Dunstone has legitimate shot at Brier gold

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This article was published 29/02/2024 (586 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lot has changed for Matt Dunstone since the last time he was in Regina for the men’s curling nationals.

The Brier last took place in the Queen City in 2018 when the now 28-year-old Winnipegger was making his debut at the event.

He was throwing fourth for Saskatchewan’s Steve Laycock.

“We had the hometown crowd on our side. We didn’t make a deep run at that event, but we had a couple big shots where the crowd went nuts,” said Dunstone, who returned to his Manitoba curling roots last season. “Those are the moments you don’t forget.”

The Brier is back in Regina this week at the Brandt Centre, starting Friday and running until March 10, and Dunstone has much loftier expectations this time around.

He’s medalled three times at the Brier — bronze in 2020 and 2021, silver in 2023 — and is eager to have a different colour hanging from his neck.

Dunstone, who resides in Kamloops, B.C., and plays with third B.J. Neufeld, second Colton Lott, and lead Ryan Harnden, lost last year’s final 7-5 to Brad Gushue.

Gushue is gunning for his third Brier championship in a row.

“I think the biggest thing from last year is we proved to ourselves that we have exactly what’s needed and have exactly what it’s going to take to win this event,” said Dunstone. “We take a lot of confidence in that. I mean, as a first-year team to take that sort of experience and confidence is invaluable and you only gain that from having the run that we had last year.”

As the No. 4-ranked team in the country, Dunstone is a legitimate contender to end Gushue’s reign. Ranked No. 1 is Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher, followed by Gushue then Kevin Koe. Following Dunstone is 2024 Manitoba provincial champion Reid Carruthers and then Winnipeg product now Saskatchewan skip Mike McEwen at No. 6.

“It’s time to pick up the socks and win one of these, for sure… I’d love for this one to be the first, but it all comes down to how the chips fall come playoff time and on the final weekend. All the teams are so good and so close to each other,” said Dunstone.

The 18-team field is split into two pools of nine that will consist of eight-game round robins. The top three advance from each pool and there will also be no tiebreaker games. Head-to-head results will be the first tiebreaker, followed by last-shot draw rankings if necessary (the same format used at world championships and the Olympics).

Dunstone will hit the ice for the first time Saturday at 1 p.m. in an all-Manitoba matchup against Team Carruthers featuring longtime Northern Ontario representative Brad Jacobs at skip.

Dunstone pre-qualified for the Brier based on last year’s ranking and didn’t have to compete in Stonewall for the Manitoba crown against Jacobs.

“That’s always a fun one and one we have marked on the calendar,” said Dunstone. “We’re pretty excited to start off the event that way.”

Jacobs, a 2013 national champion, is playing in his first Brier since 2022 as he stepped back from the full-time grind last year.

“I thought (2022) potentially could’ve been my last Brier. I was very emotional playing in that provincial and that Brier because I wasn’t sure. I really didn’t know what the future held for me other than knowing I needed a break from all of this and not knowing how long that was gonna last,” said Jacobs. “I think that’s why I feel so excited to be here again because looking back at that, I thought ‘Maybe this could be it for me’ and lo and behold, it wasn’t.”

Jacobs, Carruthers, second Derek Samagalski and lead Connor Njegovan earned their way to nationals by beating Braden Calvert for the provincial title.

It was an up and down week for the heavy favourites as they lost two games and had several close calls along the way before pulling through on the Sunday.

“I really embraced playing out of Manitoba. Going into the Manitoba tankard, I wanted to make sure I went in open minded and was really respectful of all the traditions and other teams and athletes,” said Jacobs, a 38-year-old from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. “At the end of it, I’d be wearing some different colours if we ended up being successful and that ended up happening. It’s pretty neat for me. I’m excited to be representing Manitoba and skipping a different province.”

It’s tough to predict how this first-year group will fare against the country’s best on the big stage. Jacobs was asked what the goal is for the week.

“I figured you might ask what the goal is. The obvious answer would be to win the Brier. But that goes without saying. There’s lots of teams here that would say that,” said Jacobs. “But the main thing we need to focus on is to play loose, play free, be present, be grateful to be in this championship again, do a good job at detaching from any results and focus on just being in the moment.”

The winner will represent Canada at the 2024 men’s world curling championship in Switzerland (March 30-April 7).

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

X: @TaylorAllen31