LONDON, Ont. — It doesn't matter if the AMJ Masters is held in December, January or September, Ross Whyte and his Scottish squad will find a way to reach the men's final.
Although the Grand Slam of Curling event has shifted around the calendar and around locations, Whyte will compete on Championship Sunday in the AMJ Masters for the third consecutive season (11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT).
Whyte advanced to the final after completing a 6-5 comeback victory over Team Bruce Mouat in a "Stirling derby" during Saturday night's semifinals at the Western Fair Sports Centre.
Team Whyte topped the round-robin table with a perfect 4-0 record and escaped with a 6-5 victory over Switzerland's Team Yannick Schwaller in the quarterfinals earlier Saturday after stealing the winning point in the eighth end.
"It’s amazing," Whyte said. "If we could change every Slam to the AMJ Masters that would be brilliant, but it’s a great feeling to come through this one.
"We played some great teams. We played No. 1 (Mouat) and No. 2 (Team Yannick Schwaller) in the world, and No. 3 (Team Brad Jacobs) as well. We played all the top teams and to win undefeated so far, hopefully, we can keep that going on into the final."
The AMJ Masters has been a series of firsts for Whyte, from making his first Grand Slam final in Saskatoon in December 2023, losing to Team Joël Retornaz, to defeating Jacobsto capture his first Grand Slam title during last season's final this past January in Guelph, Ont.
Now, Whyte looks to complete his first successful title defence as his side takes on Team Matt Dunstone.
Dunstone advanced to the final with a 6-5 extra-end victory over Jacobs in an all-Canadian clash.
The Masters has also been good to Dunstone, who captured his first Grand Slam title at the event nearly six years ago. The Winnipeg skip has been waiting that long to claim his second — and he's hungry to get the job done Sunday.
Dunstone said it's awesome to reach his third career Grand Slam final and his first since second E.J. Harnden joined the group last season.
"It’s been a long time coming," said Dunstone, whose team also includes third Colton Lott and lead Ryan Harnden, E.J.'s brother. "I mean, it’s so hard to make these finals, so it feels great to be back."
"I think this is a big game for us," he added. "Just having experienced this, I think the more big games this team can play in is great. An unbelievable battle tonight. … I’m just really excited for tomorrow. We played an amazing back half, just proud of the group for sticking with it. It feels great to be in No. 3."
Both teams had to grind it out to reach the final.
Whyte got out to an early 4-1 lead on Mouat thanks to a double for a deuce in the first and a runback for another pair in the fourth. The reigning world champion Mouat got right back into it with an amazing angle raise takeout in the fifth to score three and make it all square.
Mouat pulled ahead by one in the seventh as Whyte jammed a takeout attempt, but a mistake on his last in the eighth end left his shot rock wide open. Whyte, who defeated Mouat in last season's Scottish final, pounced on the opportunity, delivering a nose hit to take two for the win.
"That’s the thing against these guys. You can get a lead and you know that they’re going to probably have one opportunity at some point with the way they play the game, get a lot of stones about and play a lot of good runs, then you end up in a little bit of a tricky situation," Whyte said.
"Bruce made a great run in the fifth end for three points. That kind of changed the momentum a little bit, but we just stuck with it and thankfully, managed to win."
Dunstone fell behind early in the rematch of last season's Montana's Brier final. After Dunstone was held to a single in the first, the reigning Canadian champion Jacobs jumped on an open hit to score three points in the third.
Although Dunstone was forced to another lone point in the fourth, he managed to tie it up in the fifth as he hit and rolled into a well-protected spot on the button, leaving Jacobs no other option than to concede the point rather than risk giving up more.
Jacobs got a single in six, but jammed a double attempt in seven, allowing Dunstone to pull back into the lead 5-4 with a draw for two.
Another single in eight for Jacobs forced the extra end. Dunstone did a little house cleaning on his first skip rock, emptying the house of all but one of his stones, setting the table to secure the winning point on his last.
Dunstone enters the final with a 5-1 record, sustaining an 8-6 loss to Schwaller during Friday's crossover stage to wrap up round-robin play.
"Luckily for us, it was a bit of a nothing game at that point," said Dunstone, who got back on track with a 6-3 win over Norway's Team Magnus Ramsfjell in the quarterfinals. "It just gave us another chance to get a feel out, maybe a little kick in the butt, just to get our act together again.
"Came out and had our best game of the season this morning against Ramsfjell. Struggled a bit in the first half tonight but played more like that team in the back half. I’m just proud of the group for staying resilient."
Dunstone had nothing but praise for Whyte and is looking forward to the title match.
"One of the best teams in the world," he said. "I love Ross. He’s an amazing person, so I’m excited to play this one against him. We haven’t got to play them this year, so it’ll be another test. Just a classic case of two of the best teams in the world going at it, and I’m excited to see what can happen."
Later Sunday, Canada's Team Rachel Homan will face Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni in the women's final (3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT).
Homan defeated Sweden's Team Isabella Wranå 7-5, and Tirinzoni topped South Korea's Team Eun-ji Gim 6-3 in the semis.
It's a record-tying sixth consecutive Grand Slam women's final for Homan, who reached Championship Sunday in every event in the series last season. Homan matches Kerri Einarson, whose Canadian club reached six finals from 2022-23.
TIER 2 FINALS, WHEELCHAIR MEDAL GAMES SET
There will be bonus curling on the ice at the Western Fair Sports Centre.
As Whyte and Dunstone face off for the AMJ Masters men's title, Canada's Team Kevin Koe will clash with Team Danny Casper of the United States in the Tier 2 men's final, while Canada White will play Italy for bronze in the GSOC Wheelchair Invitational.
During the Homan-Tirinzoni women's final, Scotland's Team Rebecca Morrison will play Japan's Team Ikue Kitazawa in the Tier 2 women's final, while Canada Red and Great Britain meet for gold in the GSOC Wheelchair Invitational.
The Tier 2 took place during the week at the St. Thomas Curling Club in St. Thomas, Ont., with the GSOC Wheelchair Invitational at the KW Granite Curling Club in Waterloo, Ont.
HOW TO WATCH
Tickets for the AMJ Masters are available at GSOCtickets.com with online streaming for all games at rockchannel.com.
Broadcast coverage of the Tier 1 finals is available in Canada on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+.
