip, who went through the round-robin undefeated at 11-0, finally got it going in the eighth end, taking advantage of a Harnden miss to hit for three and grab a 6-5 lead.

Up until that point it was Jacobs, who led Northern Ontario into the Brier playoffs for the first time in 17 years, who was raining down on Howard’s parade, sou’wester or not.

The 24-year-old — the youngest skip here — gave Howard fits despite allowing a deuce in the second end, after a blank in the first in which the Sault Ste. Marie skip pulled off a fine double with his second to force the goose egg. The brash Jacobs then attempted a triple with his final stone in two, got two, but gave Howard an open draw for the 2-0 lead.

Jacobs came right back in three and took advantage of rare back-to-back Howard misses to post a 3-2 Northern Ontario lead and then stole one in four when Howard was light with a draw for one.

Howard had to settle for a single in five with an errant hit for two, but it all turned in the eighth with Jacobs up 5-3. He did manage to tie it back up at 6-6 in the ninth, but allowed the deuce in 10.

Ontario now advances to Sunday night’s final, while Jacobs attempts to play his way back in through the semifinal, awaiting the winner of Saturday’s Page 3 vs. 4 matchup between Alberta’s Kevin Koe and Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue, the people’s choice minus the sou’westers.

EXTRA ENDS:

A total of 951,000 fans viewed Thursday nights draw on TSN. Attendance at the Metro Centre is now 86,656 for the week, with three more games to go. “The crowds haven’t been great but are starting to come on and I don’t think we’re unique in that aspect. That’s been the trend in the last several events — the Moncton worlds, even Calgary (Brier in ’09) to an extent, the Scotties in January. There was heavy walkup in each place and I think that was partly due to the economy and maybe that’s the way curling fans are evolving,” said Hugh Avery, co-chairman for this event.

Edmonton Journal