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It was another tough outing for Canada’s Matt Dunstone at the world men’s curling championship in Ogden, Utah.
Dunstone’s rink suffered a 9-3 setback to John Shuster of the United States in seven ends Sunday. After opening the competition with two consecutive wins, the Canadians have now lost two straight after dropping an 8-3 decision to Scotland’s Ross Whyte in eight ends Saturday night.
The Americans opened the contest scoring two in the first end before the Canadians cut the deficit to 2-1 through two. But the U.S. countered with two more in the third, and then after Canada scored one in the fourth, came back with four in the fifth for a commanding 8-2 advantage.
Dunstone’s team added another single in the sixth but the Americans rounded out the scoring with their last point in the seventh and final end. The U.S. evened its record at 2-2 with the victory but lost 5-3 to unbeaten Niklas Edin of Sweden in the evening draw to slip to 2-3. The Swedes top the field with a 5-0 record.
“Early on, it’s tough not getting the hammer [in the first end] and I think it starts there for us,” said Dunstone, who’s backed up by third Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden, alternate Geoff Walker, team coach Caleb Flaxey and national coach Jeff Stoughton.
“John made two great shots in one and three to score deuces and then we’re in chase mode from there. We’re just a little bit off, and it’s one of those stretches. But the good thing for us, we’re 2-and-2 and we would all be the first ones to admit that we’re not playing remotely close to what we’re capable of. And, it all starts with me.
“We have an opportunity [Monday] morning to get back to where we need to be.”
Canada resumes action Monday with two games. It faces Poland at 11 a.m. ET before taking on Japan at 9 p.m.
Heading into Monday’s action at Weber County Ice Sheet, unbeaten Sweden leads the 13-team standings, followed by Switzerland at 4-1. China, Germany, Italy and Scotland are all at 3-2. Canada is next at 2-2, with Japan, South Korea and the host U.S. all at 2-3. Poland is 1-3, Czechia is 1-4 and Norway is 0-4.
