A re-match of their European Championship final with Germany is next in line for Scotland following a crucial win over the USA that has taken them to the brink of qualification for the play-off stages at the BKT World Men’s Championship in Saskatchewan.
Following their loss to defending champs Sweden earlier in the day, Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan knew they had to win against Korey Dropkin’s Americans to stay in front of the pack of teams in mid-table, but they were made to work for it.
Starting with the hammer (last stone advantage) they got their two at the opening end, but that was immediately levelled and their opponents had the upper hand after forcing the Scots to take just one at the third, before claiming their second two to move 4-3 ahead, with the added advantage of scoring on the even ends.
The teams then forced one another to ones either side of the break and the tension built as they rattled through a blanked seventh end, which meant Scotland had the potential advantage of scoring at the eighth and 10th ends. 
They could only fully seize upon that if they claimed a multiple score at the eighth, however and they were to do so in swashbuckling fashion.
Flawless execution by his teammates, culminating in a perfectly judged double takeout by vice skip Hardie, had put Mouat in a favourable position as he sent down the first of his deliveries and his hit and roll left three Scottish stones in counting positions in and around the eight foot rings.
However, as he had throughout the match, the dogged Dropkin responded brilliantly, freezing onto a Scottish stone behind a guard, to lie shot.
Mouat was left to choose between levelling the scores with a one, or opting for a high tariff run back of the guard to take out the American stone and after sweepers Lammie and McMillan helped guide it to the desired contact point, they were punching the air even before the stones had finished moving.
That put them 7-5 ahead and they maintained their levels when it mattered most to force the Americans to take one at the ninth, before closing out the 8-6 victory at the last.
“That was a massive win,” said Mouat, who was swift to share the credit for that decisive blow.
“It was big turning point in the eighth end and a great team shot, great line call and sweep from the guys as well so we can hopefully use that to build some momentum in our two last games today and hopefully qualify for the play-offs and see what we can build from there.”
With the Germans needing to win to have any chance of making the play-offs, there is added interest in this being the first re-match of the European Championship final which was widely considered to have produced one of the biggest upsets of the season so far.
The Scottish quartet went into that match having won all four previous European Championships they had played in and on the back of an astonishing run of success that had taken them well clear at the top of the world rankings and included winning all of this season’s first three Grand Slam tournaments.
However, Mouat and his men are purely focused on what immediately confronts them and they are looking for a strong finish to their round-robin campaign ahead of the knockout stages.
“It felt like we were doing a lot of good things in that game there against a really tough American team so I feel like we are in a good spot and it should be a good game against Germany today,” said the skip.
“We’re looking forward to playing against them again and the Chinese boys as well.
“It will be really good to try and get the wins to put us in good stead for hopefully playing at the weekend.”
The BKT World Men’s Curling Championship runs from 29 March – 6 April, Moose Jaw, SK, Canada.
Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Michael Goodfellow (Team Coach)
Greg Drummond (Olympic Head Coach)
Please click here for draw and results.
Schedule and results:
Day One
Sunday 30 March
Scotland – Austria 12-2
Day Two
Scotland – Japan 9-6
Monday 31 March
Scotland – Korea 9-3
Day Three
Monday 31 March
Scotland – Canada 6-5(EE)
Tuesday 1 April
Scotland – Czechia 8-2
Day Four
Scotland – Italy 9-7
Day Five
Wednesday 2 April
Scotland – Switzerland 7-11
Scotland – Norway 8-4
Day Six
Thursday 3 April
Scotland – Sweden 4-10
Scotland – USA 8-6
Day Seven
Friday 4 April
Scotland – Germany -4pm
Saturday 5 April
Scotland – China – 2am
Day Eight
Saturday 5 April
Qualification games*-4pm
Semi Final games*-10pm
Day Nine
Sunday 6 April
Bronze medal game*-4pm
Gold medal game*-10pm
*Games available on the BBC iPlayer
Images: Anil Mungal/British Curling
