OGDEN — Canada’s Matt Dunstone found his game and regained his mojo with two clutch wins at the world men’s curling championship on Tuesday.
The Winnipeg-based team beat China 8-4 in the early draw, then crushed Sweden 10-3 in six ends in the evening draw at the Weber County Ice Sheet.
That leaves the Canadian crew with four straight wins and a 6-2 record, trailing only Switzerland (7-1) and Sweden (7-2) in the 13-team event. Scotland, which beat Germany 10-4 in the evening draw, is also 6-2.
“I think with the couple losses we had earlier in the week, maybe some people thought we could have been a bit of a vulnerable group,” said Dunstone. “I think what we did today kind of shuts that all down.
“Even though we had a couple tough losses, there was a lot of confidence within the group. We know the type of team we are and we’re starting to really show that on a consistent basis and really trending the way we want to.”
Against China, the teams shook hands after Dunstone’s squad broke open a close game with four points in the ninth end.
In the evening draw, Canada scored four in the first end against Niklas Edin’s Swedish crew. After surrendering one in the second end, Canada scored two in the third to go up 6-1.
Edin counted one in the fourth and Dunstone scored another four in the fifth. After Sweden scored one in the sixth end the teams shook hands.
“We understand how big this game was and it had a different feel out there,” said Dunstone. “It felt like a bit of a playoff game tonight, it had that energy from our group. I thought right from the get-go we won that energy battle, had the dominant first end and got a break and just took it from there.”
Italy, with a 6-4 win over Czechia in the evening draw, improved to 6-3, followed by the host U.S. (5-3), Germany (4-5), China (3-5) and Japan (3-5). South Korea is 3-6, Czechia and Poland are both at 2-6, and Norway is 0-8.
Canada will play twice on Wednesday — in the morning draw against Switzerland and Czechia in the evening session.
Round-robin play runs through to Thursday, with the top six teams making the playoffs. No tiebreakers will be played, so ties for playoff spots will be broken based on head-to-head results, and if that doesn’t resolve the tie, then the pre-game Last-Shot Draw distances.
The top two teams from round-robin play will be seeded directly into the semifinals on Friday, while third will play sixth and fourth will play fifth in the qualifying-round games, also on Friday.
The winners of the qualifying-round games will advance to the semifinals. The semifinal winners will play for gold on Saturday, with the semifinal losers battling for bronze.
Dunstone, with third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, alternate Geoff Walker, team coach Caleb Flaxey and national coach Jeff Stoughton, is skipping Canada at the world championship for the first time after winning this year’s Montana’s Brier.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2026.
The Canadian Press
