Dunstone downs Bottcher in Canadian Powerhouse Tilt
Winnipeg's Matt Dunstone (photo: Anil Mungal, GSOC) won 7-1 over Calgary's Brendan Bottcher at the HearingLife Tour Challenge on Thursday morning.
It's was an early 8 am start for the two western Canadian foes taking the ice at the Gale Centre in Niagara Falls, when Dunstone and his team of B.J. Neufeld, Colton Lott and Ryan Harnden took to the ice against the World #1-ranked Bottcher squad with Marc Kennedy at third, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert.
Bottcher started with hammer, getting a single point in the third end after starting with two blanks. In the fourth end, Dunstone got some rocks in play and generated a score of three, then stole one of the fifth end and three more in the sixth end.
For Bottcher, the hard work of earning the hammer to start the games typically sets up a team for success, with Bottcher having a 76-41 record in Grand Slam play when starting with hammer, compared to a 43-51 record without hammer. So far on the week, Bottcher has started with hammer in all three games, an opening draw 4-3 win over Wouter Gosgens of the Netherlands, while losing their game yesterday afternoon to Brad Gushue of St. John's 6-5.
With a new format for how the hammer is determined as teams throw two draws before game that count towards hammer, but also towards qualifying for the playoffs where only the draw to button distance will be used as a tiebreaker, so should Bottcher win their final round-robin game against Korey Dropkin of the United States, they should have a strong shootout score that may still book their place into the playoffs.
Dunstone is in a strong spot in the rankings, their 2-1 record leaves their fate in their own hands as they face Aaron Sluchinski of Red Deer on Friday in their final round-robin game. Dunstone won their opening game 6-3 over Magnus Ramsfjell of Norway on Tuesday, then dropping their game Wednesday to Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller.
With an 8-3 record on the season, Dunstone has dropped to 9th overall on the tight World Team Rankings, though having played a limited schedule with only two of a possible three events counting, a runner-up finish at the PointsBet Invitational and a quarterfinals appearance at the ATB Okotoks Classic in Alberta. The open slot leaves Dunstone with the possibility of jumping all the way up to 3rd place should they add the potential 75 points up for grabs for winning the HearingLife Tour Challenge.
Sportsnet began broadcasting with Thursday's 11:30 am Eastern Time draw, featuring Tabitha Peterson of the United States playing Winnipeg's Kaitlyn Lawes, with Calgary's Kevin Koe set to faces Scotland's Bruce Mouat at 3:30 pm.
It's was an early 8 am start for the two western Canadian foes taking the ice at the Gale Centre in Niagara Falls, when Dunstone and his team of B.J. Neufeld, Colton Lott and Ryan Harnden took to the ice against the World #1-ranked Bottcher squad with Marc Kennedy at third, Brett Gallant and Ben Hebert.
Bottcher started with hammer, getting a single point in the third end after starting with two blanks. In the fourth end, Dunstone got some rocks in play and generated a score of three, then stole one of the fifth end and three more in the sixth end.
For Bottcher, the hard work of earning the hammer to start the games typically sets up a team for success, with Bottcher having a 76-41 record in Grand Slam play when starting with hammer, compared to a 43-51 record without hammer. So far on the week, Bottcher has started with hammer in all three games, an opening draw 4-3 win over Wouter Gosgens of the Netherlands, while losing their game yesterday afternoon to Brad Gushue of St. John's 6-5.
With a new format for how the hammer is determined as teams throw two draws before game that count towards hammer, but also towards qualifying for the playoffs where only the draw to button distance will be used as a tiebreaker, so should Bottcher win their final round-robin game against Korey Dropkin of the United States, they should have a strong shootout score that may still book their place into the playoffs.
Dunstone is in a strong spot in the rankings, their 2-1 record leaves their fate in their own hands as they face Aaron Sluchinski of Red Deer on Friday in their final round-robin game. Dunstone won their opening game 6-3 over Magnus Ramsfjell of Norway on Tuesday, then dropping their game Wednesday to Switzerland's Yannick Schwaller.
With an 8-3 record on the season, Dunstone has dropped to 9th overall on the tight World Team Rankings, though having played a limited schedule with only two of a possible three events counting, a runner-up finish at the PointsBet Invitational and a quarterfinals appearance at the ATB Okotoks Classic in Alberta. The open slot leaves Dunstone with the possibility of jumping all the way up to 3rd place should they add the potential 75 points up for grabs for winning the HearingLife Tour Challenge.
Sportsnet began broadcasting with Thursday's 11:30 am Eastern Time draw, featuring Tabitha Peterson of the United States playing Winnipeg's Kaitlyn Lawes, with Calgary's Kevin Koe set to faces Scotland's Bruce Mouat at 3:30 pm.