Team Jacobs to Battle Team Gushue in Tomorrow’s PINTY’S ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Final

BANFF, ALTA. (January 9, 2016) – Olympic gold medallist Brad Jacobs faced off against Manitoba skip Mike McEwen for the second year in a row in the PINTY’S ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME Men’s Semifinal – and once again, Jacobs came away with the win. Following tonight’s victory, Team Jacobs will take on Team Gushue in the Men’s Final tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 10) at 8 p.m. ET live on TSN. Jacobs and his Northern Ontario team – which features Ryan Fry, E.J. Harnden, and Ryan Harnden – are the defending PINTY’S ALL-STAR CURLING SKINS GAME champions. Earlier tonight they won $17,000, defeating Mike McEwen’s team of B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak, and Denni Neufeld in front of a sold out crowd at Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre in beautiful Banff, Alta.

DOWNLOAD PHOTOS FROM TEAM JACOBS VS. TEAM MCEWEN HERE: http://bit.ly/1ObOUR8

Competing in their second consecutive TSN skins game, Team McEwen takes home $5,000 ($4,000 in TSN skins game earnings plus a $1,000 draw to the button bonus). Overall, their TSN skins game career earnings now total $13,500. Draw Summary McEwen stole the first skin in the opening draw, getting on the board early with $1,000. Holding final stone, Jacobs narrowly missed the runback attempt in the second, allowing McEwen to pick up back-to-back $1,000 skins. Following some solid shot-making by third Ryan Fry, Team Jacobs picked up two to put $1,500 on the board. Holding hammer, McEwen tried a tough in-off to the pin and just missed, giving Jacobs another $1,500 skin – setting the game at $3,000 to $2,000 for Jacobs heading into the fifth. With $2,000 at stake, McEwen threw a difficult double on his final stone to take the skin and pull ahead of Jacobs. The sixth end saw Jacobs throw a beautiful runback pick to remove McEwen’s stone and add $3,000 to his tally – and take back the lead. A carry-over in the seventh end put $11,000 – and the game – on the line in the eighth end.  McEwen attempted a very difficult cross-ring double with his final stone, but was unsuccessful – and Jacobs easily picked up two to secure the victory and the chance to defend his title. Final result:

• Team Jacobs: $17,000
• Team McEwen: $5,000 ($4,000 in TSN skins game earnings + $1,000 draw to the button bonus)

Broadcast Schedule Sunday, Jan. 10 1 p.m. ET on TSN1, TSN4, and TSN5 – Women’s Final: Team Sweeting vs. Team Jones 8 p.m. ET on TSN – Men’s Final: Team Gushue vs. Team Jacobs Record Ratings Last year TSN introduced an expanded curling skins game format that generated record ratings:

• TSN’s annual curling skins game earned an average audience of 461,000 – the highest ever for the event
• Audiences were up 40% compared to the previous year
• The Team Jones vs. Team Carey semifinal and the women’s and men’s finals became the only TSN skins game telecasts to ever achieve average audiences of more than 500,000 viewers

Curling on TSN As the official broadcaster of Curling Canada, TSN broadcasts close to 300 hours of live Season of Champions curling each year, including the TIM HORTONS BRIER and SCOTTIES TOURNAMENT OF HEARTS, along with the WORLD MEN’S CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP, FORD WORLD WOMEN’S CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP, HOME HARDWARE CANADA CUP, WFG CONTINENTAL CUP, and CANADIAN JUNIORS. Source: Numeris (formerly BBM Canada) *Schedule subject to change