After securing their play-off place by defeating hosts Canada overnight, Scotland’s Team Mouat maintained their form with a 9-3 win in just eight ends at the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championships in Ottawa.
It was a victory which left Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan needing to beat championship debutants New Zealand in their final match to ensure a top three finish that means they will start the play-offs with the hammer.
They also head into those knockout matches with real momentum after putting together five successive wins, including back-to-back successes against play-off rivals Norway and Canada in matches that set them up for what is to come. 
“The atmosphere was amazing. We really got the crowd behind us… well the Scotland fans, maybe not so much the Canadian ones, but it was good fun to play in and we really enjoyed it,” Mouat said with a laugh as he reflected on their defeat of the hosts in which he delivered the decisive blow with an extraordinary draw for two at the ninth end with only a sliver of the button to aim for.
“It’s nice to secure your spot in the play-offs after a game like that and I guess we just have to wait and see where the cards lie after all the games tonight and find out what we get.”
He was pleased, too, that they did not let their standards drop on the back of it as they set out on their final day of the round-robin stages, looking to ensure that they finish third at worst.
“The Czechs played well there, we were just pretty clinical with our stone placement and got on top of them early,” said Mouat.
“We’re looking forward to playing the New Zealand team, having never played them before.
“That should be a nice way to end the round-robin and hopefully lead into the play-offs well.”
WATCH LIVE games from Recast’s The Curling Channel.
BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championships.
Schedule and Results:
Saturday 1 April
Session 1
Scotland – Italy 7-4
Sunday 2 April
Session 3
Scotland – Turkiye 8-1
Session 4
Scotland – Sweden 4-7
Monday 3 April
Session 7
Scotland – Germany 8-6 
Tuesday 4 April
Session 9
Scotland – USA 10-8
Session 11
Scotland – Switzerland 4-8
Wednesday 5 April
Session 12
Scotland – Japan 9-2
Session 14
Scotland – Korea 9-3
Thursday 6 April
Session 16
Scotland – Norway 9-5
Session 17
Scotland – Canada 6-3
Friday 7 April
Session 19
Scotland – Czech Republic 9-3
Session 20 00.00
Scotland – New Zealand
Saturday 8 April
Qualification Games 14.00
Semi Finals 00.00
Sunday 9 April
Bronze medal game 16.00
Gold medal game 21.00
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Michael Goodfellow (Team Coach)
Ross Paterson (Coach)
Nigel Holl (Team Leader)
Images: WCF/Steve Seixeiro
#curling #WMCC2023
