Homan bounces back at Canadian curling trials, unbeaten Dunstone tops Gushue

HALIFAX – Rachel Homan rebounded from a rare setback with a 12-5 victory over Selena Sturmay in Monday’s afternoon draw at the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials.

Homan improved to 3-1 in Halifax, returning to her winning ways after an extra-end loss to Kayla Skrlik on Sunday ended her 32-game winning streak against Canadian opponents.

The Ottawa-based team took control of the match against Edmonton’s Sturmay with a five-point third end that gave it an 8-2 lead.

“It’s a short round robin so you have to come out strong every game, and anything in the past, nothing can be changed about that,” Homan said. “You just have to move forward and come with your best game the next day.”

Homan, the two-time defending Canadian and world women’s champion, moved into sole possession of second in the women’s standings, behind unbeaten Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man.

Einarson improved to 4-0 with a 6-4 win over Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes.

In other afternoon results, Christina Black of Halifax won 9-4 over Corryn Brown of Kamloops, B.C., and Skrlik scored two in the 10th end for a 7-6 victory over Kate Cameron of St. Adolphe, Man.

Lawes, Sturmay, Black and Skrlik were part of a logjam at 2-2. Brown fell to 1-3 while Cameron is still chasing her first win at 0-4.

In men’s competition Monday evening, Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone remained unbeaten at 4-0 with a 9-7 extra-end win over Brad Gushue (3-1), handing the St. John’s skip his first loss.

“That was 11 ends of complete and utter mayhem. I thought we controlled the majority of that game,” said Dunstone. “Again, didn’t start with hammer, we just did what we do. We flipped hammer right away, you know, cracked it open in seven, and then Brad took his turn doing what he does, and that’s being Brad Gushue late in games, and he put relentless amounts of pressure on us.”

Brad Jacobs, the 2014 Olympic champion, and his Calgary squad defeated Winnipeg’s Jordon McDonald 6-3, who’s still searching for his first win.

Saskatoon’s Mike McEwen topped Calgary’s Kevin Koe 9-7 as both teams sit at 2-2, and Saskatoon’s Ryan Kleiter improved to 1-3 with a 10-7 win over Toronto’s John Epping (1-3).

Gushue won 5-3 over Epping in Monday’s opening draw, taking the low-scoring contest by stealing a point in the third and sixth ends. Gushue’s rink also took care of the rock with the hammer by not giving up a steal to Epping.

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Gushue, the 2006 Olympic champion, is hoping to represent Canada at the Winter Games once again in his final competitive season. He also led Canada to bronze at the 2022 Olympics.

Dunstone began the day with a 7-3 win over Kleiter. Dunstone went up 5-1 after five ends and cruised to victory from there.

In other early draw results, Koe scored three in the ninth end in an 8-7 win over McDonald, and Jacobs beat McEwen 6-3.

The winners of the men’s and women’s competitions at the curling trials will represent Canada at the 2026 Games in Milan and Cortina, Italy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 24, 2025.