MOUAT’S MEN SECURE TOP SPOT IN STANDINGS

In a competition that has seen the cream rise, World Champions Sweden, defending champions the USA and a Canadian rink that includes 2006 Olympic gold medallists in skip Brad Gushue and vice skip Mark Nicholls, will join the British quartet in the semi-finals.

However, Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan went some way to living up to their standing as the number one team in the current world rankings by finishing in top spot and, for all that they suffered that solitary previous defeat to the USA, the nature of the win over the Canadians, dominating the second half of the game, ensured that they will head into the semi-final believing they can guarantee themselves a medal.

“This wins keeps our momentum going,” said skip Mouat. 

“We’ve obviously had a very good run for the past four or five days, but we know we’re going to have to play well in the semi-final, because we know exactly what John Shuster’s team can do.

“I’m really proud of how we went about that, though. We’ve played really well for the last few days, so I’m pleased that we came out and played a really good game to finally finish the round-robin.”

They started well when great set-up work at the opening end looked to have them on course for a three until their skip slightly misjudged a takeout, allowing his shooter to roll out of the rings, but he was still left with a straightforward task of making another takeout to establish a two shot lead.

They were presented with another opportunity at the next end when Brad Gushue’s attempted draw with his first stone drew up well short of the rings, but after Mouat fractionally missed the solitary Canadian stone in the house with an attempt to promote one of his guards onto it, his opposite number made an easy takeout to level the scores at 2-2.

A fine cross-house double takeout by Gushue with his final stone of the third end resulted in a Mouat takeout to blank the end and when he repeated the feat with his first stone at the next end, it ultimately resulted in a force.

The Canadians then played for a blank at the fifth end, to ensure that they would start the second half of the game with the hammer, but they failed to take advantage of that, giving up a steal at the sixth when their skip, forced into difficult attempts to squeeze through a port with his first stone, then a promotion with his second, was off target with both.

More precise play maintained the pressure at the eighth end and Gushue again found himself without any easy options, failing with another promotion attempt with his first, then coming up just short of weight in attempting to raise one of his guards onto Mouat’s stone on the button, to concede a second successive steal.

Their superiority was then confirmed at the ninth when Gushue chose not to play his final stone, conceding the match after his team had again been completely out-manoeuvred, leaving him with no realistic chance of claiming the shot.

The semi-final appearance against the Americans will be Mouat’s second of the Games, having gone through the pain of losing at that stage in the Mixed Doubles, then again in the bronze medal decider and he intends to feed off that.

“I think I’m going to use the experience I got from last week and try to focus on playing well and staying in the moment,” he said.

“I maybe got a wee bit ahead of myself last week, so I’m really excited to see what we can do in this semi-final. The guys are playing well and I’m sure we’ll be able to do that this time too.

“It was a disappointment not to get a medal in the Mixed Doubles, but it increased my hunger for it, so I’m out here battling as hard as I can, which I think we’ve shown as a team over the last six or seven days in the round-robin.

“We’ve got every opportunity to go out and play well tonight and we’re going to give it everything we’ve got.”

He acknowledged that their opponents have the benefit of what happened in PyeongChang four years ago, but said he and his colleagues would look to concentrate on savouring the environment.

“They’ve got the experience. They know exactly what the situation’s going to confront them with,” Mouat noted. 

“They’ve got that medal already, so we’re just going to have to relax into the game, try not to feel the extra pressure that the semi-finals will apply and try to enjoy ourselves, which is when we play our best.”

However, after seven successive wins in close to a week since they suffered that solitary round-robin defeat to the USA, he reckons they have learned what they need to in order to try to ensure it is a different outcome.

“We’ve learned a lot about the ice in the past four or five days, so we know what kind of throws we need to make shots,” said Mouat.

“The second game we had was against the USA, which we lost, but we’ve learned so much from that point that I’m really confident we can come out and play better.”

In seeking to do so they will look to deploy the tactics that have worked for them to this point.

“Normally we try to get a two shot lead at some point,” said the skip.

“If we’re able to do that then we try to keep it clear and put the opponents under some pressure and control the centre of the ice. We’re a very good hitting team. We’ve done that well this week, so teams are struggling to get back on terms unless we have a miss.”

He also believes they can embrace the opportunity to help Team GB establish itself on the medals table after a Games that has featured a number of near misses.

“It’s a nice position to be in,” said Mouat.

“A lot of people are obviously paying a lot of attention to curling and to us as a team. I’ve been really impressed with how Team GB has performed at the Games. There have been close losses and there’s been some amazing talent on display from Team GB even if they’re not medalling.

“However, I’m just really excited to see what we can do tonight and then we’ve got the bobsleigh team that are in a good spot after a good run, so it’s exciting to see what can happen in the next two or three days.”

And for all that his presence has been a constant, having started that Mixed Doubles campaign two days before the Opening Ceremony and competed almost every day since, Mouat is not the least bit jaded.

“Both physically and mentally I’m in a really good spot,” he said.

“I recovered well from the Mixed Doubles and luckily I didn’t have to sweep this week, so I could relax a wee bit, but I feel in a really good head space as well.

“I’ve gone about my week the way I should have and spoken to the people I need to speak to.

“I’m really happy that we’ve got these amazing people on hand and that includes The National Lottery who have really helped us to fund our dreams and support us in the way we need.”