Team Canada has won its first two games of the 2026 World Men’s Curling Championships in Ogden, Utah. On Friday, the Canadian team skipped by Winnipeg’s Matt Dunstone defeated South Korea 5-2 and Italy 9-2.
In Canada’s win against South Korea, the South Korean team only had three players. Team Canada benefitted by a mistake by the Korean team in the ninth end, as they were unable to remove the final rock allowing Dunstone to steal one.
You could make the argument that E.J.Harnden, the Team Canada second, had the best shot of the day. He had a tremendous runback double takeout in the eighth end, which allowed Team Canada to score two points. Harnden has said this will be his final curling season as he plans to retire at age 42. Interestingly, his brother Ryan is planning to continue to play at age 39 as one of Canada’s top leads.
Then Team Canada beat Italy on a series of Italian mistakes. The most notable error came from mixed doubles specialist Amos Mosaner, who flashed his stone in the third end, and allowed Canada to steal three points and take a commanding 4-0 lead. Dunstone then stole three more points in the fourth end to take a 7-0 lead.
Canada will play Scotland on Saturday. Japan is the only other nation at 2-0 as Japan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi beat Norway 6-4 and Scotland 6-5.