KELOWNA, B.C. — Loaded with experience and championship pedigree, the four-man Alberta team skipped by Brad Jacobs at the Montana's Brier offers a study in contrasts.
Lead Ben Hebert has the intensity and raw sweeping power few can match. Brett Gallant's chiselled frame can also work the broom and he has the shooting game to go with it.
Vice Marc Kennedy owns a boyish charm and impressive table-setting skill set for Jacobs, who has guided the Calgary-based team to a 4-0 start at Prospera Place.
Their latest win came Tuesday with a 6-3 decision over Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter.
"It's just a lesson in perfection a little bit out there," said Saskatchewan second Matthew Hall. "They're making everything."
Jacobs was a near-flawless 97 per cent and his team was at 94 per cent overall, just ahead of Kleiter's side at 91 per cent.
The Saskatoon skip tried to score two with a big-weight double-takeout in the ninth end but gave up a steal when he couldn't hold his stone.
The matchup was the first real test of the competition for the Alberta side, which controlled the game by keeping mistakes to a minimum.
"We've put a lot of time in to try to improve our game and focus on the areas that matter," Kennedy said. "It seems to be working right now."
Saskatchewan's Mike McEwen, a 7-5 winner over Yukon's Thomas Scoffin, led Pool B at 5-0. Canada's Brad Gushue (5-0), the lone undefeated skip in Pool A, beat New Brunswick's James Grattan 8-3 in the afternoon draw.
Round-robin play continues through Thursday with the playoffs on tap this weekend.
Jacobs was scheduled to play Nova Scotia's Owen Purcell on Tuesday night.
The Alberta team's communication has been on point so far and its technical game is in form. With nearly 500 combined Brier game wins between the four Olympians, they know what needs to be done — particularly in big-game settings.
"We joke around, we're pretty easygoing," Jacobs said. "But when we need to flip the switch and compete, no one is more serious."
The team brought in coach Paul Webster in 2022 to help them through the quadrennial with a goal of winning the Montana's Canadian Curling Trials this November. Brendan Bottcher skipped the team at the time but was cut last spring.
Jacobs, a 39-year-old native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., came on this season as his replacement.
"There's a ceiling that I think he thought might have been on his game that just went higher," Webster said. "(He) has the ability to see a few extra percentage points out there along with the other guys."
On paper, the new-look squad looked like a powerhouse with 12 combined national titles. But Jacobs said it took time for the foursome to find a rhythm.
"There are many reasons why we weren't (strong) that we had to work through and figure out," he said. "I feel like we've just been building and getting better all the time."
Jacobs noted the team doesn't let things fester if they go through a rough bonspiel. Instead, questions are asked about how to improve, leading to "good, open, honest conversations."
"That leads to us coming up with really great solutions and we seem to bounce back in the next event really well," Jacobs said. "That's what I like the most."
Kennedy, who previously played with Jacobs from 2019-22, said his teammate leads by example, adding the squad is never worried about making mistakes because they know the skip can bail them out.
"Nobody works harder. Nobody puts more into it," Kennedy said. "Nobody wants to win more for his teammates. He's a very selfless skip, very unselfish, which isn't always the case at this level. So that makes him very easy to play with."
That famous intensity curling fans first noticed during Jacobs' run to a Brier title in 2013 and Olympic gold in '14 hasn't gone away. His teammates can display similar vigour and they've developed a strong bond and camaraderie off the ice too.
"Behind closed doors we're great friends, like to have fun and are a bit immature," said Jacobs. "We crush Bublys and play a lot of cards."
Kennedy said the squad still loves the game and the "ups and downs that go with it," even after almost 700 combined Brier games played.
"That's a lot of games, a lot of experience," he said with a laugh. "We love competing and love challenging ourselves. We're constantly trying to get better."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 4, 2025.
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
