CurlingZone: Dunstone Wins Astec Safety Challenge

Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone won 7-2 over Mike McEwen to win in Lloydminster.

Dunstone, with Colton Lott at third and brothers E.J and Ryan Harnden, started out shaky in Saturday's Final at the Lloydminster Curling Centre, a day earlier than usual to allow teams travel time to the Grand Slam event next week in Guelph.

Dunstone started with hammer advantage due to qualifying through the A-event bracket, though they gave up a steal in the second end to give McEwen an early head start.

McEwen, with Colton Flasch at third and brothers Kevin and Daniel Marsh on the front end, managed to force Dunstone to a single point, hereby 'flipping the hammer' in only two ends.

Unfortunately for McEwen, his feel for draw weight seemed to wane, with his last rock draw coming up light and tight to give up a steal of four.

Now significantly behind, McEwen, needing a multiple-point score to get back into the game, came up light on a draw for two in the fifth end.

Dunstone added two points to the scoreboard in the sixth end, with McEwen conceding an early 7-2 decision.

FINAL: Dunstone vs. McEwen:

Dunstone won 7-6 over Sweden's Niklas Edin in Saturday morning's semifinals, while McEwen capitalized on a steal of three to defeat Scotland's Bruce Mouat.

McEwen defeated Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller 3-2 in Friday evening's quarterfinals, while Dunstone won 6-5 over Scotland's Ross Whyte. In the other quarterfinal matches, Mouat defeated Winnipeg's Reid Carruthers 5-3, and Edin scored three in the eighth end to win 6-5 over Brad Gushue of St. John's.

Dunstone made easy work through the preliminary round at the Astec Safety Challenge.

Dunstone opened action on Wednesday against Johnson Tao and the University of Alberta Golden Bears, winning 6-3 in a tightly contested match that saw Dunstone score two in the eighth end to seal the win.

From there, life got easy for Dunstone, taking an 8-0 decision over Italy's Joel Retornaz, and finishing out the A-event conquest with an 8-1 decision over Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller.

SEMIFINAL 1: Dunstone vs. Edin

SEMIFINAL 2: McEwen vs. Mouat:

A-QUALIFIER: Dunstone vs. Schwaller

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