Six Scottish teams will take the ice this week as the 2024/25 season moves up a gear with the first of this season’s Grand Slam of Curling events in Canada.
With all of the world’s best teams on Prince Edward Island, the presence of four Scottish teams in the main men’s event, with another contesting the second tier competition at The Hearing Life Tour Challenge speaks to growing strength and depth in the domestic game. 
It has also resulted in two all-Scottish encounters in the opening round of the triple knockout competition with world number one ranked Team Mouat taking on Team Bryce, while reigning national champions Team Whyte face a re-match of their Scottish Championship final with Team Craik.
For Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, every one of these events represents an opportunity to build on their impressive record as the most successful non-Canadian team in Slam history and after a fine start to the season that has included becoming the first Scots to win the Baden Masters in Switzerland, as well as defending their Euro Super Series title on home ice in Stirling, they are aiming to find another level.
“The mindset for us going into these events is we treat these, as I guess we always have, as on par with major championships,” said skip Mouat.
“They are extremely important to us to win and the ones we have won have meant so much to us in our careers so we are never coming into the Slams with a light attitude we are always really focused.
“We are aiming to have a really good season with the Slams this year and in an important year for everyone the Slams are where you can really put down your marker.
“We have had a really good start to our season and we are happy with how we are progressing so now going into the Slams it is important to us to keep that momentum going and hopefully come away with some wins.” 
He paid tribute too to first round opponents Cammy Bryce, Duncan Menzies, Luke Carson and Robin McCall for the way they have performed in early season, securing their place at this event with victory at the recent Match Town Trophy in Sweden.
“It will be a really nice game first off against Team Bryce,” said Mouat.
“They have worked so hard to get into the Slams.
“They managed to get in last year and they have solidified their spot by getting into the first one this year so it is really exciting to have four Scottish men’s teams in the Tier One this year and we will have to be working hard to get the win over Team Bryce on Tuesday.”
For Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle the aim is to go one better than they managed less than a year ago when they contested their first Grand Slam final and they do so buoyed by having reached the top three in the world rankings for the first time, earlier this season.
“We are extremely excited to be heading back to the Slams this year and are hoping to improve on last year where we qualified (for the knockout stages) in every one and made a final,” said skip Whyte.
“Winning at least one this year is the goal and we are hoping to put a strong start to that goal this week.
“I feel like knowing we have made a final before gives us the confidence that we can go out there and put in a solid performance against everyone and have a good chance in every game.”
They will look to treat their meeting with James Craik, Mark Watt, Angus Bryce, Blair Haswell just as they would any other opponent in the first round.
“Playing Craik first feels just like playing another Slam team but it’s going to be tricky as they are a good team and are always tough to play against,” said Whyte.
“We will treat them the same as everyone else and look to put in a good performance.”
For Craik’s men, starting the Grand Slam season in the top tier is a new experience, but is a reward for the consistency which saw them force their way up the rankings last season.
“It’s a different experience for us this time in the Tour Challenge as last year we were in the Tier two event, so it’s nice to be on the other side of the wall,” said their skip.
“We feel like a totally different team going into this event compared to where we were a year ago in Nova Scotia where we played in our first Slam event at the KIOTI National.
“We have grown so much as a team over the past year, going to our first Slam and not really knowing what we were getting into there.
“I feel that our status on Tour has very much changed, we are now a team that people know and recognise and we can beat anyone in the world having proven that this past year.
“To get started off at this event, we have a re-run of last year’s Scottish final against Team Whyte and we are really looking forward to a good battle out there.
“Hopefully we can bring our best which is what is needed against them as they are having a fantastic season, so we know they are one of the top five teams in the world and we are going to bring our A plus game to beat them.”
Kyle Waddell, Craig Waddell, Mark Taylor and Gavin Barr meanwhile take part in the Tier Two men’s event, while the lone Scottish representatives in the women’s event are Rebecca Morrison, Jen Dodds, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson who are looking to take what they learned from playing in Grand Slams together for the first time last season as they prepare to meet Switzerland’s four time world champions Team Tirinzoni in their opener.
“This time last year was our first Slam and having been to three of them together we feel so much readier this season with the experience of the crowds and arena, so I think we will come out with a bang on Tuesday,” said skip Morrison.
“We had a lot of meet ups against Team Tirinzoni last year and always had good games against them.
“They were always tight games, but it gives us a lot of confidence that we beat them last time and that was at the World Championships so we would love to go out there and beat them again and I think that we know that if we play well we have a great chance of doing that.”
The competition gets underway on October 1 and continues in Charlottetown’s Bell Aliant Centre until October 6.
Grand Slam of Curling Hearing Life Tour Challenge schedule.
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Images: PPA/Graeme Hart
