Team Koe derails Team Dunstone in battle of undefeated Pool B teams at 2026 Montana’s Brier

Alberta’s Kevin Koe and Manitoba’s Matt Dunstone added another chapter to the storied annals of their head-to-head history Tuesday evening at the 2026 Montana’s Brier, presented by AGI, with Team Koe staying undefeated in a 7- 6 defeat of Team Dunstone (5-1; Winnipeg) at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s.

Koe, whose Glencoe Club group is completed by third Tyler Tardi, second/vice-skip Aaron Sluchinski, lead Karrick Martin, alternate Jacob Libbus and coach Mike Libbus, relied on a second-half offensive surge in the win, outscoring Team Dunstone 5-2 in the final five ends.

Team Koe has now defeated the two highest-ranked teams in Pool B in its 2026 Montana’s Brier campaign: Team Dunstone Tuesday evening and Saskatchewan’s Team Mike McEwen (5-1; Saskatoon) 6-4 all the way back in Draw 4 on Sunday.

It’s a massive set of wins in the grand context of a looming playoff picture; one that vaults the Calgarians to the interim top spot in Pool B with tiebreaker advantages over the others in the lead pack.

“Yeah, it was big,” said Koe, a four-time Montana’s Brier champion. “They’re the top-ranked team in our pool so, just with this format, the head-to-head is so important so that puts us in a real good place. We’ve played them and McEwen, so we’re looking good but still have a ways to go.”

It wasn’t a perfect ride for the Albertans, however. Team Koe trailed 4-2 at halftime and only managed to knot the match at four in the sixth end after a Dunstone miss opened the door for a Koe deuce.

“We’ve still some room for improvement,” said Koe. “We had some kind of sloppy throws out there. The first half of the game wasn’t great but the second half, we made every shot. Pretty much won every end. Good character builder to come back, especially against them.”

The seventh end and beyond proved rosier for Koe. Rocks in better spots created more high-pressure situations for Dunstone on his final stones, and Koe, ever-precise on hits-and-rolls, never allowed Dunstone to cook up a deuce.

Koe took hammer into the 10th tied and only needed to draw the full four-foot to claim the victory.

Dunstone and Koe have faced off 29 times dating back to October 2015 before Tuesday’s tilt, with Koe posting a 4-1 record in their last five contests. The script is flipped firmly the other way, however, when assessing only Montana’s Brier matchups, where Dunstone owns a mirrored 4-1 record on the men’s national stage dating back to 2020.

Koe says the resurgence and finding success, especially at the Montana’s Brier, is a refreshing change of pace.

“It’s been a while,” said Koe. “Probably since (the last time) I lost the final in Lethbridge (Alta.) in 2022. In 2021, lost the final too. We made the playoffs with Tyler and Karrick so we have got there once, but the last couple years sure have been disappointing, so this feels good.”

Team Koe will next face Northern Ontario’s Team Sandy MacEwan (2-3; Sudbury), who had the bye on Tuesday evening, on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m., (all times NT).

In other action from Tuesday evening, New Brunswick’s Team James Grattan (3-3; Oromocto) bested the Northwest Territories’ Team Jamie Koe (1-5; Yellowknife) 9-4 while Manitoba’s Team Braden Calvert (3-2; Winnipeg) earned a 10-6 decision over the Yukon’s Team Thomas Scoffin (1-4; Whitehorse) and Saskatchewan’s Team Mike McEwen needed an extra end to beat British Columbia’s Team Cody Tanaka (0-5; Kamloops/Delta) in an 11-10 barnburner.

The 2026 Montana’s Brier continues Wednesday with draws at 9:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Live scoring, standings and statistics for the 2026 Montana’s Brier are available at www.curling.ca/scoreboard/.

TSN and RDS2 will provide complete coverage of the 2026 Montana’s Brier. CLICK HERE for the complete schedule.

For ticket information for the 2026 Montana’s Brier, go to www.curling.ca/2026brier/tickets/

This story will be available in French as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/fr/2026brier/nouvelles/