Curling couple Matt Dunstone and Erin Pincott are competing for a national championship at the Brier and Scotties, respectively, in the next month (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

NATIONAL CURLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Kamloops curling couple Dunstone, Pincott preparing for month apart as each compete for national championships

Feb 10, 2021 | 6:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — Curling couple Matt Dunstone and Erin Pincott are competing in their second straight national championships. Matt, the skip for Saskatchewan at the Brier, and Erin, the third on Corryn Brown’s rink representing B.C. at the Scotties.

However, unlike last year, they won’t be in the stands to cheer other on. They’ll watch each other on TV instead with anxiety levels at a high.

“I’m expecting to be a bundle of nerves, just like I was last year,” said Pincott. “I think he’ll probably say the same thing that he doesn’t like watching. He’d prefer to be playing, and I’m the same. I get so nervous watching.”

Pincott will end her Scotties experience on Feb. 28 or sooner before the Brier begins March 6 with a few days of transition between the two championships to keep the curlers safe.

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“It’s pretty much a month on the dot we’re not going to see each other for,” said Dunstone. “After spending pretty much every waking hour for a year together, it’s going to be strange to get a month off.”

Pincott added, “Something we’re not used to being a curling couple during the fall and winter where we’re usually home a couple days a week to see each other quickly, then we’re off on the road again.”

The couple is just happy for each other’s success and the opportunities they’re receiving in the sport. There was a chance for them to compete together inside the bubble at the mixed doubles national championship, but they decided against it against being put on a waitlist by Curling Canada.

“Just with the logistics of having to get a private clinic to do our test before going. Work committments. It wasn’t super realistic,” noted Pincott.

Dunstone added, “All we’re going to have now is stories about our own personal experience. Obviously not going to get to experience it together, but it’ll be neat to tell stories of our own bubble experiences.”

Dunstone and Pincott pulled out of the mixed doubles competition last month, not liking how the qualification process was handled.

“With how everything was done in regards to qualifying for the doubles. It has definitely turned me away from the sport, to be completely honest,” said Dunstone. “The fact that nobody knew the qualification process until after the fact, after all the entries were in. Nobody had prior knowledge to what the qualification process was like. I’ve never heard of a system like that before.”

As they prepare for the biggest tournament of their lives, the couple is focused on their own championship aspirations, while hoping the other can win it all as well.