Fresh off winning the Montana’s Brier, Team Dunstone carried its momentum onto the world stage with two victories Friday
It was an unbeaten start on Friday for Matt Dunstone and his Canadian rink at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Ogden, Utah.
The Dunstone rink, which includes Sault products E.J. Harnden at second and Ryan Harnden at lead along with third Colton Lott, won a pair of games to open the 13-team event.
Team Dunstone, which earned the right to represent Canada thanks to a win at the Montana’s Brier earlier this month, also includes Sault Ste. Marie’s Caleb Flaxey as their coach.
The Dunstone rink opened the tournament with a 5-2 victory over South Korea’s Changmin Kim Friday afternoon.
Dunstone said the game was one in which the first deuce was going to be critical.
“After the fifth-end break, you kind of knew that the first deuce was going to win that game,” Dunstone said in a release from Curling Canada. “We weren’t in much trouble the entire game; we didn’t have a whole lot cooking, but we were never in trouble and that kind of our MO.”
“We stuck to that and then got the deuce in eight,” Dunstone added.
A runback double takeout by E.J. set up the lone deuce for the Dunstone rink in eight that was capped off by a come-around tap by Dunstone.
“E.J. made two great shots to set that up and we just took control of the game from there,” Dunstone said.
In the evening draw, Dunstone cruised to a 9-2 win over Italy, skipped by Stefano Spiller in six ends.
Without the hammer to start, Dunstone stole one in the second end before stealing three each in the third and fourth ends.
After Italy scored two in the fifth end, Dunstone capped off the scoring with a pair in the sixth end.
The Dunstone rink is back in action on Saturday, facing Scotland’s Ross Whyte in the afternoon draw.