By Adam Laskaris
On Nov. 29, 2025, Matt Dunstone pushed himself about as far as he could’ve.
On a Saturday night in Halifax, Dunstone’s rink lost a decisive Game 2 of the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials to Team Brad Jacobs, who were just a few months away from realizing their dreams as gold medallists in Cortina.
Anyone who had seen the 30-year-old Dunstone curl in recent years knew he was the skip of one of the best rinks on the planet.
Dunstone’s team had risen as high as No. 2 in the world, despite never getting to represent Canada on the world stage as a four-person unit.
Heading into Halifax, they’d won the first Grand Slam event of the season in the AMJ Masters while reaching the final in both the CO-OP Tour Challenge and the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe. In the 10-end game, however, Jacobs’ rink posed a different challenge to Dunstone, who beat them three times in Halifax, including twice in the best-of-three final.
It’s a challenge many strong Canadian curlers have run into: you might be one of the best teams in the world, but you never know when that chance to represent Canada may come, if at all.
“The Trials loss was more difficult than I thought it was gonna be,” Dunstone admitted in a media call earlier this week. “But that's all part of it. The sport owes you absolutely nothing.”
Dunstone went winless at the HearingLife Canadian Open in December, and missed the playoffs at the Crown Royal Players’ Championship. The Trials hangover was real for the rink, with the strong start to the GSOC season completely mirrored by a tough finish.
But with plenty of curling left in the season after the final Grand Slam finished up, there wasn’t really much choice for Team Dunstone to put up or shut up. “You gotta get back on the horse and keep going and chase your dreams,” Dunstone said.
A Brier win to remember
After flying nearly all the way across the country from his home base in Kamloops, B.C., to Halifax, Dunstone found an extra gear to push himself a few hundred kilometres further for the biggest victory of his lifetime to date.
Without any competition between early January and late February for the team, Dunstone’s rink regrouped for the Brier in St. John’s, N.L., going 7-1 in round-robin play in what was a precursor for what was to come.
The only skip that had seemingly Dunstone’s number was Kevin Koe, beating them twice, both in pool play and the 1-2 page playoff.
In the playoffs, Dunstone beat Brad Gushue in the page 1-2 qualifier, who was taking part in his final Brier in his hometown. After losing to Koe in the 1-2 game, Dunstone then finally got the best of Jacobs in the semifinal, who had also beaten his team a year prior in the Brier final. Dunstone then finally took down Koe in their third matchup, finally earning the right to wear the Maple Leaf on the world stage for the first time since the 2016 World Junior Curling Championships.
“It was overwhelming in the absolute best way possible,” Dunstone said of the days following the Brier win. “The learnings that you're able to take from those losses does nothing but prepare you more for when you do actually win."
"You're hearing from people that you haven't heard from in five to 10 years, the amount of media trying to get a hold of you, and then all the logistical stuff on top of that,” Dunstone added. “I had to keep my phone charged for a couple of days because it just was buzzing nonstop.”
World championship ready
A little under three weeks after the Brier win, Dunstone’s rink gets play underway at the world championship this Friday in Ogden, Utah, facing a 12-game round robin. None of the Olympic podium — Jacobs, Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat, or Switzerland’s Yannick Schwaller will be in attendance, leaving Dunstone as the highest-ranked team at the event in the current world rankings.
“It's hard to get out of the country and represent the country, but having played in those events to do so, there's no better preparation for these types of [world championships],” Dunstone said. “We’re playing with house money a bit here.”
Great Britain’s representative in Ross Whyte and the American team led by John Shuster are two other names to watch, while Sweden’s Niklas Edin will be looking to rebound from a disappointing Olympic run in Milano Cortina. The 2025 world junior champ Stefano Spiller is stepping in as skip for Team Italy, as Joel Retornaz is sitting out the event. And confidence is sky-high for the skip that his team can come home with some hardware.
“The way I see it, we've already played on the biggest stages that this sport has to offer,” Dunstone said.
A last dance for the lineup
While Dunstone himself has plenty to accomplish in his curling career, it’s the final event for the team’s most-accomplished player.
Earlier this year, Dunstone’s second in E.J. Harnden announced his retirement from competitive curling, in a career that includes four Brier wins with three different rinks, Olympic gold in 2014 and 10 Grand Slam titles.
He’s played in three previous world championships, while also being an alternate for Gushue’s rink in 2022 before joining them later that year full-time.
“I couldn't feel better, to be honest. … It just feels like it's a bonus [to close out the career playing in the world championship],” Harnden said.
Harnden’s younger brother Ryan is throwing lead rocks for the team, and is making his first full world championship appearance since 2013, after being Gushue’s alternate in 2023. "I know it's the world [championships], but [I’m treating it just like any other event]. Things have changed quite a bit for me [since last playing in 2013]. I think I'm better now than I ever was as a lead,” the younger Harnden said.
Throwing third rocks is Colton Lott, who Dunstone curled with as a junior before becoming teammates again in 2022.
“That curling friendship bond that we have … it's kind of indescribable in a way,” Lott said. “You could just feel the fire right away [when I started playing with Matt again]. We're just always on the same page, always clicking and we know especially when we play, it's very seamless and easy and it flows really nice. He’s like a brother, couldn’t be happier to be doing it with him.”
What’s next for Team Dunstone?
The absence of the elder Harnden will be a big one to fill. But the player pool of available suitors is dwindling by the day with roster changes abound in Canadian curling. Tyler Tardi is skipping a new rink out of Saskatchewan, Mike McEwen and Rylan Kleiter have linked up, Brendan Bottcher’s back to skipping in a rink that includes brothers Jake and Tanner Horgan, as well as world alternate Geoff Walker, while John Epping’s teamed up with former Dunstone teammate BJ Neufeld.
And hot off an Olympic gold medal, Brad Jacobs’ rink has opted to stick together for at least another season, leaving out a few other potential replacements.
“Tis the season for that, right? No surprises…” Dunstone said of the team changes.
But with all focus on trying to pick up one more event victory, any announcements of their own will have to wait. “You're going to hear from us after the worlds,” Dunstone said of next season’s lineup. “To end this chapter with this group, who's had a lot of success over the 16 months here is pretty special … it's gonna be all in on getting focused up for Friday.”
