Brad Jacobs using GSOC's Players' Championship to help prepare for Olympic Games

Pressure? What pressure?

Brad Jacobs and his Olympic curling crew from Calgary seem immune to the idea of pressure.

Or at least, they embrace it more than fear it, which is exactly how you want to be when competing — and winning — Grand Slam of Curling honours, Brier titles and Olympic gold medals.

“I don’t think there was ever too much pressure,” said Jacobs, referring specifically to his team’s attitude during November’s Olympic trials in Halifax, N.S. “I think the reason why is because we’ve all been to the Olympics before, so we had a really good mindset going into the trials, and that continued throughout the trials. And so I don’t think anybody at any point in time really felt a whole lot of pressure, and I believe that was reflected in our quality of play.

“When you’re gripping the broom a little too tight and when you’re nervous, tense, anxious and applying too much pressure to yourself, it does become more difficult to perform, and we’ve certainly all been there, done that in our careers,” continued Jacobs. “But I think that we’re little bit older, more experienced — we’re a veteran team — so we’ve kind of been there, done that. It does become a little bit easier to free yourself up just go out and play and let the results happen as they may.

“So that was our mentality going in and that will be our mentality going into the Olympics.”

And so the lead-up is just about finding focus for February and the Olympic thrust for glory at the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina, Italy.

It’s about making sure they’re prepared physically, continuing with more success this week at the Grand Slam of Curling’s final event of the calendar.

Jacobs and his Glencoe Curling Club crew help headline the 24 teams of the GSOC’s Crown Royal Players’ Championship, running Tuesday through Sunday in Steinbach, Man.

“We’re proud of the way that we performed at the Olympic trials. It was a well earned, deserved victory,” Jacobs said. “So now we want to do is finish the slam season strong here. We get to play against the best teams in the world, and then it’s just all about the preparation going into the Olympics.”

And it’s about making sure they’re prepared mentally for the Games away from competition.

“It was certainly a whirlwind of emotions, going through some highs and some lows and everything that happens afterwards — the partying and the celebrating as a team,” Jacobs said. “So after we won the trials, we certainly took some well deserved time-off. And we’ve got some really good rest periods and training periods scheduled for the month of January and early February leading into Cortina, and that’s going to certainly be the most valuable time that we have going into the Olympics.

“So a good balance and a good mix of being able to compete — get some good competitive games in, lots of good practice, lots of good time in the gym, time with family and time to rest.

“What we’re going to try to do is — once again — repeat for February, just like we did in November,” added Jacobs. “And a big part of that for this team is our preparation outside of competing.”

WHAT TEAMS ARE AT THE PLAYERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP?

The Canadian Open — with a GSOC-high $480,000 purse — features 12 Tier 1 teams of each gender, all invited based on World Curling team rankings as of Dec. 15.
Seven of the men’s rinks are slated to participate in the Olympics next month, while six of the women’s sides are Games-bound …

Women

Defending champion: Silvana Tirinzoni

Tier 1: Shootout Division

• Sayaka Yoshimura, Japan
• Kerri Einarson, Gimli, Man.
• Satsuki Fujisawa, Japan
• Gim Eun-ji, Korea
• Anna Hasselborg, Sweden
• Rachel Homan, Ottawa
• Tabitha Peterson, USA
• Silvana Tirinzoni, Switzerland
• Isabella Wranå, Sweden
• Xenia Schwaller, Switzerland
• Ikue Kitazawa, Japan
• Momoha Tabata, Japan

Men

Defending champion: Bruce Mouat

Tier 1: Shootout Division

• Matt Dunstone, Winnipeg
• Niklas Edin, Sweden
• Danny Casper, USA
• Brad Jacobs, Calgary
• Kyle Waddell, Scotland
• Mike McEwen, Saskatoon
• Bruce Mouat, Scotland
• Joël Retornaz, Italy
• John Shuster, USA
• Yannick Schwaller, Switzerland
• Ross Whyte, Scotland
• Xu Xiaoming, China

WHAT IS THE FORMAT OF THE PLAYERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP?

The Players’ Championship is the fifth and final event of the GSOC schedule.

Yes … it’s early for the finale.

