Six years after winning the Scottish Championship with Team Brewster, Ross Paterson produced the shots that added his current teammates’ names to the roll of honour as they came through a tight battle with Team Whyte to claim a 6-5 win.
The 37-year-old was the only player on the ice to have won the title previously, but while he was playing skip stones the shots were called by Kyle Waddell, who had represented Team GB at the Olympics in Korea four years ago and their experience helped them edge out the youthful line-up led by Ross Whyte, who had rejoined his team during this event, having been in Beijing last weekend, winning an Olympic silver medal as alternate for Team Mouat.
“I’m just delighted for the boys this week,” said Paterson.
“We’ve put a really big emphasis on this week, putting in a really big training block, so we’ve been consistent all week and the result that we’ve got is just a result of that work that we’ve put in together and that’s really pleasing. 
“I was a bit calmer than I was in 2016 with Tom Brewster. That was a bit of an emotional one when it was just nice to get across the line, but this week I have to say I was feeling pretty calm because we’d been playing so well and so consistent all week that we knew we didn’t have to up our game going into the final.
“All we had to do was replicate the standard that we’ve been producing. We had a semi-final last night where we’d played so well that we had confidence that we just had to come in today and repeat that and we knew if we did we would be really close.
“Everybody knows we’ve struggled against Team Whyte previously, but that was last year in the NCA and this year we know how good we are as a team and how hard we’ve worked, so we’ve taken confidence from that and we feel we’re back on track to where we want to be and where we should be.”
He noted that having former skip Brewster back in the camp, now working with them as coach, had made an impact as they seek to return to the level that saw them win a Grand Slam title in Canada together – only the second Scottish men’s team ever to do so – in their first season together in 2018/19..
“Tom had a big influence on my career previously when I played with him, so to have him back on board this season has been brilliant. He’s been great with the guys, he’s helped us a lot and we’ve been up at his club Curl Aberdeen for training which has helped us a lot, so his involvement has been invaluable to us and we really appreciate him. 
“Kyle’s done a fantastic job as well. We shook things up last year and I think he enjoys the tactical challenge. The dynamic of the team’s working well and we’ve had to put in a lot of hard work after the last 18 months or so where we’d had a bit of disappointment and we’ve all committed to what we need to do to get back to the position we want to be in.
“So, I couldn’t be happier and I think this result is justified. We’ve been the most consistent team this week and it’s shown out there in the final.”
Both teams had probed for openings in the first half of the match, keeping a lot of stones in play, but had to settle for a string of forces which, combined with a blanked fourth end, meant that Whyte held a marginal advantage as they returned to the ice after the break.
Whyte then had a chance to draw to the four foot for a two at the sixth end, but was slightly too heavy, whereas Paterson took advantage of an opportunity to tap one of his stones in for a two at the next to edge in front for the first time. 
Another force at the eighth end levelled the scores once again with Paterson now holding a slight advantage and when he took the chance to score another two at the next he looked to have put his team in a powerful position as they moved into the final end.
The pressure seemed to be mounting on Team Whyte as their opponents lay three at its midway stage, but they got very unlucky when Kyle Waddell removed a guard, but caught it slightly skinny and cannoned into the stones in the house, removing all three and leaving two of their opponents’ stones lying.
Waddell made considerable amends with his next, a double takeout greatly reducing the risk of losing a three which would cost them the match. When Paterson subsequently shifted two opposing stones that were lying inside the eight foot, removing one and leaving the other clinging to the edge of the house, Whyte was unable to make the near impossible double takeout with his final stone that would have taken the match down an extra end.
Team Whyte’s coach Greg Drummond commended his team’s performance after the game, noting that: “They can take some consolation from the fact that it was a very good final and they produced their best performance of the week. Their time will definitely come.”
