ST. JOHN’S — At long last, Matt Dunstone is a Brier champion.
Dunstone and his Manitoba foursome of third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden picked up a pair of wins on Sunday, including a 6-3 victory over Alberta’s Kevin Koe in the gold medal final, to claim his first-ever Canadian men’s curling championship.
Dunstone had come so close in previous Briers, with silver medals in 2023 and 2025 to go along with bronze representing Saskatchewan in 2020 and 2021.
Now, he’s finally won it all.
Dunstone advanced the championship with a 7-3 win over Team Canada and Olympic gold medalist Brad Jacobs in the semifinal earlier on Sunday.
It wouldn’t be an easy task against Koe, third Tyler Tardi, second Aaron Sluchinski and lead Karrick Martin in the final, though, especially in the early going.
Koe nearly pulled off a long double takeout with the final rock of the first end before settling for one, and a perfect double with his final rock of the second saw Alberta laying three and Dunstone needing to draw full four foot for one with his final shot. He’d be up to the task, settling on the button to tie the game 1-1 through two.
Alberta picked up a blank in the third end, but there were far more rocks in play the following frame, and Koe faced three Manitoba counters around the house with his final shot. A draw to the button picked up one, making it a 2-1 contest heading into the fifth end.
Dunstone ended up blanking the next two ends, but things set up well for multiple Manitoba points in the seventh. Facing three in a line behind the t-line with his final shot, Koe came up light with a freeze attempt, leaving Dunstone with a touch hit and roll for four. He’d be a tiny bit light, but moved things around enough to score three and take a 4-2 edge into the final three ends.
Koe faced four Dunstone counters with his final shot in the eighth, and he’d make a hit and slight roll to the edge of the button to score one.
Things set up nicely for Manitoba in the ninth, and Dunstone would come up with a great double takeout with his final shot to score a pair and take a 6-3 lead heading into the 10th. Dunstone had been relatively stoic to that point of the game, but he openly celebrated the shot, knowing that the Brier title was likely only moments away.
And that it was, with Dunstone making a double takeout with his first shot in the final end to run Koe out of rocks and claim the 2026 Brier championship.
Earlier against Jacobs, Manitoba took a 3-2 lead into the eighth end, where Dunstone would score a pair before stealing another three in the 10th for the win.
The Dunstone foursome will now represent Canada at the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship running March 27 through April 4 in Ogden, Utah.
