Matt Dunstone, skip of Team Manitoba-Dunstone releases his stone during the 1 vs. 2 playoffs at the Montana's Brier Canadian men's curling championship, in St. John's, N.L., on Saturday, March 7, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

By The Canadian Press

Canada’s Dunstone wins fifth straight, creates logjam atop world curling standings

Apr 1, 2026 | 11:23 AM

OGDEN — Canada’s Matt Dunstone created a logjam atop the standings at the world men’s curling championship with an 8-7 win over Switzerland in Wednesday’s morning draw.

After Switzerland skip Marco Hoesli tied the game with three points in the ninth end, Dunstone was on target with his draw on final rock to lead Canada to its fifth straight win.

Dunstone was less than satisfied with his final shot at first, but it broke just enough at the right time.

“Didn’t love the looks of it, didn’t love the feel of it,” he said with a smile after the game. “I knew it was heavy out of my hand, and the sweepers weren’t a big fan of what I gave them either, but fortunately that rock had eyes, and I’m thankful it did.”

The victory led to a complicated scenario in the standings, with Canada, Switzerland, Sweden and Scotland all tied with 7-2 records. Canada has defeated Sweden and Switzerland, but lost to Scotland earlier in the round-robin.

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The top six teams after the round robin wraps Thursday advance to the playoffs, with the top two getting a bye to the semifinals.

“We would have taken this after Saturday and Sunday (losses to Scotland and U.S.) for sure,” said Dunstone. “I know we’re on a little bit of a run now, but we have three tough games left; we have to keep the pedal down and keep on going.

“That bye would be big, for sure, just given the schedule and not having to go back-to-back games on Friday. But we’ll take it one at a time and hopefully give ourselves a chance to lock up first or second tomorrow.”

Ross Whyte’s Scotland team moved into a tie for the lead with a 9-3 win over China on Wednesday morning.

Sweden’s Niklas Edin was idle in the morning and set to face Germany in the afternoon draw.

In other early action, the United States improved to 6-3 with an 8-3 win over Poland, while Czechia edged Japan 7-6.

Canada was set to face Czechia in Wednesday’s late draw.
Dunstone’s Winnipeg-based team wraps with games against Germany and Norway on Thursday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026.

The Canadian Press