REGINA — It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to curling fans to find out that Matt Dunstone has become an incredibly in-demand subject for media outlets across the country over the last few days.
Oops, there was an omission there. That’s Brier champion skip Matt Dunstone, for the record. And you better believe that sounds incredibly good to the man himself, even with the workload it’s brought along with it.
The SportsCage was one of the outlets that caught up with Dunstone on to talk about his long-awaited Canadian men’s curling championship victory and how things have gone since then.
“It's been crazy, man,” Dunstone said. “Today alone, I've been on shows since 6:30 in the morning and we've been humming along. It's been overwhelming in the best way possible, but the amount of support and people that have reached out and traction this is all getting has far surpassed what I ever expected in winning a Brier title. I wouldn't trade it for the world.”
As one might expect, it was a stellar run for Dunstone and his rink of third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harden at the Brier in St. John’s last week, as they finished with a 7-1 round robin record and rebounded from a loss to Koe in the playoffs to take a 6-3 win in the final.
It was the first Brier win for Dunstone after winning bronze representing Saskatchewan in 2020 and 2021 before claiming silver representing Manitoba in 2023 and 2025, to go along with another silver at the Canadian Olympic Trials this past fall.
In the end, it was a momentous moment for everyone on the team, as Dunstone would explain.
“You go down the list. Ryan hasn't won in 13 years and E.J., this is his last one and he's reunited with his brother again, this is them winning together for the second time,” Dunstone said. “Then you got me and Colton who have never won one before but we've lost what feels like every Brier final under the sun the last handful of years.
“So you look at the storylines, they kind of write themselves. Amazing way for E.J. to close the chapter on his Hall of Fame career and win another one with his brother and do it with a couple first-timers.”
Having so many near misses over the years helped make the win that much more special — especially their loss to eventual Olympic gold medalist Brad Jacobs at the Olympic Trials, a defeat that pushed Dunstone and crew to work even harder in preparation for this run.
“That loss hit me way harder than I ever would have expected it to,” he admitted. “The amount of work put in over the three months in between the Trials and this Brier was the most I ever had before. I was pretty down in the dumps trying to figure out how the heck I wanted to even get myself back out onto the ice again, but a lot of work went into it and again you saw it on full display.”
All that time and effort eventually comes down to one final shot, the championship moment and the last rock to win it all. Sometimes it’s a draw to the button like Moose Jaw’s Pat Simmons in 2015, sometimes it’s a double-takeout with your first stone to run the opposition out of rocks like Dunstone.
In every case, it’s a special and memorable moment.
“It’s a skip's dream to throw this exact shot to win a major championship, to win a game in general,” Dunstone said. “So I kind of manifested it the morning of that Sunday. I had a feeling we were going to have contact to win the Brier and I was thinking about that before our semi-final game against Jacobs even, that that was the shot we were going to have and it’s wild that it came true."
“In that moment you try and slow everything down as much as you can to try and remember it because it goes by so quick and the 10 to 20 seconds of complete euphoria disappears in a hurry. I was trying to slow it all down and try and remember every single minute of that moment.”
There was also another memorable time one night earlier when Canadian curling legend Brad Gushue played his final game at the Brier in front of his hometown crowd. Dunstone had nothing but praise for his long-time fellow competitor and what he means to the game.
“Everyone saw how emotional that was and obviously he's going to be missed, and he showed this week too how good he still is,” Dunstone said. “He's still got a lot in the tank when it comes to what he could do out on the ice (but) he thought it was his time to go. Very cool way to go out.”
Dunstone faced Gushue one final time in the Page 1-2 Playoffs, scoring three in the final end to secure a 7-5 win and start his run to the title
“It was an honour to compete against him for the eight or nine years that I have been in the men's game,” Dunstone said. “I'll never forget that game we got to play against him in St. John's a couple nights before the Brier final. As soon as I found out the Brier was going to be in St. John's, that's a match-up I desperately wanted and was fortunate enough to get it in a playoff game.”
Of course, Dunstone’s season isn’t quite finished yet. He’s now off to Ogden, Utah for the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship from March 27 though April 4. As a regular denizen of the World Curling Tour, Dunstone will be plenty familiar with the competition he’ll face, but that won’t stop the event from being just as special.
“Especially after the inspirational performances that our Olympic teams put on a month ago, it’s an honour to be able to put that Canadian jacket on,” Dunstone said. “We’ve got a job to do. We don't want to just go to the Worlds, we want to perform and ultimately come home with a medal.”
Dunstone opens the tournament on Friday, Mar. 27 against Korea and Italy, and you can follow along with all the action on www.worldcurling.org.
