Team Dunstone earns silver for Canada at World Men’s Curling Championship
Team Dunstone’s run at the World Men’s Curling Championship ended in a silver medal, as Canada fell 9-6 to Sweden in the final in Ogden, Utah on Saturday.
The team of skip Matt Dunstone, third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden went 10-2 in the preliminary round before going on to defeat Italy in the qualification playoff game and then Scotland in the semifinals, both by scores of 9-7, to earn their spot in the gold medal game.
Dunstone and company fought hard to keep the game tight, including a beautiful shot to end the seventh end, knocking out two Swedish stones to close the gap to 6-5.
In the end, Sweden’s Niklas Edin controlled the result, scoring two points in each of the ends he held the hammer.
On the final shot of the evening in the tenth end, Dunstone could not hit the counter, missing just left of a stationary Canadian stone to seal the win for Sweden.
This was the first world championship appearance for both Dunstone and Lott, who had been runners-up at the Brier in 2023 and 2025 before earning their first national title last month.
“We totally just want to get back and finish one step better,” said Dunstone. “We ran into a buzzsaw today; I mean, they threw everything they had at us and unfortunately just we couldn’t find enough answers for it.
“It was gruelling schedule and our backs were against the wall early. To rally off 10 [wins] in a row to make it into the final, I think we have all the reasons in the world to be proud of what we accomplished. Looking back at it in a couple days, I’m obviously going to be very proud—it’s the happiest silver medal I’ve ever won.”
Standing between Canada and the men’s title has become something of a routine for Edin. The Swede has skipped his team to victory in six of the last eight men’s world championships—five of which included wins over Canadian teams in the final. Edin now has eight world titles, the most of any male curler.
Four-time Brier champion E.J. Harnden announced in December this would be the last year of his professional curling career. Harnden, 42, was a part of the Olympic gold medal-winning team at Sochi 2014.
Though Canada hasn’t won a gold medal at the men’s worlds since 2017, the country has reached the podium every year since then with the exception of 2021. Canada will host the men’s world championship next year in Saint John, N.B.
