OGDEN, Utah — Canada’s Matt Dunstone continued his winning ways on Wednesday at the World Men’s Curling Championship, and now he finds himself off to the playoff round.
Dunstone and his rink of third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden ran their record to 8-2 with a pair of victories during round robin play, defeating Switzerland’s Marco Hoesli 8-7 in the morning draw and Czechia’s Lukas Klima in the evening round.
Canada has now won sixth straight and are in a three way tie with Scotland in Switzerland.
The six playoff qualifiers have been set — see below — and play Thursday will settle who finishes where and receives and first-round bye.
In the evening draw, Czechia came away with hammer in the first end, but it would be Canada who put all the pressure on Klima heading into skip stones. Already sitting a pair at the top of the four foot, Dunstone put another behind cover on the button, and Klima would attempt an angle hit and stick to prevent the steal. His shooter would roll out, and Canada had the opening end point.
Dunstone had a wide open hit and stick with his final shot the next end, and he’d hit and roll behind cover to lay two and force Klima to draw full eight foot to prevent another steal. The sweepers were on it out of his hand, and the shot would only bite the top of the eight, giving Canada the steal and a 2-0 lead.
A perfect freeze to a Klima counter on the button with Dunstone’s last rock of the third left Czechia needing to bite the button for two, and they’d get the perfect shot to tie things up.
A perfect big weight triple takeout got Dunstone out of trouble in the fourth, and he’d end up with a wide open hit and stick for one with his final shot.
Canada laid three all around the house at Klima’s final shot of the fifth with a couple Czechia counters on the outside, and Klima would go for a big weight triple takeout for three. He’d only get one and Canada picked up another steal for a 5-2 lead at the break.
Klima again faced a trio of Canada counters with his last shot in the sixth, and that would lead to another force as he’d hit and stick for one.
A relatively clean seventh saw Dunstone opt to simply draw the button while facing a pair of Klima counters to finish off the end, and Canada would take a 6-3 lead.
Czechia wouldn’t go quietly, though, and a great angle in-off takeout with Klima’s final rock of the eighth would give his team a pair to make it a one point game with two ends to play.
Dunstone brought things to an end in the ninth, though, with a hit and stick for three securing the 9-5 victory.
Canada found themselves in a close one in the morning draw against Switzerland, despite getting off to a good start. That included a deuce in the first end and steal in the second, after which the teams exchanged single points the next two ends for a 4-1 Canada lead after four. Dunstone then had a 7-4 edge heading into the ninth, but Hoesli came all the way back to tie the game and set up a dramatic final frame.
There, Dunstone would need a draw to the button for the win, and he’d make it cold without any help from his sweepers for the 8-7 victory.
Other results from the morning draw saw Scotland’s Ross Whyte defeat China’s Xiaoming Xu 9-3, Czechia defeat Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi 7-6 in an extra end and the United States’ John Shuster down Poland’s Konrad Stych 8-3.
Results from the afternoon draw saw Sweden’s Niklas Edin defeat Germany’s Mark Muskatewitz 8-3, Italy’s Stefano Spiller get past Japan 6-4, the United States down Norway’s Andreas Haarstad 9-7 and Switzerland take a 9-2 win over Korea’s Changmin Kim.
Other evening results included Sweden beating Poland 9-1, Scotland downing Norway 7-5 and China getting past Korea 8-4.
Standings after Wednesday’s action are as follows:
Sweden (Edin) 9-2 Q
Canada (Dunstone) 8-2 Q
Scotland (Whyte) 8-2 Q
Switzerland (Hoesli) 8-2 Q
Italy (Spiller) 7-3 Q
United States (Shuster) 7-3 Q
China (Xu) 4-6
Germany (Muskatewitz) 4-6
Czechia (Klima) 3-7
Japan (Yamaguchi) 3-7
Korea (Kim) 3-8
Poland (Stych) 2-8
Norway (Harstaad) 0-10
Canada closes out their round robin and will decide their playoff position with two games on Thursday, as they take on Germany during the 2 p.m. draw and Norway in the 7 p.m. draw.
