Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone came back for a 7-6 win over Canada’s Brad Gushue on Thursday to hand the three-time defending champion his first loss at the Montana’s Brier in Kelowna, B.C.
The result left both teams with 7-1 records in Pool A but Dunstone took the top seed since head-to-head play was the tiebreaker.
Manitoba’s Reid Carruthers, who was idle for the group’s last round-robin draw at Prospera Place, took the other playoff spot in the nine-team pool. Carruthers was tied with Northern Ontario’s John Epping at 6-2 but held the tiebreaker.
Dunstone will have hammer in the qualification round Friday ahead of the weekend playoffs.
A happy skipper to be sure<br><br>Matt Dunstone finishes first in Pool A after a gritty win over Gushue.<br><br>Some thoughts from Dunstone on lessons learned from the past heading into these pressure playoff games. <a href=”https://t.co/xA9QkcqwSo”>pic.twitter.com/xA9QkcqwSo</a>
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The seeding order in Pool B was to be determined on Thursday night.
Alberta’s Brad Jacobs was to play Saskatchewan’s Mike McEwen in a battle of 7-0 teams for the top seed.
Ontario’s Sam Mooibroek and Nova Scotia’s Owen Purcell both posted morning victories to improve to 4-3. That set up an evening showdown between the Brier rookies for the third seed.
Mooibroek defeated Prince Edward Island’s Tyler Smith 8-4 while Purcell kept pace with a 7-4 win over Aaron Bartling of the Northwest Territories.
Epping, meanwhile, scored six points in the eighth end of a 13-3 rout of Nunavut’s Shane Latimer. He joined friends and family in the stands to watch the last few ends of the Gushue-Dunstone game, but the result he needed to advance didn’t materialize.
Gushue attempted a blank in the ninth end but his stone remained in the rings. That gave Dunstone the hammer coming home and he made a single for the victory.
In other afternoon results, New Brunswick’s James Grattan beat British Columbia’s Cameron de Jong 7-5 and Alberta’s Kevin Koe defeated Ty Dilello of Newfoundland and Labrador 5-1.
In the morning draw, Jacobs beat Quebec’s Jean-Michel Menard 6-4 and Yukon’s Thomas Scoffin upset Saskatchewan’s Ryan Kleiter 8-6.
The final will be played Sunday night. The winner will represent Canada at the BKT world men’s curling championship starting March 29 in Moose Jaw, Sask.
