Dunstone’s Winnipeg rink rebounds with 9-2 rout of Poland at men’s curling worlds

Matt Dunstone, Skip of Team Manitoba-Dunstone calls to his team during the Final against Team Alberta at the Montana's Brier Canadian men's curling championship, in St. John's, N.L., on Sunday, March 8, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

OGDEN — Canada got back on track at the world men's curling championship with two wins on Monday, including a 9-2 rout of Poland in the early draw.

Matt Dunstone's Winnipeg squad then beat Japan 8-3 in the evening draw to improve to 4-2.

Dunstone went up 4-2 with a deuce in the fifth end against Konrad Stych of Poland, then stole three in the sixth and two in the seventh as the teams shook hands early.

Against Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi's crew from Japan, Dunstone scored four in the seventh end to grab a 7-3 lead. After Canada stole a single in the eighth the teams shook hands.

Dunstone, who is representing Canada for the first time at the world championship, rebounded after back-to-back lopsided losses to Scotland and the United States.

His team had opened strongly with wins over South Korea and Italy on Friday.

“It’s not far off,” Dunstone said after the morning win. “We didn’t have to reinvent the wheel with what we were doing.

"The game (against the U.S.), we struggled without question. The (game against Scotland), we felt like we played fairly well. We've been drawing well the entire time; just a little bit off with hits and being precise on the hit-and-rolls and shot management overall."

Poland scored a deuce in the fourth end to tie the score at 2-2 and was shooting 97 per cent at that point.

“(There was a) ‘here we go’ kind of feeling for sure,” said Dunstone. “I mean, you can't expect people to miss shots; everybody's here for a reason.

"He showed exactly that on those two shots — world-class draws, and I couldn't match him. But overall, we leaned heavy on them and eventually got misses."

The misses started in the fifth end, when Stych wrecked on a guard with his last shot as Canada scored two. His misses on his last shots in the sixth and seventh ends led to the big Canada steals.

Against Japan, Canada went down 1-0 in the first end, scored two in the second and surrendered one in the third. Dunstone scored one in the fifth to lead 3-2 at the break. After Japan tied the game 3-3 in the sixth, Canada pounced on some mistakes to score four in the seventh and never looked back.

Canada plays China and unbeaten Sweden on Tuesday.

Sweden, skipped by seven-time world champion Niklas Edin, improved to 7-0 with a 9-4 win over Norway in the evening draw. Switzerland, which edged Germany 7-6 Monday night is second at 6-1. Canada and Scotland are 4-2, Germany and Italy are 4-3, and China and the host U.S. are 3-3.

Czechia is ninth at 2-4, Japan and South Korea are both 2-5, Poland is 1-5 and Norway is winless at 0-6.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2026.

The Canadian Press