Scotland’s Team Mouat made the ideal start to their Le Gruyere AOL European Curling Championship campaign when they eased to a 6-2 victory over defending champions and reigning world champions Team Edin after just seven of the scheduled 10 ends in Lillehammer.
After earning the advantage at the opening end by winning the pre-match last stone draw, they claimed the ascendancy from the off, blanking the opening end then registering a two at the second and a steal at the third, after they put opposing skip Niklas Edin under pressure facing a count of three as he made his final delivery, put them 3-0 ahead. 
Another two at the fifth end took them into a 5-1 lead, after the Swedes had got off the mark at the 4th and when they stole again at the sixth the match was effectively over, the Swedes accepting the inevitable when they were forced to take only their second single at the seventh end.
“We really controlled the scoreboard there,” Mouat said afterwards.
“We were on top of them from the start after getting hammer, which is key in those sorts of games and to be able to score two in the second end and completely control the game was great. So, we’re very chuffed with our performance and looking forward to the rest of the week.”
Looking ahead he felt it was useful to put down a marker against the team that has failed to win this title just once in the last eight years, albeit the only time they have been beaten was when Team Mouat made their only previous appearance at the Euros in 2018 and won the title.
“It was really good to get off to get off to a start like that, especially against Niklas and his team,” said Mouat. 
“They’re going to be playing at the end of the week more often than not, so it’s good to get one over them now and hopefully have a bit of momentum going forward.”
It was not just the win, but its nature that generated satisfaction.
“It’s also nice that we managed to get off the ice a wee bit earlier than the 10 ends, because in a long week the 10 end games can start to rack up and we’ve got eight more round-robin games to go, so it’s really nice to cut one of them short and hopefully come back fresh tomorrow,” Mouat continued.
The second day will see the Scots meet Finland and Italy who both also opened their accounts with comfortable victories, against Germany and Denmark respectively.
#curling #ECC2021
Scotland Team 
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Ross Whyte (alternate)
PHOTOS: WCF / CELINE STUCKI
Schedule and Results
Saturday 20 November
W Scotland v Russia 7-4
M Scotland v Sweden 6-2
W Scotland v Denmark 6pm
Sunday 21 November
M Scotland v Finland 8am
W Scotland v Sweden 1pm
M Scotland v Italy 6pm
Monday 22 November
W Scotland v Germany 7am
M Scotland v Netherlands 11am
W Scotland v Estonia 3pm
M Scotland v Germany 7pm
Tuesday 23 November 
W Scotland v Italy 8am
M Scotland v Denmark 1pm
W Scotland v Czech Republic 6pm
Wednesday 24 November
M Scotland v Switzerland 8am
W Scotland v Switzerland 1pm
M Scotland v Czech Republic 6pm
Thursday 25 November
W Scotland v Turkey 7am
M Scotland v Norway 11am
W Semi Final 2 v 3 3pm
W Semi Final 1 v 4 7pm
Friday 26 November
M Semi Final 2 v 3 8am
M Semi Final 1 v 4 12.30pm
W Bronze medal game 5pm
Saturday 27 November
M Bronze medal game 8am
W Gold medal game 11.30am
M Gold medal game 4pm
