Faced with a nerve-shredding draw to the eight foot to successfully defend the title, Bruce Mouat looked the calmest man in Curl Aberdeen as he coldly delivered the stone that maintained his team's perfect record of winning every Le Gruyere AOP European Championships at which they have represented Scotland.
Reigning World champions Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan were looking for a third title in a row and a fourth in all in a repeat of the Olympic final against Sweden's six-time World and seven-time European champions Team Edin and the clash of the teams that have now won 11 of the last 12 European titles between them fully lived up to expectations.
Starting with the hammer - last stone advantage - Mouat threw down the gauntlet at the outset, ignoring two counting Swedish stones to draw behind the centre line guards and when Niklas Edin's got his angles slightly wrong with an attempted double raise takeout it left a draw for a two and an ideal start for the host nation.
The Swedes replied instantly, getting a stone buried behind guard, then leaving Edin with a straightforward takeout for Edin to level things and the teams matched one another again forcing their opponents to take singles at the next two ends.
The Scots were happy to take a blanked fifth end, leaving them with the hammer after the midway break, but now with the added advantage of being set to score on the even ends, but they were forced to take another single and the momentum swung slightly in favour of the Swedes when high class double takeouts by both vice skip Oscar Eriksson and Edin let them blank the seventh end.
At the vital eighth end, exceptional sweeping by Lammie put Mouat into a powerful position, counting two and Edin came up just short with his first draw, however even after the Scottish skip applied max pressure, drawing to top of four foot, he inevitably got it right second time around and the scores were level again at 4-4.
After eight ends, Mouat had a 96 per cent success rate after eight ends without being able to pull clear and his first, missing both stones with an attempted double takeout at the ninth, meant he had to accept being forced yet again.
With the match on the line at the last scheduled end, Hardie's perfect hit and roll off guard with first stone, then raised takeout with second, ultimately resulted in Edin being forced to draw into a tight gap to keep game alive.
That took the match into overtime where Lammie did the heavy lifting, removing both guards with first stone, then another plus the only Swedish stone in house with second and from that stage Scottish efficiency set up Mouat for that draw for the win, which never looked in doubt from the moment he delivered it.
"We're doing something right at these European Championships," said a smiling Mouat afterwards.
"I'm not sure exactly what it is, but we're playing well every time we've come to them and I'm very proud of the team and how we've knuckled down and managed to turn our season around.
"Having so many family and friends here makes it extra special. I'm so proud of how we played in that final and it's really great to see that we can play like that in pressure games again.
"It was a really nice atmosphere with a good Swedish contingent here as well, cheering against the Scottish fans. It made for a really good atmosphere."
While his unexpected miss at the ninth had added to the drama, he said he had remained confident throughout.
"I thought we were still in an OK spot," he reckoned.
"It was a pretty tough 10th end to force them, but we played a really good end and forced Niklas into a pretty tough situation and at the extra end I liked it when I let go of it and the boys said they did too, so it was a nice 14 seconds as it went down the ice and I wasn't panicking too much.
"It was great to have that opportunity to have an eight foot draw in a championship like this.
"It feels amazing and extra special having so many friends and family able to come and watch."
Having lost in the final of the Euros to Mouat for the third time, Edin meanwhile acknowledged that the better team had won. 
"We gave it a good try," said the Swedish skip.
"A few too many mistakes at the fourth and 10th ends, otherwise I think we win, but we didn't... and they were too good."
There was further success for the wider curling community in the UK with the England men’s team of skip Rob Retchless, Jotham Sugden, Scott Gibson, Jonathan Havercroft and alternate Felix Price claiming victory in the European B Championships which took place in Perth. Their win means they will join Scotland at next year’s European Championships.
The top eight men’s and women’s teams at this year's European Championships, which take place from November 18-25 will qualify for the World Championships later this season.
The BKT Tires World Women’s Curling Championship 2024 will be hosted in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada in March 2024 and the LGT World Men’s Curling Championship 2024 will take place in Schaffhausen, Switzerland in April 2024.
Watch the final on Recast replay available on The Curling Channel
Watch the final on the BBC iPlayer
Scotland Results:
Saturday 18 November
Women’s Round Robin Session 1
Scotland v Turkiye 8-4
Men’s Round Robin Session 1
Scotland v Norway 5-3
Women’s Round Robin Session 2
Scotland v Denmark 9-11
Sunday 19 November
Men’s Round Robin Session 2
Scotland v Sweden 5-8
Women’s Round Robin Session 3
Scotland v Italy 6-7
Men’s Round Robin Session 3
Scotland v Czechia 6-5
Monday 20 November
Women’s Round Robin Session 4
Scotland v Czechia 8-1
Men’s Round Robin Session 4
Scotland v Switzerland 9-6
Women’s Round Robin Session 5
Scotland v Sweden 9-7
Men’s Round Robin Session 5
Scotland v Germany 8-2
Tuesday 21 November
Women’s Round Robin Session 6
Scotland v Germany 5-3
Men’s Round Robin Session 6
Scotland v Italy 6-7
Women’s Round Robin Session 7
Scotland v Switzerland 2-5
Wednesday 22 November
Men’s Round Robin Session 7
Scotland v Netherlands 9-4
Women’s Round Robin Session 8
Scotland v Estonia 6-4
Men’s Round Robin Session 8
Scotland v Turkiye 10-3 (QUALIFIED)
Thursday 23 November
Women’s Round Robin Session 9
Scotland v Norway 7-9
Men’s Round Robin Session 9 – 14.00
Scotland v Finland 8-7
Women’s Semi Finals – 19.00
Friday 24 November
Men’s Semi Finals
Scotland v Switzerland 7-4
Italy v Sweden 6-7
Women’s Bronze Medal Game
Men’s Bronze Medal Game
Saturday 25 November
Women’s Gold Medal Game
Men’s Gold Medal Game – 14.00
Scotland v Sweden 6-5 (EE)
Scotland Women
Rebecca Morrison
Jennifer Dodds
Gina Aitken
Sophie Jackson
Sophie Sinclair
Coach: Ross Paterson
Scotland Men
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell
Coach: Michael Goodfellow
#curling #ECC2023
Images: WCF
