The defending men’s Olympic champions didn’t have the week they wanted at the Roar of the Rings in Ottawa.

Brad Jacobs and the boys from Sault Ste. Marie finished with a 3-5 record and missed the playoffs at the trials ending any hope of a repeat performance of Olympic glory.

The disappointing result could mean the end for some rinks, but not Team Jacobs. They’re sticking together for another Olympic run, with gold at the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China being the ultimate prize.

Jacobs, 32, says he’s proud of how his team has stayed together through all the ups-and-downs over their time together.

“We’ve been a team now for six years. We want to take this thing for 10 total and I’m really just proud of that fact with all the ups and downs we’ve been through in our careers and as team to this point we remain great friends, both on-and-off the ice, and really care about one another,” the skip said after a 7-2 loss to John Epping on Friday.

“We see no reason to dismantle this team. We still have a lot of winning in our future,” said Jacobs.

After starting the week at a solid 2-1, the tables turned quickly for Team Jacobs. Nothing seemed to be going right and conceded in four of their next five games.

In a country with so many elite level curlers, Jacobs knows staying at the top is an extremely difficult task.  

“No matter how good you think you are, sometimes things just don’t your way. It’s important to stay in reality with what’s going on out there,” he said. “I think it’s important to have a little bit of a sense of humour when things were going as badly as they were for us this week. I know I was trying to take it lightly and not to take it too harshly I guess. Sometimes it’s your turn and sometimes it’s not. I believe this time it just wasn’t our turn.”

That “sense of humour” was evident in a Tweet posted Friday by the team’s official Twitter account. It was a video of Jacobs’ heavy draw from a loss to Kevin Koe earlier in the week edited with some Family Guy humour. 

It wasn’t all bad news for Team Jacobs in the nation’s capital. Second E.J. Harnden left the team early to be with his wife who was very close to giving birth to their second child.

Jacobs says he takes pride in the fact that his team is like family.

“We play with one another in a very competitive sport, a very competitive environment, but we can also sit back relax and enjoy one another’s company. It’s great.”

Team Jacobs will now prepare for the Northern Ontario playdown slated to go down February, an event they’ve won three straight years.