Dunstone earns split in first two championship pool games at the Brier

Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone split his games in the championship pool at the Tim Hortons Brier on Friday.

After losing 8-5 to the Wild Card 3 entry skipped by Wayne Middaugh in the afternoon, Dunstone and his Regina-based team of Braeden Moskowy, Kirk Muyres and Dustin Kidby rebounded with an 8-7 victory over Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher in the evening draw.

Dunstone goes into Saturday’s action at the Canadian men’s curling championship in Calgary with a 7-3 record. He’s tied for third in the standings with Bottcher, Ontario’s John Epping and Team Canada’s Brad Gushue.

Middaugh, skipping the team usually led by Glenn Howard, is tied for first with Kevin Koe’s Wild Card 2 entry at 8-2. Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson and Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs are tied for seventh at 6-4.

The Saskatchewan representatives posted a 6-2 record in the round-robin portion of the tournament to earn a spot in the championship round. They’re to face each of the four teams from the other pool — Middaugh, Bottcher, Jacobs and Gunnlaugson — in that round.

The top three teams in the standings after the championship pool move on to Sunday’s playoffs.

In the contest against Bottcher, Dunstone scored one with the hammer in the first end before stealing singles in each of the second and third ends and two more in the fourth.

After Bottcher scored two in the fifth, Dunstone put one on the board in the sixth. The Alberta foursome put up a deuce in the seventh, but Dunstone responded with one in the eighth.

Bottcher scored two in the ninth to make it 8-6 but could only steal just one in the 10th.

Against Middaugh, Dunstone scored one in the first end with hammer but, after a blank in the second, the Ontario foursome cracked a four in the third.

The teams traded singles over the next four ends before Dunstone scored a deuce in the eighth to cut the deficit to 6-5. Middaugh replied with one in the ninth and stole one in the 10th to seal the victory.

Dunstone is to face Jacobs and Gunnlaugson on Saturday.