KENORA, Ont. -- It will be up to a Thunder Bay team to deny Brad Jacobs from returning to the Brier.
Dylan Johnston and Al Hackner will face off in the semifinal of the Northern Ontario men’s curling championship on Saturday night in Kenora after finishing the round robin portion of the tournament with the second and third best records respectively.
The winner of that match has a date with former Brier and Olympic champion Jacobs in Sunday’s final.
Jacobs and his rink, based out of Sault Ste. Marie, ran the round robin table with a perfect 7-0 mark to earn the automatic berth into the finals.
He had won the regional playdowns for four straight years from 2010 to 2013 until skipping last year’s event to compete in the Winter Olympics and Sochi, where he emerged with the gold medal.
Johnston and his team of third Mike Badiuk, second Chris Briand and lead Travis Showalter, went 6-1 in the round robin. Their lone defeat coming at the hands of Jacobs, a 6-3 final earlier Saturday. Johnston, a former Northern Ontario junior champion, is seeking his first Brier berth.
Meanwhile, his opponent is one of the most legendary Northern Ontario curlers. Hackner, the 1982 and 1985 Brier and world champ, has not competed at the Brier since 2001. He has nine career Northern Ontario crowns.
His team of third Frank Morissette, second Kris Leupen and lead Gary Champagne, posted a 6-2 round robin record with losses against Jacobs and Johnston. They closed out the round robin with a 9-3 victory against fellow Thunder Bay skip Ben Mikkelson (1-6).
Last year's Northern Ontario champion, Jeff Currie, finished the tournament out of the playoffs with a 2-5 record after a 6-2 loss to Thunder Bay's Bryan Burgess (2-5) in the final draw.
