There could be only one
The former Team Bottcher has made their choice for a new skip.
To no one’s surprise, they’ve selected Brad Jacobs.
The Olympic and Brier champion from northern Ontario has departed Team Reid Carruthers and moves over to skip the Alberta-based squad of Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert.
A social media post divulged the news on Wednesday evening, hours after the Carruthers post announcing Jacobs’ departure.
The news comes just a day after the seismic reveal that Brendan Bottcher has been dropped from the team that was built as the 2022 Olympic quadrennial came to a close.
Jacobs was in his second season with Carruthers—first full official season—since coming back from a 2022 sabbatical that only lasted a few months.
“I have nothing but love for these guys,” Jacobs tweeted regarding Team Carruthers. “The curling world is in a frenzy—stay tuned for more updates!”
Kennedy and Jacobs were Northern Ontario teammates for a little over three years, in which they competed in three Briers and lost in the 2021 Olympic Trials final to Brad Gushue.
Kennedy good-naturedly smacked Jacobs with a thrown glove during the recent Brier in Regina.
There was little doubt the former Bottchers would recruit Jacobs. He’s a 15-time Brier competitor who has won seven Grand Slam titles, and his Olympic gold from Sochi 2014 puts him in sync with Kennedy and Hebert’s 2010 gold and Gallant’s 2022 bronze.
Jacobs is also a contemporary in age. He’ll turn 39 in June, while Kennedy and Hebert are in their early 40s. Gallant is the youngster at age 34.
Sources say Carruthers is expected to announce veteran skip Kevin Koe (49) as Jacobs’ replacement, meaning Koe will presumably play outside of Alberta for the first time in his adult career (Koe represented the Territories in juniors).
Team Carruthers, which includes front-enders Derek Samagalski and Connor Njegovan, is based in Manitoba.
The 32-year-old Bottcher is also rumoured to be moving in to the skip role with the current Koe threesome, which comprises Tyler Tardi, Jacques Gauthier and Bottcher’s longtime lead (2012-22) Karrick Martin.
The Carruthers and Koe lineup scenarios described above are not confirmed.
What is confirmed is Kyle Doering’s pickup by Team Aaron Sluchinksi. The Alberta champions have grabbed the 28-year-old Manitoban to replace Scottish-born Kerr Drummond, who stepped back from the sport after helping his squad to the Alberta Brier berth in Regina.
Doering, who was invited to Schaffhausen, Switzerland as Team Gushue’s alternate at the world championship, previously played for Alberta’s Karsten Sturmay. That team announced their split earlier this week.
