By the Numbers: Team Dunstone rolling after Harnden addition as Team Gushue search for results

With the 2025 Montana’s Brier now just six weeks away, many intriguing storylines are beginning to emerge as provincial and territorial playdowns ramp up across the county.

Near the top of that list is the interesting connection between Newfoundland and Labrador’s Team Brad Gushue and Manitoba’s Team Matt Dunstone.

EJ Harnden

Both rinks have long booked their tickets to the Kelowna Brier, with Gushue set to represent Canada as a three-time defending champion and Dunstone having earned one of three pre-qualified spots via last year’s Canadian Team Ranking System.  

Dunstone and Gushue made headlines earlier this season with a surprising player swap, which has led to different initial outcomes heading into the Season of Champions.

Team Gushue made the drastic decision to cut second E.J. Harnden on Oct. 10 in favour of former skip Brendan Bottcher, despite winning the past two Canadian men’s curling championships as well as back-to-back silver medals at the World Men’s Curling Championship with the veteran power sweeper in the lineup.

By early December, Harnden found a new home with Dunstone’s team in Winnipeg after they cut third B.J. Neufeld, reuniting him with Brush Bother Ryan Harnden.

Lineup changes are not uncommon in the world of curling, but in-season moves of this significance, with the Olympic Trials just months away, most definitely are.  

Let’s take a look at how the teams have fared following their early season lineup alteration.

By The Numbers: Team Gushue

Brad Gushue

• 37-22 overall record 
• 12-5 (5-3 at Grand Slams) with Harnden in lineup (three events with two final losses)
• 21-14 (8-8 at the Grand Slams) with Bottcher in lineup (six events with one final loss)
• Ranked fourth in the world and third in Canada

After posting a 12-5 record over three events, including dropping two finals to Mike McEwen and Bruce Mouat in blowout fashion, Team Gushue and company parted ways with Harnden in early October.

A few days later, Gushue, Mark Nichols and Geoff Walker announced the addition of Bottcher, who was cut from his team and replaced by Brad Jacobs at the end of last season.

The move saw one of the game’s best shooters team up with arguably the best male skip in history, but questions were raised about Bottcher’s ability to be a full-time sweeper after skipping for his entire career.

It was a good start for the new-look Team Gushue in their first event at the Pan Continental Curling Championship in late October as they won their first seven games against lower-ranked teams on the international stage.

The playoffs proved to be a different story, losing to Japan’s Team Shinya Abe, currently ranked 20th in the world, in the semifinal and Team John Shuster of the United States in the bronze-medal game.

They started off hot at the Grand’s Slam Canadian Open in Nisku, Alta., winning six straight games before dropping another final to Scotland’s Team Mouat.

Things have been getting progressively more difficult for Team Gushue since those first two events. They were eliminated in the quarter-final round in three straight bonspiels, including a 7-3 loss to Harnden and Team Dunstone at the Western Showdown in Swift Current, Sask., in mid-December.

Then at last week’s Grand Slam event in Guelph, Team Gushue missed the playoffs with an 0-4 record, losing their last two games to Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte and Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller by a combined score of 19-8.

It marked the first time Gushue, a six-time Brier champion, went winless at a Grand Slam since 2006.

Team Gushue won’t return to game action until the Montana’s Brier from Feb. 28-March 9 when they’ll wear the Maple Leaf as the defending champions.

Even though the results have not been there as of late, it will be hard to view Team Gushue as anything but a top contender in British Columbia. Still, for the first time in a while, the St. John’s rink has some significant questions heading into the Canadian championship.

By The Numbers: Team Dunstone

Matt Dunstone

• 46-17 overall record
• 24-14 (8-9 at Grand Slams) with Neufeld in lineup (Seven events, won Henderson Metal Fall Classic)
• 22-3 (5-1 in Grand Slams) with Harnden in lineup (Four events, won Red Deer Curling Classic and Astec Safety Challenge)
• Ranked third in the world and first in Canada 

Team Dunstone had high expectations going into the 2024-25 curling campaign after dropping the 2023 Brier final to Team Gushue and last year’s 3 vs. 4-page playoff to Team McEwen.

Highlighted by a perfect run at an October bonspiel in Sault Ste. Marie, it was a decent start to the season for Dunstone’s crew.

However, everything changed in mid-November at the Red Deer Curling Classic.  

With Harnden now a free agent, they asked the 41-year-old Olympic champion to spare for them with third Neufeld missing the event. Colton Lott was bumped up to vice while the Harnden brothers played together for the first time since their long run with Team Jacobs.

Something clicked as Team Dunstone posted a 7-1 record, capped with an efficient 6-0 shutout of Team John Epping in the final.

With Neufeld back in the fold the following week in St. John’s at the National, Team Dunstone missed the playoffs with an 1-3 record, dropping their overall Grand Slam record to 8-9 on the season.

The Red Deer experience followed by the disappointment on The Rock was enough for Team Dunstone as just days later they announced Harnden was joining the squad with Neufeld being the odd man out.

In their first event in mid-December, Team Dunstone won four straight games, including beating Team Gushue in the quarters, before falling to Team Jacobs in the semis.

Things really started to turn their way in the New Year with a 6-0 performance at the Astec Safety Challenge, beating five straight top-10 teams on the world rankings in the process.

Team Dunstone followed that up with a perfect 4-0 round robin at the Masters in Guelph before beating Team Korey Dropkin in the quarters and losing to Team Whyte in the semis.

Now ranked first in the country, Dunstone and company are getting hot at the perfect time thanks to a renewed energy brought on by Harnden’s addition.

Team Dunstone is an impressive 22-3 with Harnden in the lineup this season.

Time will tell if Harnden’s addition will be the difference between just another playoff appearance and a first career Tankard win for Dunstone at the Montana’s Brier come March.