Having dominated the Grand Slam of Curling Season, Team Mouat will look to finish with a flourish at the KIOTI Tractor Champions Cup, Olds Sportsplex, Olds, Alberta (May 3-8) in spite of having to make a line-up change. 
The quartet of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan have made history on the Grand Slam circuit this season, in becoming the first Scots to win The Pinty’s Cup, awarded to the team with the best overall record, with an event to spare.
In doing so they extended an astonishing run of success in Canada to four tournament wins in the last five Grand Slam events they have contested, reaching the final in all five, the latest of those at the most prized of all The Players’ Championship, where they successfully defended the title won last year.
They go into the season-ending Champions Cup, however, without regular third Hardie, his unavailability resulting in them calling upon domestic rival Ross Whyte, who has regularly supported them as their fifth player at major championships in recent seasons, including the Olympics in Beijing, and their skip is looking forward to seeing how that works.
“I’m really excited to end the season and we’re really hoping to end it on a good note,” said Mouat.
“The last Slam we played with Grant was the best way we could have ended our season together, winning The Pinty’s Cup and The Players’ Championship, so let’s see how we gel with Ross and we’ll see what we can do at The Champions Cup. 
“We’re very excited to play with Ross for the first time. We’ve played with him in the odd game at Championships, but never a full tournament with him.
“We obviously see how great a player he is with his team and I’m really hoping he can bring that to ours.”
With 12 of the world’s best teams, that have all won major titles this season, split into two pools of six, Mouat’s men will have a re-match in the round-robin stages of the event with World and Olympic champions Team Edin, whom they beat in the final of The Players Championship, as well as Korea’s Team Kim, the USA’s Team Dropkin and Canadians Team Bottcher and Team Gunnlaugson.
“We’ve got a pretty tough section I believe, so we’re just going to have to stick to our usual processes and try to support Ross as best we can,” said Mouat.
Their own status within that group is, however, based on a record of having reached the final of every major international Championship and Grand Slam event they have played in, during a run that has extended beyond a year.
It began in the bubble conditions created to allow international competition to resume amid COVID restrictions at the end of the 2020/21 season.
Their performances there, claiming a silver medal in the World Championships before winning back-to-back Grand Slam titles, looked as if it would be hard to live up to coming into 2021/22.
Yet they surpassed those achievements in becoming European champions for the second time, having played in that event just twice and winning a silver medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing, as well as extending that run of Grand Slam success. 
“The fact that this is the end of what has been such a long season, it’s been hard to reflect on what we’ve achieved this year,” said Mouat.
“I’m really hoping I can take some time in the summer to maybe sit down and remember everything that happened over the year to really try and bring a close to what was such a great season.”
While there was personal disappointment when he and Jen Dodds were unable to defend the World Mixed Doubles title they won a year ago after they missed out on selection to teammates Eve Muirhead and Bobby Lammie, he has taken great pleasure in the way their compatriots demonstrated the strength in depth of the British Curling programme in that discipline by replacing them as world champions last week.
“Bobby has now gone on to win the World Mixed Doubles Championship with Eve, which is great to have the title remaining in Scotland after what was a wonderful time with Jen last year,” said Mouat.
“I’m really excited for him and for Eve and to welcome Bobby back into the men’s game with another world title that goes to a member of Team Mouat. 
“I’m just over the moon for them and I really hope that he can continue his form because he was clearly playing well in Geneva and it’s just so good to have not only Bobby, but two other amazing players in our regular team.
“Hammy is, in my opinion, one of the best leads in the world and Grant just brings such good atmosphere to the team and is without a doubt one of the best thirds in the world.
“I’m so lucky to have great players that I can call teammates and they really do make my life easy. I feel very privileged to have them on board.”
Team Mouat (line-up for this event only)
Bruce Mouat
Ross Whyte
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
#curling #GSOC
Images courtesy of: Team GB/Sam Mellish, Anil Mungal-Sportsnet, PPA Graeme Hart.
