Matt Dunstone captures 1st Brier title, defeating 4-time champion Kevin Koe

Matt Dunstone won his first Canadian men's curling championship after knocking hard on the Brier's door in recent years.

Dunstone's team from Manitoba defeated four-time champion Kevin Koe of Alberta 6-3 in Sunday's final in St. John's.

Dunstone reached his third final in four years after losses in 2025 and 2023. His teams also finished third in 2021 and 2020.

"This moment feels way more incredible than I ever would have imagined," said the 30-year-old skip.

"The heartbreak that this group has had over the last three years, the amount that I've learned from that, I played free and loose all week.

"When you feel the hurt enough times, you don't really get too scared of it, when you know what's at the end of the road."

Dunstone, Colton Lott, E.J. Harnden and Ryan Harnden will represent Canada at the men's world championship March 27 to April 4 in Ogden, Utah.

The Granite Curling Club foursome out of Winnipeg also earned the right to return to next year's Brier in Saskatoon as defending champions.

The winning team also claims $100,000 out of a prize purse of $300,000.

Dunstone lost both the Olympic trials final and Canadian championship final to Brad Jacobs last year.

But Dunstone's rink eliminated reigning Olympic champion Jacobs this time with a 7-3 win in Sunday's semifinal.

That gave Dunstone a rematch at night with Alberta's Koe, who had gone unbeaten until Sunday.

"The two months we had after the trials, very difficult months for us," Dunstone said. "We had a really good reset. This was a major event that we wanted to perform at.

"We would have loved to have been the Olympic team, but this was next on our list. Given that this group isn't going to be together next year with E.J. retiring, this group owed it to ourselves to put our best foot forward and get a Brier championship."