Dunstone stymies Gushue to snap streak at KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup
REGINA — The fourth time around proved to be the charm for Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone against Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L.
The two clubs had already met three times this season prior to their round-robin matchup at the KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup with Gushue claiming the win in all three games including the Brier final.
Dunstone ended the skid Wednesday night as his team secured the hammer to start and never trailed en route to an 8-4 victory during Draw 7 of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season finale.
“They’ve nipped us every time this year,” Dunstone said. “I think that was the fourth time we’ve played them, so it was nice to finally get a little bit of revenge based on what happened at the Brier.
“It’s nice to have that one under our belts and puts us in a good spot.”
After the teams traded singles back and forth followed by deuces, Dunstone broke the 3-3 tie wide open in the fifth end with a hit to score three critical points.
The 14-time Grand Slam champion Gushue was forced to a single in the sixth and shook hands after the seventh when Dunstone made a double to tack two more points on the board.
Both teams were sharp in the shooting percentages, but Team Dunstone edged Team Gushue 90 to 86.
“It was another great one with them, I mean you expect nothing else,” said Dunstone, who beat Gushue in the 2019 Masters final to win his first Grand Slam title. “Tons of rocks in play every single end, lots of angles and a couple flukes on both sides that worked and didn’t work.
“A really good game from the team, top to bottom. To start off with hammer was big playing a team like that and we made the big shots when we had to.”
The win improved Dunstone’s round-robin record to 2-0 while Gushue’s first loss now has his team at 2-1.
“(It’s) great. We’re in the driver’s seat, obviously a long way to go still,” Dunstone said. “We’re not even halfway through the round-robin yet but being 2-0 and having Brad out of the way is obviously a good feeling but it’s back to work tomorrow.”
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Elsewhere, Sweden’s Niklas Edin scored a single in the extra end to fend off Scotland’s Bruce Mouat 7-6.
Edin (2-0) opened with a count of three points, but Mouat (2-1) charged right back. The reigning world champion scored a deuce in the second, forced Edin to a single in the third and then counted another couple in the fourth to tie it 4-all at the break.
The teams exchanged singles back and forth through the second half to force OT.
In women’s play, Kerri Einarson of Gimli, Man., climbed to a 3-0 record with a 6-1 win over South Korea’s Eun-Ji Gim (0-2).
Tabitha Peterson from the United States moved up to a 2-1 record after earning a 5-3 decision against Norway’s Marianne Rørvik (0-2).
UP NEXT
Round-robin action resumes Thursday at the Co-operators Centre with Draw 8 at 8:30 a.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET).
Broadcast coverage begins with Draw 9 at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT on Sportsnet, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).
NOTES
The KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup is the sixth and final event of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 12 men’s teams and 12 women’s teams who have won top tour titles to qualify. … Both divisions are split into two pools of six teams for round-robin play. The best six teams overall qualify for Saturday’s quarterfinals with the top two receiving byes to the semifinals. … The finals are scheduled for Sunday.
