The teams are set for provincial curling supremacy at the SaskTel Men’s Tankard, with some familiarity between the two sides.
A year after Saskatoon’s Kirk Muyres beat Regina’s Matt Dunstone in the provincial championships, they will meet again Sunday afternoon in the title game.
Dunstone was able to hold off Langenburg’s Kody Hartung Sunday morning, taking the semi-final matchup 5-4 in nine ends.
In last year’s final, Muyers foursome out of the Nutana Curling Club dropped the Dunstone’s rink 6-4 in Whitewood.
This time around is a little different for the defending champions. Muyres went undefeated during the Tankard, giving his rink some rest in the process.
They zipped through the A-side and defeated Hartung’s rink 7-1 in seven ends Saturday night.
That gave the rink the inside track to the provincial title game. Muyres said he doesn’t feel like there’s a target on his rinks back, even though they were able to put up some impressive wins down the stretch.
“It doesn’t necessarily feel like you’re the top dog. The nice part is the rest and recovery that you get qualifying for the A (side),” he said.
“It certainly helps in these big, intense games.”
As the 2:30 game time draws near for Muyres, he said his foursome is ready for another test in the road back to the Brier, and another nerve-packed, exciting affair against Dunstone’s rink.
“We just relish in the excitement and the nerves of it all. That’s why we play, we want to play, we’ve earned the right to feel those nerves, we’ve earned the right to feel that intensity.”
Dunstone’s road to the provincial championship was a lot different compared to Muyres.
His rink ended up having to battle for their provincial lives after a loss in the B side finals to Hartung.
They beat Saskatoon’s Shaun Meachem in the C qualifying game, 7-6. They followed that up by defeating another Saskatoon rink led by Jason Jacobson, 7-4.
That win set up the Sunday morning rematch with Hartung, that Dunstone came out on top of with a 5-4 decision.
Sunday’s provincial title game will be the two teams second matchup of the week.
The winner of Sunday afternoon’s title game will travel to Kingston, Ontario for the Tim Horton’s Brier from February 29 to March 8, 2020.