The Sheriff is back in town

Everyone knows Matt Dunstone’s nickname is “The Sheriff.”

But after winning the Grand Slam of Curling’s Masters event for a third time last weekend, it might be time for a new one.

“Yeah, I don’t know, Mr. Green Jacket, I guess,” joked Dunstone in a chat with the Free Press on Thursday.

Dunstone first won the event in 2019 and has now claimed the title two years in a row. He capped off an undefeated week on Sunday in Medicine Hat, Alta., by outlasting Scotland’s Bruce Mouat 7-6.

“End of October, early November is kind of when I’ve been most successful with my slams, and this is just where this event happens to fall,” said the 31-year-old Winnipegger.

“They’re such hard events to win. That semifinal against (Yannick) Schwaller and final against Mouat, like how good we had to play to actually win those games, you don’t take any of those wins for granted because it’s very hard to come by in these major events.”

Dunstone, third Colton Lott, and lead Ryan Harnden had to call in reinforcements with second Mark Nichols on the shelf with an upper-body injury. Colton Flasch filled in after playing in nearby Swift Current, Sask., with Team Tyler Tardi the previous weekend.

Nichols is questionable for Team Dunstone’s next event: the GSCOC’s HearingLife National in Sydney, N.S. (Nov. 17-22).

“We want to make sure he’s 100 per cent. We’re fortunate to have the wiggle room where we have our Brier spot locked up and we’re already in the Players’ Cup,” said Dunstone.

“We don’t have to necessarily press to get into certain things so we have the wiggle room and the time to ensure Mark is 100 per cent, and ultimately, we’re looking at the Brier — we want to repeat as Brier champs and we’re going to need Mark fully healthy to do so.”

Before getting hurt, Nichols helped the group start the season strong by winning the Okotoks Classic back in September. Nichols joined Dunstone in the off-season after E.J. Harnden retired.

“The energy Mark has brought to the group was very exciting, and we felt that right away from him. He’s fit in perfectly and allowed us to continue to stay on track and on this trajectory we’ve been on over the last handful of years,” said Dunstone.

“The fit couldn’t have been any better. Obviously, we just want him back with us desperately once he’s ready to rock.”

Now that Dunstone has a Brier title on his resumé, he’s been able to take a bit of a deep breath this season. He was the runner up at men’s nationals in 2023 and 2025 before breaking through last season by knocking off Alberta’s Kevin Koe in the final.

As the reigning champ, Dunstone will play as Team Canada at the 2027 Brier in Saskatoon (Feb. 26-March 7).

“To go into a season and not have that hang over your head anymore has been really freeing. It’s allowed me to appreciate the roller-coaster of sport a little bit more, too,” said Dunstone, who lost the world men’s final to Sweden’s Niklas Edin back in April.

“People kept talking about Dunstone being the young guy on the block and his time’s coming. The beauty of sport is there’s no guarantee in anything, but, you get tired of hearing that. I think eventually you want to prove that to everyone who has said that, and yourself, too. I won’t lie, I felt a lot of pressure to get it done and finally put those stories to rest. Let the new stories roll in.”

Winnipeg will be the primary location for whatever the next story ends up being. Dunstone moved to Kamloops, B.C., in 2018 to be with his partner Erin Pincott. But the couple moved to Winnipeg earlier this year because Pincott joined a Manitoba-based rink skipped by Selena Njegovan.

“It’s awesome being back,” he said. “It’s hard to defeat Winnipeg when it comes to being a curling market.

“Being around people you haven’t seen in a long time, or even people you haven’t met before, and talking to them about curling and then having them congratulate us on winning the Brier and how they watched it all and supported us, there was just this realization of how much support our team actually has here. That’s been my favourite part of the experience.”

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