Three years after winning the title on their only previous appearance at the Le Gruyere AOP European Curling Championships, Team Mouat return to the event looking to build on what has been a hugely successful year on the international circuit.
The Scottish quartet of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan will again be joined by alternate Ross Whyte, as they were when they reached the World Championship final earlier this year, before they went on to claim three titles at prestigious Grand Slam events – the Players Championship, Champions Cup and The Masters - before reaching yet another final at the fourth and last of the sport’s most lucrative events earlier this month. 
That made them the most successful European team in the history of Grand Slam competitions and they open the Euros with a re-match of the 2018 final in which they became the only team in the last eight years to deny Sweden’s Team Edin the title.
“We’re excited to get back to the Euros,” said their skip Bruce Mouat, ahead of the event which takes place in Lillehammer’s Haakons Hall from November 20-27.
“We had a really good experience of our only appearance in 2018 so we hope that we can replicate that. We know it is going to be a really tough competition this time but we are really keen to get going again and be back at this event.
“We are taking in a lot more experience to this event. We obviously had a really good time last time, but we are more settled, we know our abilities and we know we can compete really well at big championships as we have done in the three years on Tour since that event in 2018. So we are in a good spot and hopefully we can do what we did in 2018 because that was the best we could have done.”
Having reached the finals of all five events they have contested in Canada this season, claiming four titles in all, beating world number one ranked Team Jacobs in the final of the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard as well as The Masters, they could hardly be in better form as they head into the Euros.
However, up against Team Edin, who beat them in this year’s World Championship final, as well as Switzerland's Team De Cruz, the bronze medallists at that event, they know this will be another formidable challenge, with the first priority being to ensure that Scotland is represented at this season’s World Championships.
“We have played really good curling this season and played a lot of the teams we will face at these Euros and we have a lot of confidence going into this event, so we will hopefully be able to bring the magic that we have had at the start of this season into what will undoubtedly be a really tough competition,” said Mouat.
“I think the teams playing the Olympic Qualifying Event will be putting down as much of a marker at this event as the other teams, too. They will want to get into a good stride going into that event so they will be really trying to get some good intelligence on their opponents and put their best foot forward to prepare for that event.”
As well as targeting another title, Mouat and his men are aiming to extract everything they can from the competition. 
“This season we will not be holding back on anything,” said the 27-year-old skip.
“We want to gain as much knowledge and information on all these teams we will be playing again out in the Olympics so we are going to be focusing very hard.
“This is the last big championship for us ahead of the Olympics. The Euros is a very exciting event to be at, so it will be nice to have that time at a Champs before the big one in February.
“World Champs qualification is obviously important but we want to podium, they come together if you podium you obviously qualify and we want both.
“It’s a new venue for us. I’ve only been to Norway once before and I was seventeen then, so it is great to get back. It is good to get the experience of competing in another country as we are very fortunate and get to travel the world, but it is always nice to tick another venue off the list and get another new experience under the belt.”
Ten teams will compete in the A division at the European Championships with the top seven qualifying for the World Championships later in the season. The LGT World Men’s Curling Championship will take place in Las Vegas, United States, from 2–10 April 2022.
Results and Schedule
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Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Ross Whyte (alternate)
