CurlingZone: Dunstone dispatches McDonald to take unbeaten record into playoffs

Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone (Photo: Anil Mungal/GSOC) will be the number two seed in the men's playoff round at the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe beginning Saturday.

By: Cameron Sallaj

A perfect week from the reigning Brier silver medalists concluded with another win Friday night as Matt Dunstone and his squad take an unblemished 4-0 record into the playoffs in Tahoe.

After starting the week with a narrow 6-5 victory over Kyle Waddell (Hamilton, SCO), Dunstone and his team of Colton Lott, E. J. Harnden and Ryan Harden were dominant through the rest of the round robin, beating Joel Retornaz (Cembra, ITA) 7-2 and Marco Hoesli (Glarus, SUI) 7-4. In their final game, they faced a fellow Manitoba rink in Jordon McDonald (1-2).

Despite starting with hammer, Dunstone found themselves down early after McDonald converted a deuce in the second to take a 2-1 lead. This did not last for long, however, as the current CTRS leaders took three in the third and two in the fifth to lead 6-3.

After forcing McDonald to a single again in six, Dunstone took one in seven to lead by three coming home. There, they ran their opponents out of stones to keep their unbeaten record intact.

Seven of the eight men's playoff teams have been decided with one tiebreaker between Joel Retornaz and Mike McEwen determining the eighth.

The matchups will be:
#1 Team Bruce Mouat (4-0; 12 points) vs #8 Tiebreaker winner
#2 Team Matt Dunstone (4-0; 12 points) vs #7 Team John Epping (2-2; 7 points)
#3 Team Brad Jacobs (4-0; 12 points) vs #6 Team Ross Whyte (3-1; 7 points)
#4 Team Yannick Schwaller (3-1; 10 points) vs #5 Team Kyle Waddell (3-1; 7 points)

The tiebreaker draw between Retornaz and McEwen, as well as the two women's tiebreakers, hit the ice at 8:00 AM PT, with the men's quarterfinals set to go at 3:30 PM PT. The winners will advance to Saturday nights semifinals at 7:30 PM PT.

Streaming of all games from the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe can be found on The Rock Channel or by clicking the red play buttons next to each game on CurlingZone.

To top ↑