News Elite 10

CHATHAM-KENT, Ont. — Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., has captured the Princess Auto Elite 10 men’s title for the second time in his career.

Gushue held off Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers for a 1 UP victory in Sunday’s final at the soldout Thames Campus Arena.

It’s the 11th Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling championship for Gushue, who earned $30,000 plus 12 Pinty’s Cup points.

Earlier, Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg made history by capturing the inaugural Princess Auto Elite 10 women’s title. It was also the first championship in the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling for the reigning Olympic gold medallist.

Here’s how the men’s final went down through our live blog:

1st End: Carruthers opened with the hammer but couldn’t convert and forced to a push. ALL SQUARE

2nd End: Carruthers turned the tables with the force making Gushue bump against three counters. ALL SQUARE

3rd End: A couple uncharacteristic misses from Team Carruthers fourth Mike McEwen has put Team Gushue on the board. McEwen flashed on his first sending it through the wickets untouched while his last, an angle raise double attempt, missed the mark. GUSHUE 1 UP

4th End: Oh gosh, not another tied rock situation between these two? Not quite as the measurement gave it to Carruthers for the push. GUSHUE 1 UP

5th End: The force is strong in this one. Gushue made a short raise to bop out Carruthers’s counter and push the end. GUSHUE 1 UP

6th End: McEwen misfired a raise double takeout missing the counter as Gushue stole again. Carruthers must now win out in seven and eight to force a draw-to-the-button shootout. GUSHUE 2 UP

7th End: It’s not over, folks. Gushue let Carruthers off of the hook with his last coming up light and tight. That allowed McEwen to make the short raise bump to earn a checkmark. GUSHUE 1 UP

8th End: Gushue didn’t miss the mark this time. A simple open peel on the lone Carruthers counter in the house with his last iced the game. GUSHUE WINS 1 UP

Match play rules are in effect at the Princess Auto Elite 10 where teams compete to win the most ends per game similar to skins only without carryovers. Points are scored by either counting two or more rocks (with the hammer) or stealing at least one rock (without the hammer). If the game is tied after eight ends, a draw-to-the-button shootout will determine the winner.

The Princess Auto Elite 10 features three additional unique rules: Stopwatches are banned, tick shots cannot be performed on guards sitting on the centre line until the sixth rock of play, and teams have four minutes of thinking time per end.

The next Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event is the first major of the season, the Canadian Beef Masters, taking place Oct. 23-28 in Truro, N.S.