A preview of the men’s semifinal of the Olympic Curling Trials, starring two guys who know all about tough playoff losses
The men’s final round robin draw featured a dramatic finish to Brad Gushue’s bid to repeat at the Canadian (Olympic) Curling Trials.
Like Kaitlyn Lawes’ final throw a few hours earlier, the outcome determined if a team in the dressing room would head to the semifinal. In Lawes case, she had no route to the playoffs; instead her successful throw allowed Christina Black’s Halifax crew to move on.
Lo and behold, that squad is now in the women’s final series.
For Brad, missing that triple takeout against Jacobs gave Matt Dunstone a playoff rematch with Mike McEwen. Gushue now heads home to prepare for a hometown Brier in a few months.
The result allows Matt to press restart on his Wednesday night semifinal against McEwen. In a win or (possibly) go home game, the Dunstone team scored a first end deuce and that was the last time they held a lead. A McEwen three, followed by a steal of two, and another three in the fifth gave Mike only his second victory over Matt in 11 attempts since the beginning of the 2024-25 season. Including yesterday, Dunstone has outscored Mike 74-48 in that span.
Coolbet.com has Dunstone as a slight favourite (-118), despite McEwen (-105) starting with hammer. The over/under is set at 11.5 and the under is even money, which historically looks like a great bet for a playoff game, but if yesterday is any indication – and Halifax rain and warm temperatures bring frost to the proceedings – the score could be almost anything.
Since E.J. Harnden joined Team Dunstone, their only other loss to McEwen was a 9-8 extra-end contest in pool play at last April’s Players’ Championship. Dunstone returned the favour by knocking McEwen out in the quarterfinals, 6-1 in six ends.
McEwen has an opportunity to reach his second Trials final and redeem the agonizing loss to Kevin Koe in 2017. Both teams are middle of the pack this week in percentages, with Colton Lott the one standout, leading all thirds at 92%.
Records, rankings and experience lean towards Dunstone winning and reaching the final series, but when the stakes are this high and nerves are tested, a battle of will takes place.
Dunstone opened the week with four wins and then lost his last three in a row to limp into this semifinal. McEwen, meanwhile, won both Wednesday games to finish strong.
There is a reason it took Brad Gushue 14 years to win his first Brier. Despite capturing the 2005 Trials in this same building, with veteran Russ Howard calling the game, Gushue failed to qualify for both the 2009 and 2013 Trials.
Brad Jacobs won a Brier and Olympic gold medal before the age of 30. It took him over a decade to return to the world championship.
Winning the historic events in any sport is hard. Mike and Matt both have scar tissue built up from previous disappointments. The skip who can embrace the moment, avoid tactical errors and play to their potential will have the best chance to face Jacobs.
It will also help if their team makes a few shots, too.