REGINA -- Team Saskatchewan’s run at a Brier Championship came to an end on Sunday afternoon.
Regina’s Team Dunstone, which curls out of the Highland Curling Club, reached the semi-final, but lost to Newfoundland’s Brad Gushue 7-6.
Skip Matt Dunstone choked back tears, speaking to the media minutes after the game.
“You know it's tough, you come so close, and we woke up this morning thinking we were going to be Brier Champions.”
It’s the first time Saskatchewan has made the playoffs in the Men’s National Curling Championship since 2015.
"It's a lot easier when you lose out of events and you're not very close I guess,” says Saskatchewan third, Braeden Moskowy. “The closer you get the more it hurts.”
Saskatchewan finished the Championship pool with an 8-3 record, good for second place. Dunstone met Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher in the 1/2 page playoffs with a spot in the final on the line, but fell 9-4.
“With a field like this, some people are saying it’s the best if not one of the best Brier fields of all time,” added Moskowy.
The third is from Regina, and went to the Brier for Saskatchewan in 2013. However, in 2014, Moskowy moved east to curl with Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers. He returned to Saskatchewan to curl out of the Highland Curling Club with Dunstone in 2018.
For the 29-year-old, coming home to curl out of his home province has been special.
“I cherished every single second of it. The support you get, in Saskatchewan is unlike anywhere else. The people, the messages we received all week. The people that were out here supporting us, it's a feeling you can't explain. You know we want to be the team that ends this Brier drought.”
The semifinal loss extends Saskatchewan’s Brier Championship drought to 40 years. The last time the tankard called Saskatchewan home was when Rick Folk won in 1980.
“We have it in us to be Brier Champions, there's no doubt about that,” says Dunstone. “We beat some great teams this week, we lost to some great teams this week and at the end of the day we were two wins away.”
Matt Dunstone is 24-years-old, making him the youngest skip to qualify for the Championship Round by four years. He’s from Manitoba, but lives in Kamloops. If Dunstone continues on with Saskatchewan, the bronze medal finish paints a positive picture for curling in Saskatchewan.
“I'm really proud of the week. It definitely had its ups and downs and we got our breaks and little things that didn't go our way but to make a Final 4 in a field like this, you have to have those things go your way. When it came down to it we really played well from head to toe.”
Newfoundland and Alberta will play in the Brier Final.
