Team Mouat’s historic run of success in Grand Slam competitions came to an end at the Boost National, but only after an old-fashioned arm wrestle in the final against a team led by one of the sport’s most decorated curlers.
Having won the Champions Cup and the Players Championship in the Calgary bubble in April, the Scottish quartet of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan had followed that up with victory at the Masters last month. 
They then stayed on course for a clean sweep of Grand Slam of Curling titles in 2021 by reaching the final of the Boost National at Chestermere in Alberta after cruising through the play-off stages to set up another encounter with the only opponents that had previously beaten them in a Grand Slam competition this season, led by 2006 Olympic gold medallist Brad Gushue.
They had beaten Mouat’s men in the qualifying rounds at the Champions Cup in April, only for the Scots to bounce back and beat them in the semi-final on their way to the first of their three consecutive Grand Slam titles.
They then beat Gushue again in the final of the Players Championship a week later, however the tables were turned when the vastly experienced Canadian line-up got the upper hand when they met in the A route final of the triple knockout qualifying at the National this week.
Team Mouat recovered from that to earn their play-off place by winning the B route final against fellow Scots Team Whyte before beating reigning Canadian champions Team Bottcher 8-2 in the quarter-final and last season’s World Championship bronze medallists Team De Cruz from Switzerland 7-2 in the semi-final.
However the scoring in the final was like a reversion to the days before the free guard rules were introduced to encourage more attacking play, with only a single shot registered by either side in the first half of the eight end match. 
It had been registered by Gushue at the second end and after Mouat was finally forced to take a single at the fifth end to level things up, the Canadians took their opportunity to pull away with what proved a crucial two at the 6th on their way to a final winning margin of 5-2, leaving the Scottish skip to rue missed opportunities.
“It was a good game, but a few misses from me just gave Gushue some outs and he made them,” he said.
“That put us under some pressure. We were setting up some really good ends for twos, but just didn’t capitalise on all our chances.”
Having reached the final of all six competitions they have played in Canada this year, taking a silver medal in the World Championship final in Calgary and also winning another major event at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard in September, he admitted it had been a disappointment to miss out this time, but vowed to respond as they head back to the National Curling Academy in Stirling this week to prepare for the European Championships.
“We’re just a bit gutted right now, but we’ll come back fighting again,” he said.
Playing in only their second Grand Slam, Team Whyte once again made the play-offs after bouncing back from their defeat at the hands of their compatriots to beat Switzerland’s Team Schwaller in the C route final. 
That bodes well for the forthcoming European Championships and Winter Olympics, since their skip Ross Whyte has been selected as the fifth player who will travel with Team Mouat.
“It was another really good week from Ross,” said Mouat.
“He’s performing really well and we’re obviously happy to have him coming into our team for the Europeans in a couple of weeks’ time, as well as for the Olympics after the turn of the year.
“It’s good to see that he’s getting some really good competitions and putting in performances that will hopefully add to the experience that we’ll have going into the Europeans.”
