KINGSTON, Ont. – Saskatchewan is hungry for a Brier title. 

The prairie province hasn’t won the Tankard in four decades – ever since Rick Folk and his Saskatoon rink of Ron Mills, Tom Wilson and lead Jim Wilson stood atop the podium at the Stampede Corral in Calgary after beating Northern Ontario’s Al Hackner in the 1980 championship game. 

It’s just over halfway through the 2020 Tim Hortons Brier, but Matt Dunstone’s Regina-based squad might have the best chance at ending the province’s drought in quite some time.

“The reason we put this team together is to win a Brier for Saskatchewan,” third Braeden Moskowy told TSN.ca. “We want to be those guys that end this 40-year drought. It’s way too long for all the great players that have played for Saskatchewan and out of Saskatchewan. That’s ultimately the goal, but we’re nowhere close to that right now. We just got to keep on doing what we’re doing, chipping away and hopefully keep making some shots as we can here.”

After dropping their opener against Team Wild Card’s Mike McEwan, Dunstone and company found themselves trailing lower-ranked New Brunswick 5-1 after just four ends. That’s when things turned around. Saskatchewan stormed back to defeat the Maritime province 10-6 and they haven’t loss since at the national men’s curling championship, performing as one of the most entertaining rinks at Leon’s Centre this week.

In their very next contest, Dunstone nailed a runback triple to score four with the last shot of the game to stun British Columbia, 9-8. A shot of the tournament candidate, for sure. 

Then on Tuesday, they picked up two massive wins against front-runners Ontario and Canada with their 24-year-old skipper shooting 100 per cent against the defending champs. They finished the round robin Wednesday night by routing winless Yukon 12-3 in eight ends. The resounding victory gives them a solid 6-1 record going into the championship pool.

Still, you’d be hard pressed to find anybody picking the dark horses from the prairies over the perennial favourites to stand atop the podium on Sunday or even make the Page playoffs. 

“Nobody is picking us yet, which we’re fine with,” said Dunstone. “Until Koe, Jacobs, Gushue, Epping, Bottcher, all those teams are out then we’ll be the favourite, but we’re just going to continue to go out and try to win games.” 

The last time a Saskatchewan team made the playoffs at the Brier was in 2015 when Steve Laycock finished third. Laycock’s run was the province’s first final-four appearance since 2008. They’ve only made it three times since 2000 – all a bit surprising when you consider the province’s rich curling history. 

“I remember watching Laycock and the boys. They had a great run that week. Saskatchewan curling fans are starving for some success, I think is the best way to put it,” said Moskowy. 

Saskatchewan has won seven Canadian championships in its history, good enough for fourth all-time behind Alberta (28), Manitoba (27) and Ontario (10). 

Dunstone’s first Brier appearance came in 2018, playing fourth for Laycock. The Winnipeg native formed a new foursome of third Moskowy, second Catlin Schneider and lead Dustin Kidby prior to last season with the ultimate goal of winning the national championship. 

And they’ve shown glimpses of playing to that potential, winning their first Grand Slam earlier this season (October) after a week filled with all-world shots by their skip.

“That is the exactly goal of this time when we put it together. We always knew we had it in us. We proved earlier this year that we have it in us to win with the best,” said Dunstone. “It’s just a matter of putting it together. We’re still not quite there. We’re awfully close though, so we’re feeling pretty good.”

Moskowy admits one issue their rink has struggled with in the past is consistency. After their breakout win at the Masters, Team Dunstone went 0-6 at the Canada Cup and missed the playoffs at the next three Slams before finding their game in time for provincial playdowns. 

“We’ve not been able to bring that game as often as the top teams. This week, we’ve been working hard leading up to this,” said Moskowy. “We’re in a good spot now and the beauty of it is there’s still a lot of room to play better, which is exciting for us.”

Championship pool play starts Thursday, with Saskatchewan squaring off against four elite-level teams including Alberta’s Brendan Bottcher, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Brad Gushue, Manitoba’s Jason Gunnlaugson and Northern Ontario’s Brad Jacobs over a two-day stretch.