For the second straight year, Saskatchewan’s Matt Dunstone has reached the Tim Hortons Brier semifinal.
Dunstone, who is joined on his rink by third Braeden Moskowy, second Kirk Muyres and lead Dustin Kidby, finished in a tie for second place in the championship pool with a 9-3 record at the Markin McPhail Centre in Calgary.
After edging out Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher on Friday night, Dunstone defeated Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs by a score of 5-4 on Saturday afternoon and followed that up with a 9-6 triumph over Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson in the evening draw.
They will go up against Bottcher (9-3) on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. in a rematch of last year’s 1 vs. 2 Page playoff game at the Brier in Kingston, which Bottcher won 9-4.
Dunstone would lose the semifinal game to Brad Gushue, who would go on to beat Bottcher in the final.
The winner of Sunday’s semifinal will then face Kevin Koe’s Wild Card 2 rink at 6:30 p.m. for the 2021 Brier title.
Koe, who is looking to win a record fifth Brier title as a skip, led the championship pool with a 10-2 mark and brought an end to the playoff hopes of Wayne Middaugh’s Wild Card 3 squad with a 7-6 triumph Saturday night.
Team Canada’s Brad Gushue also saw his chance of a second straight Brier and his fourth in the last five years come to an end in the final draw as his Team Canada rink suffered an 8-2 loss to Bottcher.
Jacobs (7-5), Ontario’s John Epping (7-5) and Gunnlaugson (6-6) rounded out the championship pool standings.
