Team Dunstone tops Team Carruthers in Manitoba tussle at 2025 Montana’s Brier

There was no shortage of drama, no shortage of tension, and certainly no shortage of playoff-position scenarios on display on Sheet B Wednesday night at Prospera Place.

An all-Winnipeg battle between Team Matt Dunstone and Team Reid Carruthers, featuring a player, B.J. Neufeld, who started the season throwing third rocks for Team Dunstone before being replaced mid-season and then ended up playing the same position for Team Carruthers was just one of the tasty subplots.

But in the end, as is typically the case, this 2025 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, showdown came down to the most telling narrative of all — shotmaking, and who did it better in the crucial moments.

On this night, capping another glorious late-winter day in Kelowna, B.C., it was Team Dunstone that rose to the occasion for an entertaining 8-6 victory.

With the win, Dunstone, vice-skip Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden (the man who replaced Neufeld in the lineup), lead Ryan Harnden, alternate Adam Kingsbury and coach Caleb Flaxey improved to 6-1 — not quite into the playoffs, but oh-so-close.

They trail only Team Canada, skipped by Brad Gushue (7-0; St. John’s) in the Pool A standings.

“Naturally everything’s going to be a little bit more fierce, a little bit more fiery, just because of that (Manitoba) rivalry,” said Dunstone. “But we just had to put together a full 10-end game, which we hadn’t necessarily done yet this week. This was a step in the right direction. We just grinded, we weathered the storm early in the first five and just took over the game in the last half.”

There was no shortage of momentum swings in the early ends. After forcing Team Dunstone to a single in the first, Carruthers was looking at trouble on his first skip’s rock, but made a wonderful runback takeout to sit shot, buried, and when Dunstone barely bounced into the open on his freeze attempt, Carruthers followed with a precise tap to produce the classic skip’s deuce.

Dunstone had a chance to answer back with a deuce of his own but was heavy on his draw to the four-foot and settled for a disappointing single. Then, in the fourth, Team Carruthers doubled its lead when the skipper made a lovely board-weight raise takeout for another deuce and a 4-2 lead.

But Dunstone would reply in style in the fifth, making a perfect short raise to the button to score two and tie it at four, and then forced Team Carruthers to a single in the sixth.

That fifth-end deuce, said Dunstone, was crucial.

“Enormous,” he said. “I mean, most of the end was looking like a force and, to sneak away with a deuce, it’s a brand new ballgame heading into the second half.”

After a blanked seventh, Dunstone delivered the crushing blow. His first shot was a wonderful double-raise takeout to sit three, and after Carruthers was unable to follow with a raise takeout of his own, Dunstone made an open takeout to score what proved to be a decisive four to put the game out of reach.

“We had a lot of opportunities throughout the game,” said Dunstone. “Missed a bad draw in third end, I think. We had opportunities with the hammer all game and it was just about time we capitalized on one. We really wanted to make that one fun team shot.”

Team Carruthers completes its round-robin with a 6-2 record and will be off Thursday, still in playoff contention but, considering its poor Last-Shot Draw totals, will need help Thursday to make the playoffs — wins by Team Dunstone over Team Gushue or Nunavut’s Team Shane Latimer (0-7; Iqaluit) over Northern Ontario’s Team John Epping (5-2; Sudbury) would be hugely beneficial.

Team Dunstone, meanwhile, will complete round-robin play Thursday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. (all times Pacific) against Team Canada in a game that will decide first place in Pool A.

“We’ve been waiting for that matchup ever since the draw came out,” said a smiling Dunstone, who lost the 2023 Brier final to Team Gushue. “Happy it’s here. I like the way we’re trending right now and I think tomorrow’s going to be a great game with two of the country’s best.”

The playoff format will see the first-place team from Pool A meeting second place from Pool B, and vice versa, in the first round of the playoffs at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, with the winners going directly to the Page playoff 1-2 game, while the losers meet the third-place finishers in the pools Friday at 6:30 p.m. The winners of those games will advance to the Page playoff 3-4 game.

The standard Page playoffs commence with the winner of the Page 1v2 game on Saturday at 6:30 p.m., advancing directly to the final, and the loser plays the winner of the Page 3v4 game (scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday) in the semifinal. 

The semifinal (Sunday at 11 a.m.) winner takes on the winner of the Page 1v2 game in the gold-medal game at 5 p.m. on Sunday. The winner will represent Canada at the 2025 BKT Tires World Men’s Curling Championship March 29-April 6 in Moose Jaw, Sask.

In other games Wednesday night, playoff-bound Team Canada clinched an important top-two finish in Pool A and an extra life in the playoffs with a 12-3 win over Nunavut; Alberta’s Team Kevin Koe (3-4; Calgary) rolled to a 10-4 win over New Brunswick’s Team James Grattan (2-5; Oromocto); and Northern Ontario was a 9-6 winner over Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Ty Dilello (1-6; St. John’s).

British Columbia’s Team Cameron de Jong (2-5; Victoria) had the Pool A bye.

The Montana’s Brier continues Thursday with draws at 8:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. (all times Pacific).

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2025 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2025 Montana’s Brier, go to www.curling.ca/2025brier/tickets/

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/2025brier/nouvelles/?lang=fr.