Italy’s World Championship bronze medallists Team Retornaz completed a perfect sequence of matches with a dominant performance in the final to claim the Euro Super Series title at Stirling’s National Curling Academy with a 9-3 victory over the USA’s Team Dropkin.
The quartet which includes Olympic mixed doubles champion Amos Mosaner was in excellent form throughout the weekend as they worked their way through the A road of the Triple Knockout competition, securing their place in the quarter-finals with an extra end win over the USA’s 2018 Olympic champions Team Shuster. 
In the knockout stages they proved too strong for reigning World Junior champion James Craik’s men in the quarter-final and their fellow Scots Team Bryce in the semis to set up that meeting with the other American representatives which they took charge of with a five at the third end.
“When you score big early on you kind of relax for the rest of the game, even though you shouldn’t, because you should keep playing as hard as you can, but it gives you an extra margin, so we’re happy that we had that big five ender,” skip Joel Retornaz said afterwards.
“It’s a good feeling to win this because we’re playing against world class teams. We know we can perform, but when you see results and you see lots of wins and zero losses it gives you confidence for the rest of the season, so we’re happy to start the season this way.
“We had a good run last week in Baden, Switzerland and another good run here in Stirling, so I’m very happy and proud of the team.”
The Swiss-born 38-year-old, who has led the rise of Italian curling over the past 20 years, was all the more satisfied because of the quality of the opposition and the environment in which they were performing.
“It was a strong field,” he said. 
“It’s good to see teams from all over Europe and from the US and Korea. We’re happy to have strong opponents at all times and we’ll be back next year.
“This is one of the best facilities in the world. This is where the Olympic women’s champions and the men’s Olympic silver medallists train all the time, so we couldn’t ask for better conditions and we want to thank British Curling for hosting us and putting this event together.”
The event also proved a triumph for the newly formed Scottish team that reached the semi-finals after being called into the event on the eve of the tournament.
Cammy Bryce and teammates Duncan Menzies, Luke Carson and Robin McCall got their opportunity and seized it when Germany’s Team Totzek withdrew from the event.
“We were grateful for the opportunity,” said Bryce.
“After getting a call on Wednesday it was a case of throwing everything together last minute. We weren’t planning on being on ice before Oslo next weekend, so it was a good test event for us.”
They were among three Scottish teams to reach the quarter-finals, along with Teams Craik and Whyte, but were the lone home representatives in the semi-finals after an impressive victory over Shuster’s former Olympic champions. 
“While we had two losses, the results we had this weekend were pretty positive,” Bryce continued.
“We gelled quite quickly and feel pretty positive for the season.
“We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to bring in one of last year’s Scottish Champions in Duncan (Menzies) who brings a lot of experience to the team. He’s a great shot-maker and Luke and Robin at the front end are very consistent, so it’s making my life a little easier.”
Their run ended with defeat at the hands of Retornaz after they conceded a four at the opening end of their semi-final, but Bryce reckoned they could also learn from that experience.
“Against a team like Retornaz who have been playing really well for the last couple of years, you can’t give them a head start and we know that, but it was a useful learning curve,” he said.
Results:
Draw 1
Retornaz – Strawhorn 6-1
Dropkin – Hostmaelingen 5-7
Stocker – Craik 5-8
Shuster – Schnider 6-1
Draw 2
Bryce – Waddell 2-7
Brunner – Jeong 5-4
Walstad – Gosgens 6-4
Whyte – R.Craik 7-5
Draw 3
Strawhorn – Bryce 4-7
Stocker – Schnider 6-7
Jeong – Dropkin 2-7
Gosgens – R.Craik 9-2
Draw 4
Retornaz – Waddell 9-2 
Craik – Shuster 4-8
Brunner – Hostmaelingen 6-5
Walstad – Whyte 3-5
Draw 5
Bryce – Schnider 8-7
Dropkin – Gosgens 4-7
Waddell – Craik 7-5
Hostmaelingen – Walstad 8-10
Draw 6
Retornaz v Shuster (EE) 6-5
Brunner v Whyte 3-7
Strawhorn v Stocker 2-8
Jeong v R.Craik 7-4
Team Whyte & Team Retornaz qualified (via the A Road) for the Quarter Finals.
Draw 7
Stocker v Hostmaelingen 5-6
Jeong v Craik 3-10
Schnider v Dropkin 3-4
Draw 8
Bryce v Brunner 6-1
Gosgens v Shuster 1-6
Waddell v Walstad 4-6
Team Bryce & Team Shuster & Team Walstad qualified (via the B Road) for the Quarter Finals.
Draw 9
Hostmaelingen v Gosgens 1-6
Craik v Brunner 4-3
Dropkin v Waddell 5-3
Team Gosgens & Team Craik & Team Dropkin qualified (via C Road) for the Quarter Finals.
Draw 10 – Quarter Finals 
Retornaz v Craik 6-4
Shuster v Bryce 1-7
Whyte v Gosgens 4-6
Walstad v Dropkin 5-6 (EE)
Draw 11 – Semi Finals
Retornaz v Bryce 6-2
Gosgens v Dropkin 4-6
Draw 12 – Final
Retornaz v Dropkin 9-3
#curling #esscurling
Additional Notes:
The following rules will be implemented for the ESS men’s event, as part of WCF’s Maximising the Value Project
- No tick on centre line (mirroring last season’s Worlds)
- TTPE – Thinking Time Per End. Similar to World Cup. Exact time to be determined but either 4:15 or 4:30 per end.
British Curling Teams in ESS:
Team Whyte
Ross Whyte
Robin Brydone
Duncan McFadzean
Euan Kyle
Team Waddell 
Kyle Waddell
Craig Waddell
Mark Taylor
Gavin Barr
Team Craik
James Craik
Mark Watt
Angus Bryce
Blair Haswell
Team Ross Craik
Ross Craik
Scott Hyslop
Struan Carson
Jack Carrick
