You wouldn’t get much of an argument if you described Matt Dunstone and Mike McEwen as the two best skips in the recent history of the Montana’s Brier to not have topped the medal podium.
Nor would you get an argument if you suggested both are intensely eager to turn that plot-line around at the 2026 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI.
Both skips took first steps toward that goal Saturday afternoon at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s, N.L., with opening-game victories as Pool B teams got their first taste of action.
Team Manitoba-Dunstone (Winnipeg) was a 5-3 winner over New Brunswick’s Team James Grattan (Oromocto), while Team Saskatchewan-McEwen (Saskatoon) rolled to an 11-5 triumph over the Northwest Territories’ Team Jamie Koe (Yellowknife).
Dunstone, backed up by vice-skip Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, alternate Jacob Horgan and coach Caleb Flaxey, has constantly been in the mix for major national victories in recent seasons, claiming silver at the Montana’s Brier last year in Kelowna and in 2023 at London, Ont., and back-to-back bronze in 2020 in Kingston, Ont., and 2021 in the Bubble in Calgary. Also, he was a silver-medallist at the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials three months ago in Halifax.
Suffice it to say, he’s ready to move beyond close but no cigar, and believes firmly his team is in position to do just that.
“Totally it is,” he said. “Every time this team steps out onto the ice we feel like we’re taking steps forward and everyone amongst this group has played in every (big) game that Canadian curling has to offer. This group’s beyond ready and it’s going to be an exciting week to see when that time comes, because in the grand scheme of things there’s no guarantees — you just get back out on the horse and you keep on grinding.
“Every great curler, every great athlete has always said that they’ve lost a lot more than they’ve won and that’s just what we’ve been going through. Just get us back in the final — let’s see where it goes.”
Team Dunstone was in a tight battle with the New Brunswick veteran, but finally started to break it open with a deuce in the sixth.
“I mean, first half of the game they (New Brunswick) played really well, and threw a lot at us,” said Dunstone. “I thought overall we played really solid, continued to bend them and eventually started getting our breaks down the home stretch. Overall, very solid effort.”
There’s a long way to go but any lingering disappointment from losing the Trials final to Team Brad Jacobs appears to have been dealt with.
“Yeah, a lot of ebbs and flows, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster, obviously,” he said. “But having the seven weeks I guess we’ve had off here (since the most recent Grand Slam event in January), it was pretty easy to reset and get up for one of, if not the best, curling event that exists. We’re back here, we’re feeling good, and this team’s right where it needs to be right now.”
McEwen, meanwhile, is looking to end his run of silver and bronze and finally put a long-coveted gold in the trophy case.Team Saskatchewan-McEwen skip Mike McEwen delivers a stone in an 11-2 win over the Northwest Territories’ Team Jamie Koe on Saturday afternoon at the 2026 Montana’s Brier. (Photo, Curling Canada/Andrew Klaver)
With his current team of third Colton Flasch, second/vice-skip Kevin Marsh, lead Daniel Marsh, alternate Brent Laing and coach Pat Simmons, McEwen won silver at the 2024 Montana’s Brier in Regina and bronze at the Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax. He also won silver at the 2017 Trials in Ottawa, and bronze at the 2017 Brier here in St. John’s.
Team McEwen’s emphatic win over the Northwest Territories was the product of getting a stolen deuce in the fourth end and a steal of three more in the seventh en route to the victory.
Based on the road he’s taken to get to this point of his career, at age 45, a Montana’s Brier title at the end of the week would be very satisfying, indeed.
“If you write a book on it, it would be a book of perseverance,” said McEwen with a smile. “It would be a hell of a story. Yeah, I’m still fighting. It took me a while to get my confidence back this year (after undergoing off-season knee surgery). I think probably physically I got there before the mind did. And so a lot’s changed for me since the Christmas break and having a good month and a half to prepare for this.”
A solid Trials run in Halifax, along with the restored health, has McEwen and his team in a solid state of mind in St. John’s.
“We had a great Trials; I mean, we were right in the thick of it,” he said. “But I feel even better right now. We’re playing with a little bit of freedom, I would think, and, yeah, I’m feeling more confident personally. I think the guys will feed off that once they know they have a skip who’s not pretending or anything.”
In the other Pool B games, Alberta’s Team Kevin Koe (Calgary) drew for four in the seventh and cruised to an 8-2 win over Manitoba’s Team Braden Calvert (Winnipeg); and Northern Ontario’s Team Sandy MacEwan (Sudbury) stole one in the 10th end for a 9-8 victory over the Yukon’s Team Thomas Scoffin (Whitehorse).
B.C.’s Team Cody Tanaka (Kamloops/Delta) had the Pool B bye on Saturday.
The Montana’s Brier continues Saturday with the late draw at 7:30 p.m. (all times NT).
Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 20256 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.
TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2026 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.