Dunstone makes most of second chance

HALIFAX — Twenty-four hours earlier a dejected Matt Dunstone thought he blew it.

He had just lost his third consecutive game — a 9-5 loss to fellow Winnipegger Mike McEwen — which ripped his playoff hopes at the 2025 Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax out of his hands. It looked so dire he packed up his curling gear and took it back to the hotel to get it ready for the trip home.

Fortunately for Dunstone, he had to unpack.

Brad Gushue and Kevin Koe also closed out the round-robin on Wednesday with losses, which meant the 30-year-old from Winnipeg was able to squeak into Thursday night’s semifinal as the No. 3 seed in a rematch with McEwen. It was a second life and Dunstone made the most of it by bouncing back with a clutch 9-5 victory.

Dunstone, third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden will now meet Brad Jacobs in a best-of-three final to decide who represents Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Game 1 takes place today at 5:30 p.m. CT.

“It’s been emotional. The lowest lows, to having a chance, then trying to turn game mode back on… I’m just really proud of the group,” said Dunstone.

“A lot of the emotions that you could’ve felt losing this game were out yesterday. It was very easy to play completely free tonight having already felt that. And just being provided the second chance, I want to show a lot of gratitude towards this opportunity because it would be very easy to argue that we shouldn’t have had it.”

Dunstone scored a triple in the sixth end, followed by a double in the ninth to take an 8-5 lead into the 10th. Despite the massive advantage, Dunstone needed to stick a draw on his last stone to prevent McEwen from having a chance to score three to tie, or potentially even four, with the hammer.

“Brent Laing, our coach, described it as one of the wildest ends he’s ever seen with that type of scoreboard. I don’t know what they were thinking. That was crazy,” said McEwen with a laugh.

“Very unexpected. Didn’t see it playing out like that… Before Matt threw his last one, if he misses that two inches further, I might have a shot for the win. So, that’s pretty wild.”

Dunstone’s take on the bizarre finish: “I’m still trying to wrap my head around it. It’s just the way it is. You have to start making freezes and Mikey and them made everything under the sun… We came up light on a few draws, gave them chances, but made it when it mattered most and made it tough on Mike on his last. As nerve-wracking as that was, there was a lot of relief when the dust settled.”

McEwen, who curls out of Saskatchewan with third Colton Flasch, second Kevin Marsh and lead Daniel Marsh, was hoping to get back to the final and write a different ending than the 2017 edition of the trials where he lost a 7-6 heartbreaker to Koe.

McEwen curled 86 per cent on Thursday, but Dunstone was that much better at 93 per cent.

The 45-year-old had knee surgery in the off-season and was slow to recover at the start of the year.

“To put it into perspective, a couple months ago, even a month ago, weeks ago, I wasn’t sure I could play at this level and feel comfortable doing it. So, I feel good I can do that,” said McEwen.

“The guys have been waiting all fall for me to get to where I needed to be again as far as healthy and throwing it well. That’s exciting and to get the privilege to play on this stage and feel good and play well, I enjoyed every minute of it out there.”

Does he have four more years in him to make it back to the trials?

“If you would’ve asked me that a few months ago, I would’ve been on the more doubtful side. But, yeah, actually the body feels really good right now and I feel like I’m throwing it as good as I ever have,” said McEwen.

“So, maybe. We’ll see. Ask me in a couple months after the Brier.”

A 17-year-old Dunstone sat in the crowd at the 2013 trials in Winnipeg when Jacobs — who played with the Harnden brothers at the time — outlasted John Morris in the final to earn the right to wear the Maple Leaf at the world’s biggest international competition.

Now over a decade later, Dunstone must get through Jacobs to make his Olympic dream come true.

“Yeah, it’s awesome. And I’m playing with half his team,” said Dunstone.

“It’s amazing how it comes full circle like that and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s funny, 2013 Team Jacobs was the moment for me when I was like ‘I need to do this.’ They made curling really cool. They were intense, they were fiery, I loved that… Watching them go on that run was the pinch-me moment where I went ‘Yes, high school is fine, but I need to pursue curling.’”

Unlike 2013, it’s going to take two wins to get the job done under this year’s new format.

“I’ll let you know in a couple days how I feel about it,” said Dunstone.

“But you know, look at the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, best-of-sevens, how exciting baseball and hockey playoffs are, that’s what this is starting to create. I think you’re gonna see, I don’t want to say harsher rivalries, but more intense rivalries created from this type of format.

“I’d love to argue with anybody that’s going to tell me that’s bad for the sport.”

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