News Elite 10

WINNIPEG — Kevin Koe is surging up the standings at the Princess Auto Elite 10.

Koe’s Calgary-based crew picked up back-to-back three-point victories Friday to slide into second place in Pool B with one round-robin game remaining in the evening draw against Winter Games gold medallist John Shuster.

Team Canada’s Olympic representative followed a 1-up victory over Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson in the morning with a 2-up win over Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., during the afternoon.

“We didn’t play great yesterday and lost so to come out with two wins today puts us in a good spot for the playoffs,” Team Koe third Marc Kennedy said. “Another chance to play Shuster tonight, which should be fun. We’re in a good spot.”

The 2014 Winter Games gold medallist Jacobs is also in the midst of a marathon three-game Friday and now has one win and two losses (three points).

Jacobs opened with the hammer but faced a cluttered house in the first and was forced to throw his last away to settle for a push and not risk a steal. His patience to score was rewarded in the second on a steal as Koe misfired an angle raise looking to hit two counters but only removed one.

Koe passed the guards to tap his own with his first skip stone to leave no doubt he had control in the third. He didn’t need to throw his last as Jacobs tried to blast it apart but couldn’t pull it off making things all square.

Jacobs reclaimed the 1-up lead in the fourth end picking out Koe’s counter and avoiding the jam. Koe knotted it back up in the fifth sitting two and once again not needing to throw his final rock of the end as Jacobs was light and tight on his draw.

A wonderful double takeout off the wall for Koe set the table for a steal in the sixth. Jacobs tried to hit off from the other side and couldn’t outcount the pile. Koe closed things out with a tap back on his own in the eighth to remove Jacobs’ shot stone and tack another checkmark on the board.

“Kevin played great,” Kennedy said. “I think looking back it was actually a pretty well-played game by both teams. Lots of good shots, good for the TV and good for the fans. Nice to see Kevin make the last shot to win. That always helps when your skip is playing confident.”

The Princess Auto Elite 10 features match play rules where teams compete to win the most ends per game by either counting two or more rocks (with the hammer) or stealing at least one (without the hammer). If the score is tied after eight ends, a draw-to-the-button shootout will determine the winner.

A new rule for the tournament is thinking time has been changed from 33 minutes per game to four minutes per end and Kennedy said he loves it.

“This is a great format,” said Kennedy, who is taking a break from competitive curling after the season. “The rules are great and I love the four minutes an end. It doesn’t give you the opportunity to dilly-daddle and then have to catch up later. It’s just the same every end. Actually, for us it’s probably a good rule and you know we’re going to use every second. There’s never a doubt about that.”

Princess Auto Elite 10: Scores | Draw Schedule | Standings | TV Schedule

Meanwhile, Jacobs quashed the rumours about his squad splitting up.

With the Olympic cycle coming to a close and teams planning for the next quadrennial, the curling world has been swept into a free-agent frenzy.

Jacobs, who had initially planned prior to the Olympic Trials on staying put, stuck with his decision after sitting down with third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden.

“We had a really good meeting yesterday afternoon, it took place in our hotel room, and that’s what the meeting was about: whether or not we could stick this out for four more years,” Jacobs said in a pre-game interview with Sportsnet’s Mike Harris. “After about two hours of pretty tough talk, we decided that we’re going to do it and we’re really excited about it. I think at this point, there’s going to be a lot of things we’ve got to talk about moving forward. We definitely want to make our team feel as fresh and new as possible and kind of hit control-alt-delete on the last six years and start fresh, so looking forward to it.”

Elsewhere in the fifth draw, two-time Brier champion Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., held off Toronto’s John Epping for a 2-up victory. Gushue, who successfully defended the Brier title Sunday, held a three-end lead after five to put Epping on the ropes. Epping, who earned bronze at the Brier for Ontario, rallied taking the sixth and stealing seven but couldn’t complete the comeback.

Gushue has five points after also defeating Glenn Howard in a shootout Thursday while Epping stays on top of Pool A with two regulation wins and six points.

Teams receive three points for a regulation win, two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss.

Round-robin action continues at St. James Civic Centre at 4 p.m. CT with television coverage on Sportsnet and online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare TV (international).

NOTES: The Princess Auto Elite 10 is the fifth tournament of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday. … The winning team earns an invitation to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup taking place April 24-29 at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.