After winning his first Brier, Matt Dunstone is feeling relaxed going into the World Men's Curling Championship, which starts Friday, March 27 and runs through Saturday, April 4.
"I feel great. Cool, calm, collected. The beautiful part about Canada is that it's hard to get out of the country and represent the country, but having played in those events to do so, there's no better preparation for these types of events,” Dunstone told Dave Thomas on the SportsCage.
“When you get to play in [Olympic] Trials final, Brier finals, the atmosphere that you feel in those events is the biggest atmosphere that you can feel in the sport. When you do get through those and you get to the World Championships, you're very well prepared for it. That's where I'm at, feeling really good about it again. All the teams, nobody's new; we played everybody multiple times a season."
Dunstone is representing Canada at the World Championship because his team won the 2026 Brier. He previously won silver in 2025 and 2023 at the Brier, and also earned silver in the Olympic Trials in 2025. In his other appearances at the Brier, he won bronze in 2020 and 2021 with Saskatchewan.
"I think a lot of relief has settled in. It feels like playing with house money now, a little bit. I would say the three or four days after the Brier were fairly overwhelming in a lot of great ways, but it was a lot more than I thought it was going to be," Dunstone recalled.
"I would say within the last week or so, it's settled in, and everything's been forgotten about. The Brier was over two weeks ago, so we've moved on, and now, all the curling fans have moved on to the World Championships."
Besides talking about his team's Brier win, Dunstone shared a story about E.J. and Ryan Harnden from the 2013 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials.
"Sitting watching these guys in the crowd was for me, 'I want to do this.' Colton [Lott] and I had won our first Canadian junior at the time. So we were trending and watching those guys win and play with that energy, which is something we hadn't really seen in the sport before. It was very exciting. That event for me was like, 'This is something I want to pursue,'" Dunstone said.
"To have it come full circle, play with these guys and win with these guys, is a very cool moment."
E.J. plays second on team Dunstone, and he was asked if there was any tension with Sweden's Niklas Edin's team going into the Men's Curling Championship. During the 2026 Olympics between Canada and Sweden, Oskar Eriksson accused Canada's Marc Kennedy of double touching a stone.
"I think that was an isolated incident. I don't think it has any sort of relation to our team and to what transpired," Harnden said.
"I honestly haven't even thought about it. I don't see it being an issue and I don't even see it really coming up in any way, shape, or form other than it being brought up by others. We have a great relationship with that team over the last number of years on the tour. Things happen in high-pressure situations."
