News Elite 10

WINNIPEG — Mike McEwen is the first past the post and into the playoff picture at his hometown Princess Auto Elite 10.

McEwen scored in the final frame to clip Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 1-up Friday morning and earn his third regulation victory of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament to sit atop of the leaderboard with nine points.

Team McEwen, who have won six Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling titles, are looking to add to their total before parting ways at the end of the season after 11 years together.

Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic gold medallist, has three points after defeating reigning Winter Games champ John Shuster of Duluth, Minn., on Thursday. McEwen has just one round-robin game left Friday while it’s a marathon for Jacobs with two more to come.

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 victor.

Teams earn three points for a regulation win (within eight ends), two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. The top six teams qualify for the playoffs.

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

Elsewhere, Sweden’s Niklas Edin stole in the eighth end to edge Glenn Howard of Tiny, Ont., 1-up. Edin and Howard both have four points with one round-robin game remaining each.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe, who represented Canada at the Pyeongchang Games, got into the win column with a 1-up victory over Winnipeg’s Jason Gunnlaugson. Koe grabbed three points with two more round-robin games to go Friday while Gunnlaugson has zero points and one must-win match left.

Round-robin action continues at St. James Civic Centre at Noon 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 running April 24-29 at Calgary’s WinSport Arena.