By Ben Hoppe, U.S. curling writer

OGDEN, Utah — Niklas Edin set the tone early in the gold medal game of the World Men’s Curling Championship on Saturday afternoon. With Canada’s Matt Dunstone sitting two counting rocks in the 12-foot and a center guard in front of the house, Edin elected to throw a draw and flip the end on Dunstone, which generated a score of two to kick off the game.

“The key was to stay ahead against a team like this,” said Edin. “If we can get a deuce and make them get two to get back to even, we’re always in the driving seat.”

Throwing the draw allowed Edin to get his draw weight locked in early in the game, and he was able to keep Dunstone chasing throughout the game on his way to his eighth world championship.

The winningest world championship skip of all time was not lacking motivation to add to his already impressive medal count. Throughout the week, Edin regularly referenced the team’s disappointing result at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Following the Olympics, the team decided they needed to shake things up, so they moved Christoffer Sundgren to vice while still throwing lead rocks.

“We thought we needed a little bit of a change,” said Edin early in the week. “It doesn’t matter exactly what it is but just get something that gets us going again.”

They certainly got it going. The team looked excellent all week, with the lone exception being a two-loss day midway into the event, including a drubbing by Dunstone.

Their excellence from the round robin continued into the final. After their score of two in the first end, Sweden forced Canada in the second and then scored another deuce in the third on an Edin slash double.

Every time Dunstone scored two points with the hammer, Edin answered with two more of his own. Sweden showed poise and let their experience shine. If any team could rebound from the disappointment and drama that defined their time in Milano Cortina, it was a Swedish foursome whose most recent roster change was the addition of Rasmus Wranå 10 years ago.

“We’ve had some struggles, some ups and downs, we also know we have to make it work. It’s kind of like a family that way,” said Edin.

In addition to the friendship and camaraderie they have off the ice, they have the same motivations on the ice. It makes it easier to resolve issues that do pop up.

“All four of us are strong competitors out there, so we really want to win," Edin said. "When something isn’t working, we fix it.”

Edin said the first two weeks after the Winter Olympics were really tough and filled with negative thoughts, but they refocused, practised, and came into Ogden with a motivation for redemption. For everything that didn’t work in Milano Cortina, they made all the adjustments they needed to in Ogden.

“They showed today why they’re eight-time world champions,” Dunstone said after the game.

For Dunstone, it was an outstanding and resilient world championship debut. The team started the week a little shakier than they had hoped, but they bounced back to look much more like the Dunstone team that has been near the top of the world rankings in past years. He was proud of the way the team carried themselves in his first world championship.

“We rallied off 11 in a row to get to the final. We beat two great teams in the playoffs to get to the final," Dunstone said.

The silver medal puts an impressive capstone on E.J. Harnden’s career as he played his final game. As sweeping becomes an increasingly important part of the game, Harnden’s early adoption of and commitment to fitness and sweeping excellence will leave a lasting legacy.

Scotland wins bronze in worlds debut

Throughout the week, teams ate some of their meals in the fieldhouse attached to the Weber County Ice Sheet. There are some soccer goals in the fieldhouse, and they got some use on Friday night by Ross Whyte and his team.

The team was frustrated and disappointed after their loss to Canada after being one of the strongest teams in the field. Needing to reset, they decided to let off some steam in the fieldhouse.

“We kicked a ball as hard as we could for a while, miss the goal a lot, didn’t hit many crossbars,” said Whyte. “That made us feel a wee bit better.”

They came back to the bronze medal match against the United States on Saturday morning determined to win a medal, if not for them, then for the dozens of friends and family who made the trip to Utah.

It didn’t take long for Scotland to make a statement.

Already sitting with one point going into his last shot, Whyte elected to throw a split to score three. The shot was made, and the team was off and running.

John Shuster and the United States did their best to match Scotland shot-for-shot, tying the game at five points at the fifth end break, but the Scottish team was too much. Whyte peeled out Shuster’s freeze attempt in the ninth end to score four and secure the bronze medal in his world championship debut.

For the United States, it was a “bummer” to not finish as high as they hoped in what was the best full season Shuster’s team has ever put together. They made the semifinal in every event they played this season except for one, the Crown Royal Players' Championship.

Chris Plys and Colin Hufman have indicated this is their final season of competitive play. They have both made their mark on curling in the United States over their careers, and Hufman said he was proud of the work he put in throughout his career to always put his best effort forward.

“I feel like I did everything I wanted to,” said the U.S. second. “I don’t think I left anything out in the practice room or at home.”

While Hamilton and Shuster’s futures are not officially decided yet, all four players of Team Shuster will be involved with Rock League in Toronto. Shuster and Hufman will be playing on Frontier Curling Club for General Manager Plys, and Matt Hamilton will be an on-ice host.