The reason for the condensed calendar is because of the upcoming Olympics and the kick-off of The Curling Group’s Rock League in April.

So these Players’ Championship days are the last of this year’s GSOC …

• Each gender is split into two pools of six teams
• Teams play five round-robin games apiece — one each against the other teams in their pools
• Teams are allowed to only blank one end per game. Should a team blank a second one during the game, it will lose the hammer for the subsequent end.
• The top six teams from each gender in each tier advance to the playoffs, with division winners receiving byes through to the semifinals (tiebreakers will be played if necessary)
• No extra ends in round-robin games (a draw-to-the-button shootout will determine the winner)
• Each team has 30 minutes of thinking time, plus two 90-second timeouts
• Points system: Win in 8 ends or less = 3 points; Shootout win = 2 points; Shootout loss = 1 point; Lose in 8 ends or less = 0 points

WHAT IS THE SCHEDULE?

The Canadian Open runs Tuesday through Sunday (all times ET) …

• The Shootout Division begins Tuesday with round-robin draws at 12:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and continues Wednesday through Friday with round-robin draws at 9:30 a.m., 1 p.m., 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
• Tiebreakers, if necessary, are scheduled for Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
• Playoffs then follow Saturday — Quarterfinals: 3:30 p.m.; Semifinals: 7:30 p.m.
• Finals go Sunday: noon (men) and 4:30 p.m. (women)
• Online streaming for all draws at RockChannel.com
• Sportsnet broadcasts begin Thursday at 1 p.m.

ROAD TO THE SCOTTIES

A few upsets headlined weekend curling on the road to the 2026 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, Jan 23-Feb. 1 in Mississauga, Ont.

Beth Peterson upended Kaitlyn Lawes 9-7 in Sunday’s draw for Manitoba’s women’s crown at the RME Women of the Rings in Rivers, Man. Peterson, of Winnipeg’s Assiniboine Memorial Curling Club, also ousted another Olympic trialist in Kate Cameron 13-7 in the semifinal of the provincial championship to cap a weekend of giant-killing in one of Canada’s hottest curling regions.

In another battle for a Scotties spot, Taylor Reese-Hansen took out Olympic trialist Corryn Brown 9-5 in B.C.’s championship draw Sunday in Esquimalt, B.C. Victoria’s Reese-Hansen also eliminated Olympic pre-trialist Kayla McMillan 8-3 in the B.C. semi.

ROAD TO THE BRIER

The first team joining defending champ Jacobs and CTRS pre-qualifiers Gushue, Dunstone and McEwen at the 2026 Brier in St. John’s, N.L., is a new face to the national scene.

That’s Cody Tanaka, who surprisingly won B.C.’s men’s provincial title Sunday with a 6-5 take-out of Jason Montgomery at the Archie Browning Sports Centre in Esquimalt, B.C.

Tanaka won the B-event qualifier before losing to Montgomery in Page playoff action but rebounding to defeat Richard Krell 5-4 in the semifinal and exacting revenge on Montgomery in the finale.

EXTRA ENDS

Four other provincial/territory representatives have already been decided for the Scotties. Mélodie Forsythe won New Brunswick’s honour in early December. Later in the month, it was Nicky Kaufman scoring the spot for the Northwest Territories. Bayly Scoffin returns to carry Yukon’s colours for a third consecutive year after being named — without competition — the territory’s rep. Same goes for Julie Weagle for Nunavut at a second straight Scotties … This week sees more Scotties and Brier spots filled with respective men’s and women’s finals for Alberta (Okotoks), Saskatchewan (Melville), Northern Ontario (North Bay), Ontario (Elmira), Quebec (Rimouski), Nova Scotia (Halifax) and Prince Edward Island (Montague). Respective finals for the Newfoundland and Labrador women’s title (St. John’s) and Yukon’s men’s crown (Whitehorse) are also set for this week … Decorated curler E.J. Harnden, Dunstone’s second, announced over the holidays this season will be his last full one in competitive curling. “While this decision wasn’t easy, it comes with a deep sense of peace and excitement,” offered the 42-year-old on Instagram. “I’m looking forward to finishing this season doing what I love, then spending more time with my family and embracing a new journey ahead.”

tsaelhof@postmedia.com

http://www.x.com/ToddSaelhofPM