Matt Dunstone and the Canadian men’s curling champions begin their pursuit of world curling glory Friday in Ogden, Utah.
Dunstone won his first Brier Tankard earlier this month in St. John’s, Nfld., by beating veteran skip Kevin Koe in the final and will now attempt to lead Canada to its first men’s worlds title since 2017 when Brad Gushue accomplished the feat in Edmonton.
The 30-year-old was familiar with heartbreak on some of the biggest stages in curling, dropping Brier finals in 2023 and 2025 as well as the Canadian Curling Trials in November.
A weight has been lifted off the skip’s shoulders after finally accomplishing his goal of winning a Canadian championship.
“A lot of relief has kind of settled in. It kind of feels like playing with house money now a little bit,” Dunstone told the media earlier this week. “I like the two weeks in between. It’s short and sweet and gives us enough time to quickly get our feet back on the ground again and keep on going.
“We’re very ready. We’ve played in a lot of big games this season. The entire field, nobody’s new to us.”
Like Dunstone, third Colton Lott, 30, will also be a rookie curler at this year’s world championship. Lott and Dunstone won bronze medals together at the 2013 and 2016 World Junior Curling Championships.
The front end dup of E.J. and Ryan Harnden have competed at the men’s worlds in the past, but have yet to reach the top of the podium. They both claimed the silver medal with Team Brad Jacobs in 2013 with E.J. winning two more silvers as a member of Team Gushue in 2023 and 2024.
E.J. Harnden, 42, is set to retire at the conclusion of the world championship.
Dunstone’s crew is rounded out by alternate Geoff Walker and coaches Caleb Flaxey and Jeff Stoughton.
Against a wide-open field, the gold medal will be right there for the taking for the Canadians.
Team Dunstone, No. 4 in the world, is the highest-ranked team at the world championship followed by Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte at No. 5.
Following a 12-game round robin, the top two seeds advance directly to the semifinals while the next four highest ranked teams square off in the qualifiers.
Here’s a closer look at Canada’s opponents on Day 1 at the World Men’s Curling Championship. For a complete breakdown of the entire 13-team field, click HERE.
Game 1 – South Korea (Soo-hyuk Kim)
Friday, March 27 at 3:30 p.m. ET
World Ranking: 40
Dunstone and Team Canada kick things off against the South Koreans, led by 41-year-old veteran skip Soo-hyuk Kim.
Kim will make his sixth appearance at the men’s worlds and first since 2022 when his team finished with a 6-6 record, his best result at the event.
The Uiseong native has regularly finished near the bottom of the standings.
Team Kim’s lone win of the season came at the Korean national championship way back in June. They own a record of 37-21, missing the playoff round at both the Pan Continental Curling Championship and Olympic Qualification Event.
Canada will be the favourites in this opening contest as South Korea will be long shots to make the final six.
Game 2 – Italy (Stefano Spiller)
Friday, March 27 at 9 p.m. ET
World Ranking: 7 (with Joel Retornaz skipping)
The Italians will have a new look at this year’s World Men’s Curling Championship.
Joel Retornaz has skipped the nation at the past eight men’s worlds but has decided not to play this year’s event and will instead focus on the upcoming Rock League event in April.
The 42-year-old skipped Italy at their recent home country Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, missing the playoffs with a 4-5 record.
Italy will instead be led by 20-year-old Stefano Spiller. Spiller claimed silver at the 2026 World Junior Curling Championship earlier this month, dropping the final to Team Caden Hebert of the United States. He won gold at the 2025 World Junior Mixed Doubles Curling Championship alongside partner Lucrezia Grande.
Spiller, ranked 43rd in the world with his regular team, will skip third Amos Mosaner and second Sebastiano Arman, both longtime members of Team Retornaz.
Alberto Pimpini, who also skips his own team on Tour, will play lead while Mattia Giovanella, the regular front end player for Retornaz, will serve as the alternate.
Pimpini, 29, is ranked 144th in the world with his regular team and served as Retornaz’s alternate at the Olympics.
Retornaz has not announced any retirement plans, but the move, in part, seems to indicate a desire to give the next generation of Italian men’s curlers some reps on the international stage.
Despite Mosaner and Arman being veterans of the world championship, this will be the first taste of elite-level international curling for Spiller and Pimpini.
We’ll have to see what types of growing pains Spiller experiences in Ogden as the youngest skip in the field. With Retornaz at the helm, the Italians have been perennial playoff contenders at worlds for a while now, finishing third in 2022 and 2024.
There’s a good chance the 2026 men’s worlds will be more of a developmental year for the Italians.
