They’re ranked #1 in Canada and #2 in the World, and on Feb. 25, skip Matt Dunstone and two members of his Winnipeg-based championship men’s team visited the Virden Curling Club to lead the second annual Kioti Future Curlers Camp. The camp, which began in Stonewall in 2022, is facilitated by Team Dunstone’s title corporate sponsor, Kioti Tractor Canada. The company’s local dealership, Virden Ag & Parts, also participated and displayed product on the curling rink parking lot.
“We’ve been together for about a year and a half now,” Dunstone said. His foursome includes BJ Neufeld at third, second Colton Lott and lead Ryan Harnden, who was unable to attend.
For the 28-year-old mortgage broker, curling runs in the family and aspirations to do so competitively began at a young age.
“I was kind of forced into it with my family,” he said. “My grandparents and my dad curled competitively (and) my mom coached me growing up. I loved it from day one... going to the rink, watching my dad play and compete and then watching Stoughton and Burtnyk and Vic (Peters)... growing up and wanting to be just like them. I’m very happy I took this direction, obviously. It’s a dream come true to be able to do this.”
During the afternoon, several stations were set up at ice level where the 32 junior curlers received coaching and instruction on key aspects of the roaring game.
“First of all, we want them to be having as much fun as they possibly can so when they leave this rink they feel that… and they want to come back,” Dunstone said. “Secondly, it’s the fundamentals of the slide and how to release the stone. The strategy side of it, that can be easily learned as they go and through experience, but [we teach] proper ways of setting up in the hack, how to release the stone, that sort of technical side.”
Dunstone welcomes the opportunity to share tips, techniques and wisdom with school-aged curlers each year.
“Curling is huge in Manitoba,” he said. “We want to try and touch as many communities as we can in different areas to share our love and passion for curling with young up-and-coming kids who have the same dreams and aspirations that we do. It’s a ton of fun coming out here and getting to meet so many different people. I remember even when I was a kid, getting autographs of our favourite curlers and taking pictures. Those were very special moments and to be on the other side of it now and have it come full circle is something that we don’t take for granted. That’s very cool for us.”
Dunstone, Harnden, Neufeld and Lott will comprise Team Manitoba at the 2024 Montana’s Brier in Regina, which begins March 1st. The winner will head to the 2024 LGT World Men’s Curling Championship held in Schaffhausen, Switzerland from March 30 to Apr. 7.
“We knew we were in the Brier last April,” Dunstone said. “We pre-qualified based on our Canadian ranking… so we didn’t have to play in the provincial playdowns this year. We’ve been off for a bit now and chomping at the bit to get back into the Brier.”
When preparing, both mentally and physically, to battle their counterparts from across Canada everything else takes a back seat.
“It’s intense,” Dunstone said. “You don’t do anything extra in the week leading up [to the event]. With how good the teams around the world are now, it’s a full-time gig. At this point, it’s trusting all the preparation we’ve done. We feel very confident going into the Brier that this year, we can finish it off. All of us are self-employed, so we set our own schedules. We all have families that we care deeply about, but this time of year curling is definitely a priority in all of our lives over any sort of job. It chalks up to be about four months of the year we’re away from home.”
The Kioti Future Curlers Camp wrapped up with a bit of friendly competition, with Dunstone up against a local team comprised of Cory Barkley, Mandy Taylor, Anesha Heaman and Tyler Strachan, with Dunstone winning the four-end match 3 to 1.
