Fresh from their latest Perth Masters title win, Team Mouat have arrived on the other side of the Atlantic ahead of their bid to complete a full set of curling’s ‘majors’ when they compete in the Canadian Open in Camrose this week.
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan have repeatedly broken new ground in the Canadian Grand Slam Of Curling (GSOC) series and are seeking to do so again. 
They became the first Scots to win a men’s title on the most lucrative circuit in the sport six years ago in the first ever final not to feature a Canadian team, contested the first all-Scottish final a year later, became the first non-Canadian team to win three GSOC titles in a row last year and this year became the first Scottish winners of The Pinty’s Cup, awarded to the Grand Slam team of the season.
While there are six GSOC events in total, four of those are designated ‘majors’ and they have previously won the National, the Masters and the Players Championship, so victory this week would make them the first non-Canadians to complete that set.
“We are very excited to be playing in the Canadian Open again and to be back in Camrose. Last time I was here was back in 2018 and a lot has changed within our team in those five years and we are feeling ready to go again,” said skip Bruce Mouat.
“It is always exciting to play in the Slams especially in curling territory such as Alberta and keen to see what we can do here. The Canadian Open is one of the two Grand Slams that we have not managed to win so it would be really good to add that to the collection.” 
Along with their Grand Slam successes they have appeared in Olympic and World Championship finals, as well as claiming three European titles since that last visit to Camrose and heading into this triple knockout event they can draw additional confidence from completing a hat-trick of titles last weekend.
“The boys and I have obviously come back off a good week at the Perth Masters with a really strong European field, so hopefully we can continue that in what is going to be a really tough field with the top 16 teams in the world competing in this event,” said Mouat.
“Hopefully we can put in some good performances and see if we can add the Canadian Open to our trophy cabinet.”
The Canadian Open line-up also includes fellow Scots Team Whyte who, like Team Mouat, went through the group stages in Perth unbeaten last week, but suffered misfortune when their second, Duncan McFadzean, had to pull out of their quarter-final meeting with Italy’s in-form Team Retornaz.
“Duncan is on the mend. He just had a bit of flu but is fine now,” said skip Ross Whyte. 
“We’re pretty sure all will be well and he will be able to play this week. It’s always good to have the full team on the ice so hopefully no one else gets ill.
“We played great in Perth through the event, but unfortunately had a couple of slack ends in the quarters that’s cost us that game however we are in good form going into this Slam.
“We are excited to get back into Slam ice and hopefully go on another good run in a GSOC event.”
Please click here for the draw and further details from the Canadian Open.
Images: Anil Mungal @photovagrant from the Masters Slam & Roland Beck.
