A member of a curling dynasty and once again part of the Scotland team that is set to contest the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship, it now seems there was an inevitability about the success Hammy McMillan has enjoyed at the highest level of the sport, but it was not always so.
Little more than a decade ago, having been skip, vice skip and second in an array of different teams, the highlights of the then 22-year-old’s career had been gold and bronze medals won as an alternate (travelling substitute) with Scotland teams at the World Junior Championships.
The life changing moment came when British Curling’s coaches were looking to put together a new line-up to support Tom Brewster, an Olympic silver medallist who had skipped teams to two World Championship finals. 
“Ten years ago I made the switch, which makes me feel very old, but for me it was probably a bit of a cross roads with what I wanted to do with my career,” McMillan now admits, with a laugh.
“I was deciding whether I was going to go back to University, but I was roofing, labouring and working in bars, so when British Curling gave me the phone call it was an easy decision to jump ship and go and play lead for Tom.”
A couple of seasons later, with European and World Championship experience now under his belt, another major opportunity arose as he and his slightly older cousin Grant Hardie saw the chance to link up with two more of the most exciting players of their generation, newly crowned World Junior Championship winning skip Bruce Mouat and his then vice skip Bobby Lammie.
Looking back, McMillan admits that even they could not have anticipated what the 2023 World Champions, 2022 Olympic silver medallists, four time European Champions and nine-time Grand Slam of Curling winners would go on to achieve in the sport.
“We put the team together back in the summer of 2017 and from the get go we went from strength to strength,” he recalled.
“We won our first Grand Slam in 2017 and our first World Championship medal in Vegas in 2018, so looking back now that move to lead has probably been the best decision I made in my curling career.
“Did we think when we put this team together we would achieve what we have achieved, absolutely not, no, but did we think we could achieve some very good things… absolutely, otherwise we would not have done it.
“We knew the team had potential, but did we think we would be doing what we are just now at the highest level, probably not but are we happy… damn right!”
Key to that success is a unique team dynamic that has allowed the quartet to challenge one another consistently, without that threatening their personal relationships, the benefit of which has never been as evident than in the first half of the 2024/25 season. 
“With regards to the mentality of the group, it’s not been plain sailing eight seasons,” said McMillan.
“We have had ups and downs and we have had challenging conversations, even last summer, having the conversations about what we need to do to get better and try and excel and I think we did that, winning three Slams back to back and climbing up the rankings so quickly to be in the number one spot all season,
“So we are very open and honest with one another and have those tough conversations when needed but for us at the heart of it is that we are such good friends, it is easy being away on tour and it is easy spending so much time together so much of the time.”
Whatever happens in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan at the Worlds over the next week or so, then, it will go down as an extraordinary campaign, but heading into this event and the Grand Slam season ending Players Championship the following week, there is a determination to finish what they started in appropriate fashion.
“It is impossible to win absolutely everything but we have had one hell of a season,” said McMillan.
“We went into that fourth Slam and unfortunately we lost to Brad Jacobs in the semi so it wasn’t a bad result and we’ve won three out of three and one semi and one more Slam to go.
“So we probably lost two games this season that maybe prevented us from winning that fourth Slam and the Scottish Championships but we are really looking forward to finishing off this season in style.”
And while the passionate nature of the Canadian support might have proven intimidating to many teams down the years, history suggests Mouat, Hardie, Lammie and McMillan can embrace the environment, having won their World title in a final against home nation hero Brad Gushue two years ago, as well as all those Grand Slam titles.
“A World Champs in Canada is always different, because the crowds really help the atmosphere,” McMillan noted.
“When I look back at the Worlds in 2023 in Ottawa and that final versus Brad Gushue, they sold six and a half thousand seats, so I think Moose Jaw this week is going to be on par with that.
“It’s a four thousand seater arena so most of the draws are going to be sold out, especially when Canada are playing, so we just know that when we are over in Canada it is such a good curling community and the fans just go wild for it.
“Curling over here is up there with their top sports like ice hockey and baseball and all that sort of stuff, so it is a great community and it is fun over here playing in front of the Canadians.”
Scotland begin their campaign at 2am on Sunday morning, UK time, against Austria, with every match streamed live on the Curling Channel, while selected games will also be available on the BBC iPlayer.
The BKT World Men’s Curling Championship runs from 29 March – 6 April, Moose Jaw, SK, Canada.
Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Michael Goodfellow (Team Coach)
Greg Drummond (Olympic Head Coach)
Please click here for draw and results
Images: PPA/Graeme Hart
