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Dunstone to throw last rocks for Team Laycock

OTTAWA — Saskatoon’s Team Laycock has shuffled the deck for the Roar of the Rings.

Matt Dunstone, who previously tossed second stones, has moved up in the lineup this week to throw last rocks during the Canadian Olympic curling trials at Canadian Tire Centre.

Skip Steve Laycock is still calling the game but throwing third with previous third Kirk Muyres sliding in at second. Lead Dallan Muyres is the only one who has stayed put.

Kirk Muyres said it was Laycock who actually suggested the switch and they were all in with the decision to mix things up.

“He just thought with the game plan we’re going to employ throughout the week that suited our strengths better,” Muyres said Saturday. “Then having me sweep the last four rocks with Dallan, we’ve got a little bit more rapport over the years and just put the strengths in each position.

“Steve brought it up and we were all on board right away. We thought it was a great idea. When you’ve got a guy like Matt Dunstone throwing the brick you’re never going to be too far out.”

Team Laycock declined an invitation to last month’s BOOST National in order to have an extra week to train and help everyone adjust to the new setup.

“I think it was important for us to get those roles down and kind of how we’re going to go about the week here, get that confidence back up that we needed,” Muyres said.

While it didn’t pay off in their Roar of the Rings opener against Calgary’s Kevin Koe, who won the set 6-3, Muyres saw some positives emerge.

“We played pretty good today, we didn’t win but we’re on the right track here,” he said. “That extra week off, those three weeks of prep just with the team dynamics was really important for us.”

Dunstone, a former skip, is a two-time Canadian junior champion and world junior bronze medallist. The 22-year-old from Winnipeg joined Team Laycock late last season in March when second Colton Flasch parted ways with the club.