Bruce Mouat’s three-time champions are part of a six-team Scottish contingent making a first appearance of the season on the other side of the Atlantic at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard this weekend (September 6-9).
The world number one ranked quartet of Edinburgh’s Mouat, his vice skip from Dumfries Grant Hardie and Stranraer’s powerhouse front end pairing of Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie defend the title they won last year, having made a perfect start to the new season, with 14 wins in 14 matches bringing them tournament wins at both the Baden Masters and the Euro Super Series (ESS).
As defending champions, they are bidding to win the event for the fourth time, having also claimed the title in 2017 and 2021.
“This is normally a great event and we would normally enjoy the ice so we are looking forward to playing on it,” said Mouat, who turned 30 last week.
““It will be nice to be back in Oakville and be playing in a little town that we really like and it’s got a lot of history for us.
“We won our first Slam here and won our first two ever events here as the place where we started off in 2017, so the first events where we ever played as a four is here so it is why Oakville means a lot to us.”
Their early season form has taken them back to top spot in the rankings for the third time, having first occupied that position for more than two months before, during and after the 2022 Winter Olympics, before returning there for a month at the beginning of last season and Mouat is keen to make it a more prolonged stay this time around.
“We know that we have started earlier than some of the other teams and winning those two events was pretty special to us in getting that number one ranking again,” he said.
“The last time I don’t think it lasted for very long so hopefully this time it will last a wee bit longer but we are going to have to have a good start here, we have got some tough games ahead I am sure.”
They go into the triple knockout format as one of four teams with first round byes, as do compatriots Ross Whyte, Perth pair Robin Brydone, the vice skip and Duncan McFadzean, as well as Stranraer’s Euan Kyle who have also made a superb start to the 2024/25 campaign move into the top three in the world rankings for the first time. 
“We are very excited to be world number three,” said skip Whyte.
“It’s the highest we have ever got to in the overall rankings and we are hoping to try and continue that and push on and try and get to that number one spot and hopefully we can start that by having a very good week here in Oakville.
“We are very excited to be back as we always enjoy playing this event.
“It is well run and usually the ice is very good and so we believe that if we bring everything we have been working on at the National Curling Academy to Oakville this week we are going to have a great week.
“We have had a good start to the year and have played two great competitions. Unfortunately we missed out in both of them by fine margins but we feel like our game is coming together and we are technically very sound right now, so hopefully we can continue the progress we were making at the start of the year and make a run for it over here in these two events.
“We are looking forward to taking on some familiar faces we haven’t played yet this year as well as people we play a lot against and it will make for a good competition as there are a number here that are very strong.
“First stop is a triple knock-out, which is a format that we enjoy and we haven’t played a lot recently, but we are looking forward to the challenge and we know that every game that we play will be tough.”
They are joined in the draw by two more Scottish teams with Edzell’s James Craik, Auchterarder’s Mark Watt, Kelso’s Angus Bryce and Stranraer’s Blair Haswell setting out in the opening round against locals Team Ray, while Hamilton’s Kyle and Craig Waddell, along with Irvine’s Mark Taylor and Edinburgh’s Gavin Barr also face opponents from the home province in Team Hoceval. 
In the women’s event this year’s Scottish Championship winning skip Fay Henderson sets out on something of a high after her new-look five player line-up, which sees her reunited with her 2023 World Junior Championship winning vice-skip Robyn Munro (Stranraer), alongside Forfar’s Olympic gold medallist Hayley Duff, Henderson’s fellow Dumfries product Katie McMillan and Falkirk’s Lisa Davie, won the Euro Super Series title in their first outing of the season last month.
“Obviously starting our season off with a win was a massive confidence boost and shows that we can beat teams ranked in the top 15 in the world which is a great start because we are going to meet plenty of those teams out here in Canada,” said Henderson.
“To get the first win of the season on board with a new team line-up is great, but I think it also shows just how much more work we need to put in to chase those kind of results consistently.
“We are going to be rotating our team throughout the tournaments like at the ESS and I think that definitely works for us now as we are still trying to work out the best combination and who is going to be best suited to each position.
“So the front three will still be rotating but I think no matter what, we still have a very strong line-up and can put out a very strong performance.”
Having spent last season working with a five-player line-up, former Scottish champions Rebecca Morrison, from Aberdeen, Edinburgh pair Jen Dodds - who was another member of the Olympic winning team and Sophie Sinclair - along with Sophie Jackson from Dumfries have also tweaked things heading into the new season as a quartet and are looking to build on reaching the semi-finals at the ESS.
“We had a good start at the Euro Super Series back in August where we reached the semi finals after going unbeaten through the round robin,” said Morrison.
“So our loss in the semi final was pretty gutting for us as we had played extremely well throughout the competition and we felt we were in for a good chance of winning that game but unfortunately we just got edged out so it was a hard one to take, but we are ready to come back and prove ourselves again in Oakville.
“We came second here earlier this year, so we would love to go one step further this time.”
Morrison will continue to play skip stones, but as well as delivering at lead, former Scottish champion skip Sophie Jackson is now calling the shots on the ice as they bid to maximise their strengths.
“Last season we had a different line-up going on so I guess what we have now gives us a little bit more consistency,” said Morrison, who now has increased sweeping duties.
“We do have a bit of a different set up this season with SJ skipping, so we are just getting our heads around that a little bit.
“There is a big learning role for both me and SJ in our new roles so we do have that to think about as well.
“It is just bringing different jobs for us on the ice, which both of us haven’t done in many, many years so we are both getting to grips with that a little bit and this current line-up we have going on seems to be working well so far from the stats we have seen.”
Team Morrison open up against local Ontario line-up Team Rozon, while Team Henderson also face Canadian opposition in Manitoba’s Team Watling.
Link to men’s Stu Sells Oakville Tankard results on Curling Zone.
Link to women’s Stu Sells Oakville Tankard results on Curling Zone.
Images: PPA/Graeme Hart.
