Curling Canada’s 29-page return-to-play document is being reviewed and scrutinized by curlers across the country.
Matt Dunstone is one of those curlers and he has some questions when it comes to sweeping.
“There are some manageable changes, but the rule calling for just one sweeper now is a bit of an adjustment.” Dunstone said. “I don’t really know how I feel about it. I hope for the competitive teams that things will change to make it a little more normal, but either way we will have to adapt to whatever they come up with.”
Dunstone believes that the rule will have one negative effect on the game when the new season starts.
“I think shooting percentages across the board will go down slightly.” Dunstone said. “One sweeper does 90 percent of the grunt work, but the other sweeper does a lot of work as well when it comes to judging and communicating so to have it be a one-man show will mean some misses. That is one concern I have, but it will make the game interesting if they are curling 75-80 percent instead of 90-95 percent.”
Dunstone is also talking about a decision Wednesday by Sportsnet to cancel four of the six Grand Slam of Curling events in 2020-21 due to COVID-19. Dunstone says it could have been worse.
“It’s not great, but it’s better than cancelling the Slams altogether. They could have shut it down for good which would have been bad, but this is just a bump in the road.’ Dunstone said. ” Considering the first event didn’t start until late October is surprising, but at least this gives us direction as to what we are going to do this season.”
Dunstone is currently in B.C, but he is planning to be in Regina within the next month to start working with new member Kirk Muyres along with Braeden Moskowy and Dustin Kidby as they start preparing in earnest to defend their SaskTel Tankard title and take another trip to the Brier. As Saskatchewan curling fans know, the Dunstone rink surprised many at the 2020 Brier as they finished third at the event with eventual champion Brad Gushue saying the day will come when Dunstone gets his name etched on the Tankard trophy as he is one of the up and coming stars in the sport in this country.
