Regardless of Saturday’s result, Canada will play for a medal Sunday at the 2025 BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championships in Moose Jaw, Sask.
Canada earned a playoff qualifier bye straight to the semi-finals after going 11-1 in the round robin and locking in the top spot of the tournament standings.
“We have hammer no matter what in the next two games with being clear of everyone else. That’s huge,” skip Brad Jacobs said following Canada’s 8-2 win over USA Friday. “Anytime you can start the game off with hammer is really big”
At last month’s Brier, Jacobs won four-straight elimination games enroute to his second tankard title to get to Moose Jaw.
He’s hoping to continue that streak headed into the weekend’s playoffs at worlds.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve played on a team where everything’s clicked like this,” Jacobs said. “It seems like on this team, the bigger the moment, the more that’s on the line, the more focused we get.”
“The guys around me are kind of making it easy,” Second Brett Gallant added. “Brad’s making the great shots to give us the lead. Benny’s making good shots ahead of me.”
“It’s having a ripple effect,” he said.
Canada was the lone team with just a single loss, only dropping Monday’s affair against the number one ranked team in the world, Scotland.
Now they are ready to play Scotland in Saturday’s semi-final.
Canada has not won a world title since 2017, when skip Brad Gushue led the country to gold in Edmonton, Alta.
Five times has Canada won silver since, losing to Sweden four times and Scotland once.
In their final round robin games Friday night, Sweden beat Norway 6-4 while Scotland was crushed 9-2 by China.
A loss in the semi-final will send Canada to the bronze medal game, but the team is aiming for gold.
“Every game from here on is going to be really, really tough,” Gallant said. “We have to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Control what we can control.”
“We can control our rocks and the other ones are going to end up where they are,” he added.
“We are a complete unit,” Jacobs said. “We have one another’s backs up there. And I think that’s really important, especially when you get into a building and you’re the only game on the sheet.”
“Win or lose, it’s all going to be okay,” the skip said.
Canada’s semi-final draw goes 3 p.m. Saskatchewan time on TSN.
In the other semi-final, Switzerland will play the winner of the China (3) vs. Norway (6) qualification game.
