Team Matt Dunstone wins thriller over Team Brad Jacobs in 2025 PointsBet Invitational final

Team Matt Dunstone (4-1; Winnipeg) took care of business at the 2025 PointsBet Invitational Sunday evening, taking down the reigning Montana’s Brier champions Team Brad Jacobs (3-2; Calgary) 6-4 in a wild final at the WinSport Event Centre in Calgary.

The win proved that a third time can be the charm, as it’s Team Dunstone’s first ever PointsBet Invitational crown after dropping finals in 2022 and 2023; both to Team Reid Carruthers in Fredericton and Oakville, Ont., respectively.

“We were due to win this one,” said Dunstone. “Lost two finals prior to it, so it was nice to finish one off.”

The final is an early contender for game-of-the-year with stellar shot-making and momentum swings aplenty.

“That was a wild game,” said Dunstone. “Two heavyweights going at it, throwing haymakers at each other. That’s what you want to see. I have a funny feeling you’ll be seeing a little bit more of it moving forward.”

Calling the tilt a heavyweight battle is arguably a modest summary. Team Dunstone, completed by vice-skip Colton Lott, second E.J. Harnden, lead Ryan Harnden and coach Caleb Flaxey, faced Team Jacobs in the 2025 Montana’s Brier final in Kelowna, B.C., with Team Jacobs earning a 5-3 victory over the Winnipeggers for the Canadian title.

And while downing Team Jacobs on Sunday may feel like a win, Dunstone doesn’t feel this victory evens the tally between the two juggernauts.

“Nah, that’s in the past,” said Dunstone. “The Brier is a different beast, so I’d give a lot of wins away to have that one. Just to play well against a great team, a team we’re going to be battling with to go to the Olympics, and to come out on top, that’s what you’ve got to do early in the season so you can feel good about it going into November.”

That November that Dunstone is referring to is the upcoming 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials, presented by Connect Hearing, set for November 22-30, at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, where Dunstone believes his team will be in the mix.

“We’ve won two events in a row now,” said Dunstone. “We’re not playing to the level we need to yet, but we’re making a lot of good shots when we absolutely have to and there’s certainly something to be said about that. It’s a confident group and to win the Trials, you have to be confident. There’s no other way to slice that.”

There were highs and lows for Team Dunstone throughout the PBI final. Dunstone himself had a flat miss in the third end, where Dunstone was chasing a shot Jacobs stone, but was wide and heavy, missing the target entirely. Team Jacobs would have a chance at a multiple score, but Jacobs’ offering was tight and light perhaps finding a fresh path, and Jacobs would settle for a single.

By contrast, in the eighth, E.J. Harnden made a precision draw-tap shot that found a seam through a swath of corner guards, the result of which changed the momentum of the end and resulted in having Jacobs forced to a single.

“My eyes went cross on me,” said Dunstone of the line call on E.J.’s draw. “I wasn’t sure was going on. It was pandemonium. Tight hole. Incredible shot. That eighth end was a turning point in this game as well.”

The win earns Team Dunstone a $ 42,500 payday: $ 35,000 for the champion and $ 2,500 for each pool-play victory. The runner-up earns $ 15,000 and $ 2,500 for each pool-play victory.

This year marks the third time a Manitoba-based team has won the PointsBet Invitational title, (Reid Carruthers; 2022, 2023)

The 2025 iteration of the PointsBet Invitational marks the second time the event has been hosted at the WinSport Event Centre in Calgary.

Archived scoring, standings and statistics for the 2025 PointsBet Invitational are available by CLICKING HERE.

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2025pointsbetinvitational/nouvelles/