Dunstone loses in semifinal at Tim Hortons Brier

Saskatchewan’s Brier drought will go on for another year.

Matt Dunstone and his Regina team of Braeden Moskowy, Kirk Muyres and Dustin Kidby lost 6-5 to Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher in the semifinal at the Tim Hortons Brier in Calgary on Sunday.

A Saskatchewan team hasn’t won the Canadian men’s curling title since Rick Folk in 1980. A rink from the province also hasn’t appeared in the Brier final since 1995, when Brad Heidt lost 10-8 to Manitoba’s Kerry Burtnyk.

Bottcher advanced to his fourth straight Brier final, this time against the Wild Card team skipped by Kevin Koe. Game time is 6:30 p.m. Bottcher lost in each of his previous three final appearances.

Dunstone won the bronze medal for the second straight year.

In the semifinal, Dunstone scored two in the ninth end to lead 5-4, but Bottcher made a long angle-raise takeout with his last rock in the 10th end to score two and win the game.

Saskatchewan finished the round-robin portion of the tournament with a 6-2 record to move into the championship pool. Dunstone won three of four games in that round to reach the semifinal against Bottcher.

Bottcher was named the winner of the Ross Harstone sportsmanship award earlier Sunday. Alberta second Brad Thiessen was named a first-team all-star along with Gushue, Saskatchewan third Braeden Moskowy and Wild Card 2 lead Ben Hebert of Regina.

Koe was named to the second-team all-star list with teammate B.J. Neufeld at third, Canada second Brett Gallant and Northern Ontario lead Ryan Harnden.