Dunstone, Ackland win star-studded Morris SuperSpiel

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This article was published 09/12/2022 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some of the country’s best curlers came to Morris for the 15th Dekalb SuperSpiel, hosted Dec. 2 – 5 at the Morris Curling Club.

As is usually the case in Olympic years, many teams have had major turnover in their rosters, and the two winners, Team Matt Dunstone and Team Abby Ackland, are no exception.

Dunstone, who represented Saskatchewan, winning two bronze medals at the Brier in 2020 and 2021, now curls out of Winnipeg and has a brand new lineup, featuring Colton Lott, B.J. Neufeld and Ryan Harnden.

Dunstone defeated a new-look Reid Carruthers team, after the skip split with Mike McEwan. Carruthers is now skipping a team featuring Jason Gunnlaugson, Derek Samagalski and Connor Njegovan, but couldn’t get going in the final, losing 7-2.

Dunstone is now on a winning streak, defeating Kevin Koe in Red Deer before coming to Morris. Both finalists left Manitoba immediately following the event to play in the first major Grand Slam event of the year in Oakville.

“Anytime you get to win an event, it doesn’t matter what it is, it feels great,” Dunstone said before leaving.

“The guys played awesome this week. (We had an) undefeated week, so obviously we’re solid, and we had our best game of the day in our final today.”

There wasn’t much drama to be had in the final, as Dunstone scored three in the second end, and kept control throughout, with Carruthers never threatening to strike back into the game.

“We came out a little sloppy in the first end for sure,” Dunstone said.

“I was a little nervous after that, I thought we were going to be in one, but we sharpened up. (We got) a big three in the second end, and then had full control after that.”

It was the third time Dunstone has lifted the trophy at the Superspiel, winning in 2014 and 2018.

“They just put on a great show,” Dunstone said, praising the work of the icemaking crew and volunteers.

“The town really gets behind this event. It makes it enjoyable, the stands are always packed… just a great atmosphere.”

The final of the Dekalb Superspiel could very easily be a preview of the final of the Manitoba play-downs, with both teams becoming familiar with each other’s game over the early season schedule.

A victory for team Dunstone was a nice bounce-back after Carruthers defeated them at the PointsBet Canada Invitational early this year.

“There’s a whole-hearted belief that this team can do exactly what we’re set out to do,” Dunstone said.

“It’s very easy to go back to work and continue to add layers to what we need to do to get better. It’s a very enjoyable atmosphere to be around and try to build and continue to get better.”

The women’s event saw a relatively surprising result, as Team Ackland, featuring skip Abby Ackland, third Meghan Walter second Sara Oliver and Mackenzie Elias was able to outlast a field chalk-full of Scotties participants, and local favourite and six-time Canadian champion Jennifer Jones, who joined Altona’s Mackenzie Zacharias to form a team starting this season.

The team was able to defeat 2021 Scotties participant Nancy Martin in the final 7-3.

The key to victory for Ackland may have been a lineup change. While Ackland still serves as the team’s skip, Walter has begun throwing the final stones of the game. Walter said the change was necessary after a rough outing in Red Deer the previous week.

“We felt something needed to be changed, the team was great how it was, but I wasn’t feeling as confident at third, and (Ackland) wasn’t either, so we thought ‘might as well change it up and see how it clicks,’” Walter said.

The two teams exchanged singles until Martin forced a steal in the fifth end to take a 3-2 lead. Ackland would storm back with four in the sixth, playing a nice tap back to seal the game.

“We kept it patient that end,” Walter said.

“We knew coming home with hammer in six was a great spot to be in. We wanted to capitalize and get a deuce that end.”

Walter added the goal for the team this season is to rack up as many world ranking points as possible to qualify for a Grand Slam event, and winning the SuperSpiel goes a long way toward that goal.

Not only do the winners walk away with a $10,000 cheque, they also earned a solid amount of points.

“Capitalizing on this event really made us confident going forward,” Walter said.

Not only is Manitoba stacked with big names, as Jones, Kerri Einarson, Chelsea Carey and Kaitlyn Lawes all currently curl out of the province, but there are also a crop of younger teams looking to make a name for themselves.

“Everyone’s trying gung-ho for the Olympics in four years, so we’re trying to play as much as we can to get those points up,” Walter said.

None of the seven teams the champions faced on their path to the final were from Manitoba.