LONDON, Ont. — Matt Dunstone's six-year wait to hoist another Grand Slam of Curling trophy came to an end Sunday.
Dunstone and his Winnipeg-based club captured the AMJ Masters men's title with a 6-4 extra-end victory over Ross Whyte's Scottish squad.
With Dunstone sitting a bunch of stones in the house, the skip just had to peel out Whyte's shot rock to secure the championship.
Coincidentally, it was at the Masters where Dunstone earned his first back in October 2019 with a different lineup.
"Phenomenal," Dunstone said. "We were just joking before this, it’s been a long time coming. It’s been a long six years. We’ve come really close over the last couple of years, a lot of semifinals, one final. It feels great to finally finish one off."
Although it's the first Grand Slam title for third Colton Lott, it's the 10th for second E.J. Harnden and the eighth for lead Ryan Harnden. The AMJ Masters was also the last Grand Slam that the Harnden brothers needed to check off the list, as they have now won all five different event titles in the series.
"It feels really good," E.J. Harnden said. "Ryan and I were just chatting a little bit after and saying it’s probably been five-plus years since we’ve won a Grand Slam together. That was pretty special, to be back playing with Ryan again and winning together. On a larger scale, obviously, we were close to winning a Canadian championship, and so now to win on the biggest stage with the best teams in the world here at the Grand Slam is an awesome way to start and really special, too, to do this with Matty and Colton, and Colton this being his first.
"For me, I want to continue to win, it’s special to do that with Ryan, but it’s also really special to do it with Matt and Colton. They’re still learning, still in the early stages of their careers, tremendous players and tremendous teammates, and now to win alongside those guys, I think, is equally as special if not more than to win for myself. I think it’s really cool to win with those guys."
The final was the lone loss of the week for Whyte, who was competing in the AMJ Masters final for the third consecutive season. He finished runner-up to Team Joël Retornaz in December 2023 and beat Team Brad Jacobs in last season's final to win his first Grand Slam title.
Whyte opened with the hammer, but Dunstone struck the scoreboard first with back-to-back steals. The fans who dressed up as Freezies loved Dunstone’s freeze in the second end that held up for a steal as Whyte’s draw was light. Dunstone stole another point in the third when Whyte’s double attempt jammed.
Dunstone made a great draw in the fourth to sit second shot, however, Whyte was able to tap back to punch it out and score three to take a 3-2 lead.
Resiliency has been the name of the game for Dunstone all week, and his team recovered with a deuce in the sixth to reclaim the lead.
"I thought we dictated most of the game, controlled most of the game," Dunstone said. "The fourth end got away from us a little bit, obviously, and we got lucky it was only a three-ball, kept us in it. Just kind of went into a little bit of cruise control from there.
"I thought we played well enough to win. We played better, I thought, and it just feels great. It was a resilient effort."
Whyte had to make a clutch runback in the eighth to score the equalizer and force the thrilling extra end.
"That was a great game," E.J. Harnden said. "I think a few shots here and there that both teams probably would have liked back a little bit, but also tremendous shot-making from start to finish. That’s to be expected in a championship final game.
"Just taking advantage of little opportunities, a back-and-forth battle, you wouldn’t expect anything less from Team Whyte. They’re one of the best in the world. If you had told us we would have the hammer in the extra end, we would have taken that in the beginning of the game. That’s what we got, and fortunately, we were able to finish it off."
Meanwhile, Team Danny Casper of the United States topped Team Kevin Koe 4-2 to capture the Tier 2 men's title, and Canada White beat Italy 5-4 to earn bronze in the GSOC Wheelchair Invitational.
UP NEXT
Canada's Team Rachel Homan faces Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni in the women's final at 3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT.
Japan's Team Ikue Kitazawa plays Scotland's Team Rebecca Morrison in the Tier 2 women's final, with Canada Red playing Great Britain for gold in the GSOC Wheelchair Invitational.
Online streaming for all games is available at rockchannel.com.
Broadcast coverage in Canada for the Tier 1 final is available on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
