![]() Matt Dunstone (Photo: Curling Canada) and his Winnipeg-based squad begin play at the CO-OP Tour Challenge in Nisku, Alta. on October 14. By Meredith McCullum, #3 World-Ranked Matt Dunstone - backed by Colton Lott, E.J Harnden and Ryan Harnden - has had a strong start to the season with back-to-back championships at the first Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) event, the AMJ Masters, and the Pointsbet Invitational. Dunstone looks to continue his hot start at the second GSOC event October 14-19. He plays Saskatchewan's Rylan Kleiter, Switzerland's Marco Hoesli, Sweden's Niklas Edin and Newfoundland's Brad Gushue in Round Robin before playoffs begin Saturday morning. This version of Team Dunstone's lineup formed in the 2024-25 season and has already seen plenty of success. They made playoffs in 4/5 GSOC events last year, finishing in the semifinal at 3 of them. The team then finished as runners up at the 2025 Montana's Brier, losing a tight battle to Brad Jacob's rink. Dunstone is one of eight men's teams who has qualified for the 2025 Canadian Olympic Curling Trials taking place in Halifax, Nova Scotia from November 22-30. Dunstone's squad earned their Trials berth as the next highest team on the Canadian Team Ranking System (CTRS) standings behind the winners of the 2025 Montana's Brier, because Jacobs had previously qualified a different way. The Harnden brothers both have Olympic experience as the lead and second for Team Jacobs at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi Russia. They won a gold medal for Canada. For Dunstone and Lott, a win at the Trials would mean their first ever Olympics in Cortina, Italy next February. Adam Kingsbury is the coach for Dunstone's rink. Kingsbury has coached other elite teams in recent years, most noteably team Rachel Homan, who he coached from 2016-2018 when they won a Scottie's Title, a World Title and the 2017 Olympic Trials, then competed at the 2018 Beijing Olympic Games and finished 6th. Dunstone has picked up two silver medals in recent years (2023 and 2025), but has not work the Canadian flag on his back since he went to World Juniors in 2013 and 2016. Dunstone will look to keep his momentum rolling at the CO-OP Tour Challenge this week and the Kioti GSOC Tahoe November 4-9 before their focus shifts to the Trials later in November. Scores can be found at curlingzone.com for all events and live streams for the GSOC events are on its streaming service Rock Channel. |