Looking for a spark, Dunstone cuts Neufeld

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This article was published 05/12/2024 (312 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Matt Dunstone knew something needed to change.

It’s been tough sledding for the skip and his Winnipeg-based team as of late, and he sensed a shakeup was the best way to get back on track.

On Thursday, Team Dunstone announced it had parted ways with third BJ Neufeld, who joined Dunstone, second Colton Lott and lead Ryan Harnden at the start of the Olympic cycle in 2022 and helped the team to a silver medal at the 2023 Brier.

The move followed a disappointing performance from the team at the Grand Slam’s Kioti National in St. John’s, N.L., where it finished 1-3 in pool play and missed the playoffs.

“The team was looking for a bit of a spark. One weekend didn’t decide that by any stretch,” Dunstone told the Free Press by phone on Thursday. “Just a new life for the team was what was being searched out here.

“We weren’t beating top teams in the world as consistently as we were hoping to, and it felt like the team was just in a little bit of a rut and just needed a shake-up to try and spark something.”

Dunstone has already found a replacement and said they will play with the world-ranked No. 8 team at the Nutrien Ag Solutions Western Showdown in Swift Current, Sask. next week, although, an official word on who that is will be announced in the coming days.

The 29-year-old is in unchartered territory with this roster move. He’s never been a part of an in-season change, something that has become a trend in the Canadian scene as of late.

After skip Brendan Bottcher was let go by his team during the offseason — and replaced by Brad Jacobs — Brad Gushue recruited Bottcher in October to play second, parting ways with E.J. Harden in the process. Later, Kevin Koe dropped second Jacques Gauthier and replaced him by moving Tyler Tardi to second and picking up Aaron Sluchinski to play third.

Dunstone has quickly found out just how difficult it is to make such a change.

“There is a lot of pain involved with this stuff. Curling is such a close-knit sport. You dedicate so much time together, on the road, away from families, working your tail off to be the best in the world,” he said. “BJ was an amazing teammate, he is still a great friend and person that I love to death. He’s done nothing but do exactly what this team had hoped for from him.

“But curling is so tough,” he said later. “The landscape is so hard now, everybody is so good that when you feel like you’re behind the eight-ball a little bit, you got to find a way to get back onto that.”

As for Neufeld, he is a free agent during the season for the first time in his career. The news came as a surprise to him, despite the team’s recent struggles, because of its track record together.

“It was a bit of a shock, to be honest,” Neufeld said. “But, I mean, you’ve seen how the year has gone in the curling world. It seems like these things are pretty commonplace and teams are changing like crazy. I just happened to be at the brunt of it this time.

“I definitely want to continue to play and follow the dreams and aspirations that I have in the sport. So we’ll see if something comes of the next little while here that will be a good fit for myself going forward.”

Whether it’s instant or it takes a while, Dunstone is confident the change will eventually yield the spark he’s hoping for. The team has found success without Neufeld already this season, as Harnden spared him for the Red Deer Curling Classic tour event last month and helped it win the title.

“If it came right away, that’s awesome. If not, we’ll continue to work on it,” Dunstone said.

“Everything is basically about 12 months from now. We’ve got the Olympic trials in Halifax. That’s when you want and have to have that spark come, without a doubt, and everything is working toward that. To have a new look, obviously, that’s going to spark something.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam