Team Mouat became the first men from outside Canada to complete a hat-trick of consecutive wins at Grand Slam of Curling events when they defeated the world’s number one ranked side in the final of The Masters in Oakville.
The Scottish quartet of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan had won both the Humpty’s Champions Cup and the Players Championship in bubble conditions in Calgary at the end of last season. However this time around they were playing in front of the most passionate supporters in the sport and proved their mettle once again. 
“It’s very exciting,” said skip Mouat afterwards.
“We’re so glad to be back at the Slams and playing good curling. Playing in front of Canadian crowds is always a lot of fun.”
As they had done at the Players Championship, they went through The Masters unbeaten, again winning six matches as they worked their way through the qualifying stages.
Once through to the quarter-finals they were made to work hard for their quarter-final win over fellow Scots Team Whyte, whose skip Ross Whyte will be joining them as their alternate when they go to the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year.
That win set up a meeting with reigning Canadian Champions Team Bottcher and they gained the upper hand early in the semi-final, maintaining control throughout before running out 7-5 winners to earn another meeting with Team Jacobs, whom they had beaten on the same ice on their only previous outing in Canada this season, in the final of the Stu Sells Tankard last month.
A hard fought match saw Brad Jacobs edge his side into a 5-4 lead heading into the last end, but the pressure applied by Mouat saw the former Olympic champion leave his final stone exposed and the Scottish skip removed it to register the three that secured a 7-5 victory and maintained their unbeaten record in seven meetings with Jacobs’ men. 
That saw him join an elite group of skips who have led teams to three successive Grand Slam titles, having beaten two of the others - Bottcher and Jacobs – along the way, while that prestigious group also includes four time world champion Glenn Howard and another former Olympic champion Kevin Martin.
“As I said when we won back-to-back Grand Slam titles at the Players Championship, being part of that group of players and being able to win something like this is really special, but to now be on an even shorter list of people and the only Scottish men’s team to do it means a lot to us,” said Mouat.
The final saw them claim their 15th match win in succession at Grand Slam events – the richest competitions in the sport - with their solitary loss in any of these events this year having come in their last round-robin match at the Champions Cup.
“It was a really good week coming through the A side and a good quarter-final against Ross Whyte, before we had another battle against Team Bottcher in the semi-final,” said their lead Hammy McMillan.
“We then played a good final. It was bit of a cagey affair from both teams, but it’s always good to come out on the right side of those battles and it’s also great to maintain a good winning record against Brad Jacobs.
“The prospect of an Olympics coming up makes this a really important season, so it’s great to keep churning out these wins and we hope we are now carrying that momentum into the rest of the season.
“It’s a pretty awesome feeling to win our third straight Slam and our fourth in total.”
They will look to extend their winning run at another event that holds special memories for them when they head to the Boost National at which they claimed their first Grand Slam success during their first season together in 2017.
Photos courtesy of @PhotoVagrant.
