By Vivian Collings

Jacob Dobson has once again skipped the Humber men’s curling team to victory at the college level.
For the second year in a row, Dobson and his team are the reigning gold medalists of the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association national curling championship.
It came down to Dobson, the team captain’s, last shot. It had to be a double takeout to secure first place.
“Honestly, most of that shot is a complete blur. Overall, the game was very back-and-forth,” said the Haliburton local. “Mohawk started the game with Hammer. We did a great job forcing them in the first end. We were able to score two in the third end then took back-to-back steals of one going into the mid-game break.”
Then, Mohawk College’s team fought to tie the game.
“The last end didn’t get set up exactly how we wanted it. We knew I would likely have some sort of hit or runback, or a draw to the button for the win. That’s exactly what happened,” Dobson said.
This year’s tournament was in Fredericton, New Brunswick from March 12 to 16.
The team focused on each game in front of them rather than adding pressure to win the title again.
With a difficult start to their first game of the tournament and giving up a steal of 5, they pulled off a win “and didn’t look back.”
The Humber men won all their games but one.
“Overall, the tournament was great. Our only loss was to Mohawk in another game that came down to the last shot,” Dobson said.
He said Concordia College is the only other school to have won a back-to-back first place curling title in the men’s division.
“Most of our team is returning next year. We have our eyes on being the first CCAA team to win three championships in a row.
Dobson started his curling career on home ice in Haliburton with the Youth Curling Program.
“The group of coaches that ran that program helped me fall in love with curling. It was amazing to see familiar names from Haliburton social media, sending texts and emails, and following on the live streams,” he said.
Winning the national college title means Dobson’s team will travel to Calgary in September for the 2024 Pointsbet Invitational.
“This event has the top teams in Canada competing for $350,000,” he said. “It’s still only just starting to kick in.”
Dobson is in his third year of justice studies and police foundations at the University of Guelph-Humber.