The 2013 Ford World Men鈥檚 Curling Championship will be a process for sa国际传媒鈥檚 Brad Jacobs.
As he takes to the ice for today鈥檚 2 p.m. opener at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre along with rinkmates Ryan Fry at third, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden against China鈥檚 Rui Liu, it鈥檚 not so much about the opponent.
鈥淲ho you play really doesn鈥檛 matter,鈥� Jacobs said after his practice session on Friday. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e playing against curling at 100 per cent. That鈥檚 the mark, and if you can stay close to that, you鈥檙e going to win a lot of games.
鈥淲e expect every team to come out firing against us. We are Team sa国际传媒, and we expect nothing less than that,鈥� Jacobs said. 鈥淵ou want to get off to quick start. You never want to come to an event like this and have a few losses in a row. Its tough to go undefeated at an event like this, and we haven鈥檛 even thought about that.鈥�
In Liu, Jacobs is facing a rink that recently won the Pomeroy Inn and Suites Prairie Showdown in Grande Prairie, Alta., defeating Winnipeg鈥檚 Mike McEwen 5-3 in the final of the World Curling Tour event.
Liu also downed sa国际传媒鈥檚 Jim Cotter 5-4, Brad Gushue 6-4 and Steve Laycock 5-3 in the round-robin before dumping 2010 Brier and world champion Kevin Koe 6-4 in the semifinal.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a great help of ours for our confidence, but that was another game, not the world championship. Here we will just play our game, one by one,鈥� Liu said through an interpreter. 鈥淚鈥檓 feeling good. We just want to play our game, and we鈥檙e not thinking about the result.鈥�
One of China鈥檚 coaches, Lorne Hamblin, who is originally from Manitoba, knows it will be a tough test for Liu and his rink of third Xiaoming Xu, second Dexin Ba and lead Jialiang Zang.
鈥渟a国际传媒 has an outstanding team. We watched them all through the Brier, a great young team,鈥� said Hamblin, who places the Jacobs rink among the favourites along with Scotland, Norway and Sweden.
鈥淭hose top four teams are great teams, and if you鈥檙e going to beat them on any given day, you鈥檙e going to have to play your best game,鈥� said Hamblin, who has worked with the Chinese team since last year. 鈥淭he No. 1 goal here is the Olympic points, and No. 2 is the medals.鈥�
The Grande Prairie result, however, was encouraging for the group.
鈥淭hey had a very good spiel in Grande Prairie, then we were in Richmond all last week practising and also at Juan de Fuca. But curling is a game of inches, and it can go either way,鈥� said Hamblin.
sa国际传媒 wants it to go their way, and that means a quick start in the international event, which begins today with opening ceremonies at 11:30 a.m.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just going to be nice to play. Usually the first couple of games, you鈥檙e learning the ice and making sure you know the rocks,鈥� Fry said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got to go to school tomorrow and learn what the ice is doing and get a handle on it quick because it is a long week. No matter whether you drop a game here or there, you have to compete right through it.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going into this with all the respect in the world against all the teams we鈥檙e playing here. They鈥檝e had some amazing results this year. They are winning out on tour on a consistent basis. Niklas Edin [of Sweden] won last week [in Victoria] and Liu won in Grande Prairie,鈥� the Canadian third said.
鈥淎t the beginning of the Olympic rush, these teams are just developing. Now, as you鈥檙e getting closer, you鈥檙e seeing the product of what these countries are investing in these teams. We鈥檙e expecting very tight games against all of them. Hopefully, we can hold our own against the tougher ones.鈥�
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