Days after hoisting his first Brier trophy in St. John’s, N.L., Matt Dunstone is still processing the win. “It’s starting to finally sink in, and I’m just really proud of the group for what we accomplished on Sunday, just given what we had gone through previously.” What he and his team had gone through, so to speak, were eliminations at the Olympic trials and the Canadian championship final, plus two other Brier losses in 2023 and 2025. Sunday’s final marked his third in four years. Dunstone’s team was feeling strong going into Sunday’s final, he said, having just knocked out the reigning Olympic champion Brad Jacobs in the semis. But, four-time champ Kevin Koe stood in his way, a team Dunstone’s rink had bested twice leading up to the finals. “In curling, it’s hard to beat teams three times in a row,” Dunstone said. “But we got the breaks and broke the game open.” In the end, the Granite Curling Club team downed Koe’s rink 6-3. Dunstone and his team have little time to revel in the win, with the men’s world championship starting March 27 in Ogden, Utah. Still, Dunstone counts Sunday’s victory as a childhood dream realized. “It was a surreal moment. Ever since I started curling at five, six years old, I understood what the Brier was. That was everything I ever wanted,” he said. “Sunday was just being able to see a dream come true in real-time, and I feel fortunate and lucky to have been able to make that happen.” - With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé and The Canadian Press
