Scotland’s Team Mouat continued their domination of curling’s most lucrative competitions when they claimed their fourth Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) title in the last five events by successfully defending the Princess Auto Players’ Championship with a comprehensive 8-3 defeat of the men who beat them in this year’s Winter Olympic final. 
Their victory at Toronto’s Mattamy Athletic Centre brought with it an unprecedented bonus as they became, with a tournament to spare, the first Scottish men to win the Pinty’s Cup, a prize awarded to the team that performs best across the season in GSOC events.
Maintaining the consistency that has seen them contest eight major finals in eight major championships in the past year, their European Championships win sandwiched by silver medal successes at last year’s World Championships and the Olympics, Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan went unbeaten through the competition that is the most prized of all on the GSOC circuit.
Continuing a vibrant rivalry with Sweden’s six-time world champions and newly crowned Olympic champions Team Edin, they gained the upper hand before a shot was played in earnest.
Both teams had come into the final with perfect records, resulting in a draw to the button by the skips for the right to have last stone at the opening end and after Mouat hit the pin, Niklas Edin also drew his shot onto the button, but four centimetres away from the centre was not quite good enough.
That set the tone as the Scots then piled the pressure onto the Swedish skip at that opening end and when Edin was unable to execute an attempt at a double takeout attempt with his last stone of the end, Mouat then drew onto his shot stone inside the four foot to turn two into three and take control of the match from the outset. 
When Edin’s attempt at an ambitious triple takeout with the final stone of the second end then left his opponents lying two more shots, to send Team Mouat into a 5-0 lead, it was essentially a case of managing the scoreboard from that point and they gave their opponents little room for manoeuvre from that point.
Edin got on the scoreboard with a two at the third end, but after the defending champions registered another point at the fourth end, then followed that with a steal of two at the fifth, the match was effectively over,
The encounter duly ended with Edin playing a spin-o-rama trick shot which added one more to his team’s score, but was also a simultaneous concession of defeat after just six of the scheduled eight ends.
“Winning the Players Championship last year was one of the highlights of my career, so to win two in a row is very special,” Mouat said afterwards.
He admitted that having beaten Edin in the European Championships earlier this season, only to lose to them in the Olympic final, the nature of the rivalry between the teams who have taken the balance of curling power across the Atlantic from the traditional powerhouse of Canada, had added significance to the occasion.
“Obviously that defeat in the Olympic final’s still dwelling somewhere in the background of my mind, so it was nice to have a really good performance today and put our marker down as well to say that we’re not just rolling over and letting them win everything. We’re here to play,” he said.
He also expressed gratitude to the support they have received that has allowed them to follow in the footsteps of newly crowned women’s Olympic champions and world number one ranked Team Muirhead, by bringing the Pinty’s Cup to Scotland. 
“We have to thank everyone back home who do much for us to let us be full time athletes,” said Mouat.
“We get a lot of funding through The National Lottery and British Curling staff have all put a lot of work in, so we have a lot of people to thank.”
The competition was particularly important for vice skip Grant Hardie who was making his final appearance of the season since personal commitments mean he will miss the last Grand Slam of the season, next month’s Kioti Tractor Champions Cup, to be replaced by Ross Whyte.
“That was amazing,” said Hardie.
“It was such an enjoyable week, getting back into competition after the disappointment of the last time we played Niklas, so to come out and put things straight was great. 
“This is the most prestigious Slam that we play in, so it’s great to win it twice now.
“It’s nice to finish off the season as a four with a win. It’s been such an amazing season for us and I’ve loved every minute of it, so it’s the end of the season for me, but Ross will fit in great with the boys and will hopefully come back with more success from the Champions Cup.”
Whyte, who was part of their Olympic silver medal success as the team’s alternate in Beijing, led his own regular quartet in Toronto, just missing out on reaching the knockout stages, but picking up valuable points in a season that has seen them move into the top 12 in the world rankings.
In the women’s event compatriots Team Muirhead meanwhile won through to the quarter-finals, but were beaten at that stage by the team they deposed as Olympic champions, Sweden’s Team Hasselborg, who went on to win the title.
Photos courtesy of Anil Mungal / Sportsnet
