Sunday curling success goes double for Dunstone
Skip’s Regina rink takes championship as girlfriend’s team clinches birth in B.C.
MELVILLE It was a Super Sunday in two provinces for Matt Dunstone.
Dunstone and his Regina team of third Braeden Moskowy, second Catlin Schneider and lead Dustin Kidby beat Kirk Muyres 4-2 in the Sasktel Saskatchewan Tankard men’s curling championship final.
While the men’s final was taking place, Dunstone’s girlfriend Erin Pincott was curling in the B.C. women’s championship as the third with Corryn Brown. Brown defeated Sarah Wark 8-7 in an extra end to clinch a berth in the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women’s curling championship, which runs Feb. 15-23 in Moose Jaw.
“We went into the locker-room at the fifth-end break and Catlin took a peek,” Dunstone said after Sunday’s final. “He said he wasn’t going to tell me that they lost, obviously. He told me they had won.
“I still had a job to do, but it’s a pretty funny story that I found out halfway through the game. It’s in Moose Jaw and maybe I could make a practice weekend out of it. We’ll see.”
Dunstone refused to let the good news distract himself or his team.
“There has been a focus all week for our team and that moment might have gotten in the way of it,” Dunstone said. “I’m so happy and pumped for her. Now I can celebrate with her, but those last five ends I had to stick with what we were doing.”
Dunstone won three consecutive must-win games en route to beating Muyres in the final.
“This is the most sore that I’ve ever been,” Dunstone said after Sunday’s final at the Horizon Credit Union Centre. “We’ve played 50 ends in the span of 30 or so hours.
“It was a mental grind. We had a chance to qualify through the A and B (events), so mentally it was difficult. It’s just a combination of everything. I’m happy that it’s over.”
In the final, Muyres opened the scoring in the first end by coolly drawing a piece of the button for a 1-0 lead.
After Dunstone blanked the second and third ends, he drew for two in the fourth end for a 2-1 lead.
Muyres maintained the hammer by blanking the fifth end. In the sixth end, he executed a wide draw to the four-foot against a Dunstone counter to tie the match 2-2.
Dunstone blanked the seventh and eighth ends before playing a soft tap for two in the ninth end and a 4-2 lead. Dunstone ran Muyres — who was curling with third Kevin Marsh, second Daniel Marsh and lead Dallan Muyres — out of stones in the 10th end.
Dunstone and Co. will now represent Saskatchewan at the Brier, Feb. 28-March 3 in Kingston, Ont.
Dunstone had a strong start to the curling season by winning the Grand Slam of Curling’s Masters in October. It was his first victory in a Grand Slam event.
“They are two very different animals,” Dunstone said. “The Slam is against the top 15 teams in the world. If you’re in second place, you’re not early as upset as when you lose in the Tankard. This is all or nothing.”
PEBBLES: The other men’s skips who have qualified for the 2020 Brier are Kevin Koe (Team Canada), Jamie Murphy (Nova Scotia), Jake Higgs (Nunavut), Bryan Cochrane (Prince Edward Island), Alek Bedard (Quebec) and Thomas Scoffin (Yukon). The qualified skips for the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Moose Jaw (Feb. 15-23) are Brown, Chelsea Carey (Team Canada), Erica Curtis (Newfoundland and Labrador), Kerry Galusha (Northwest Territories), Lori Eddy (Nunavut), Suzanne Birt (Prince Edward Island), Hailey Birnie (Yukon), Mary-anne Arsenault (Nova Scotia), Robyn Silvernagle (Saskatchewan), Laura Walker (Alberta), Andrea Crawford (New Brunswick), Noémie Verreault (Quebec) and Rachel Homan (Ontario). The other qualified skips, including the two wild-card teams, weren’t available at press time … The 2021 Saskatchewan men’s and women’s championships are to be staged in Estevan (Jan. 29-Feb. 7). The men’s field has been reduced from 16 teams to a 12-team triple knockout.