Canada's Jacobs tops U.S. to improve to 2-0 in Olympic men's curling round-robin

The Canadian men's curling team skipped by Brad Jacobs defeated American Daniel Casper 6-3 on Friday morning at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

Jacobs, Marc Kennedy, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert scored two points with a highlight-reel shot in the fourth end for a lead they wouldn't relinquish. A steal of two in the eighth gave Canada a four-point lead and the Americans conceded after a single in the ninth.

"Our skip is looking like a skip and that's really, really good for us," said Canadian coach Paul Webster.

On Canada's last throw in the fourth, Jacobs navigated a tight port to chip a rock sideways just enough to move an American stone off the button.

Casper, who shot 67 per cent on his draws, settled for a single in the fifth end when his final rock slid past the eight-foot ring. Canada shot 88 per cent as a team while the Americans were at 86 per cent overall.

Canada improved to 2-0 ahead of its evening game against defending champion Niklas Edin of Sweden. The Americans fell to 1-2.

A raucous flag-waving, foot-stomping crowd at the 3,450-seat venue created an electric atmosphere. Joel Retornaz of host Italy beat top-ranked Bruce Mouat of Great Britain 9-7 on the sheet beside the Canadians.

In the other games, Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller defeated Czechia's Lukas Klima 7-3 and Norway's Magnus Ramsfjell topped China's Xiaoming Xu 8-6.

Canada defeats U.S. for 2nd straight Olympic men's curling victory