The greatest rivalry in curling will be renewed in a BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championships final for the first time in more than a decade when Scotland meet hosts Canada in the gold medal match in Ottawa after coming through a nerve-jangling semi-final meeting with Italy at an extra end.
It will be the 21st meeting of the nations that invented the sport and the one that considers itself to be its spiritual homeland since the inception of the Men’s World Curling Championships in1959.
However, it will also be the second successive time both Teams Mouat and Gushue have reached the final in their most recent appearances at the event. 
Three-time and reigning European Champions Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan reached their first World Championships final in 2021, missing out to Team Edin as they were also to do at the following year’s Winter Olympics.
However, in their absence from the World Championships last year, Brad Gushue’s men got to the decider where they, too, were beaten by the Swedes.
Gushue’s victory over Edin in the first round of the play-offs in Ottawa ensured that there would be a new name on the trophy for the first time in six years and they went on to beat Switzerland, who had finished the round-robin stages as top seeds, in their semi-final.
Meanwhile, two sheets along, as well as dealing with the raucous atmosphere generated in the TD Place arena, the Scots were dealing with a fierce challenge from an Italian quartet that has emerged as a major force in the world game in the past two seasons.
Earlier in the day, Joel Retornaz’s men had come through a first round play-off match against Norway to earn their chance to meet Team Mouat, who had qualified automatically for the semis by finishing in the top two of the round-robin and they carried that form into the early ends, which they dominated.
The Scots were really struggling to stay in the match, trailing 4-2 after four ends and looking set to concede what could have been a decisive steal at the fifth, when Mouat produced a match changing angled raise to remove the shot stone, lie two and level the match heading into the midway break.
“That was probably the big turning point where we made that shot for two,” the Scottish skip acknowledged.
“It really gave us the momentum going into the second half and we really used that to get the lead and make sure that we had hammer going down the extra.”
From that point it was the Scottish quartet who took charge, making their twos when they had the final stone and forcing the Italians to score ones when they had that advantage to move into an 8-6 lead after nine ends.
Mouat then had the chance to wrap things up for his team by removing the only Italian stone in the house with his final delivery of the 10th end, but the angles were awkward and he was unable to remove it.
That looked to have created an easy chance for Retornaz to score a two and take the match down an extra end, however with his time clock running out, vice skip Amos Mosaner spotted the chance for them to win the match there and then, with the most delicate of split shots that would get two more Italian stones into the house. 
The skip trusted the call and delivered the stone with just 20 seconds remaining, his exceptional effort making near perfect contact and creating delirium among spectators who thought they had just witnessed one of the greatest pressure shots in the sport’s history.
One of the stones was just on the edge of the rings and required to be measured, however, with no-one on the ice confident whether it was in or out and, to the huge relief of the Scottish contingent, it was adjudged to be narrowly out.
“I was just praying and keeping everything crossed,” said Mouat.
“The shot was there, but it’s an extremely tough one and he came so close.
“I was just begging for it to be out.”
Granted a lifeline, Mouat then had his teammates to thank at the extra end, particularly lead Hammy McMillan, whose two finely weighted tick shots ensured that they had a straightforward job of keeping the road to the house clear and in the end Mouat had to do little more than get his final stone fully inside the eight foot rings.
“I’ve practised a lot over the years to be able to throw a last stone like that and the boys set it up perfectly for me, to give me more room than I would normally ask for,” he said.
“I’m very proud of how we all played and stuck together.
“We’re very excited to get to another World final and what a great game that was to get there.
“It really was a game of two halves as they say and luckily we were on the right end of it at the end.”
While their previous appearance in the final was also in Canada, the Scots know this will be a wholly different experience, since on that occasion they were playing in a near empty venue in Calgary in bubble conditions, due to COVID restrictions.
This time around there will be a full house and facing the hosts will only add to the atmosphere, as will their own Tartan Army who have made their presence felt throughout the event.
“It’s going to be a really tough game against the Canadians in their home country, but that’s what I envisioned as a kid growing up, playing in Canada against Canada at a World men’s final,” said Mouat.
“It’s going to be special, so hopefully we can come out and play as good as we can and hopefully get that gold medal. 
“The Scottish supporters have been a lot of fun to have around.
“It’s some of their first time in Canada, so they’re really enjoying themselves and whatever happens today they’re going to have a good time and it’ll be a really good battle on the ice and in the crowd, because they’ll be cheering against each other.”
Having won both silver and bronze World Championship medals, this is a chance to complete the set and achieve a goal that they have been working towards relentlessly since forming this team six years ago.
“We’ve had a lot of opportunities to work on our game at the National Curling Academy that we built in Scotland, which has really helped us grow as a team,” Mouat observed.
“That was built in 2017 and since then our team have a done lot.
“We’ve been in a World men’s final before and we’ve been in an Olympic final before, so hopefully this time we can go one better and win the gold.”
The final gets underway at 4pm local time, 9pm in the UK and is available to watch on the BBC sport website and IPlayer and on Recast’s The Curling Channel.
WATCH LIVE games from Recast’s The Curling Channel
BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championships
Schedule and Results:
Saturday 1 April
Session 1
Scotland – Italy 7-4
Sunday 2 April
Session 3
Scotland – Turkiye 8-1
Session 4
Scotland – Sweden 4-7
Monday 3 April
Session 7
Scotland – Germany 8-6
Tuesday 4 April
Session 9
Scotland – USA 10-8
Session 11
Scotland – Switzerland 4-8
Wednesday 5 April
Session 12
Scotland – Japan 9-2
Session 14
Scotland – Korea 9-3
Thursday 6 April 
Session 16
Scotland – Norway 9-5
Session 17
Scotland – Canada 6-3
Friday 7 April
Session 19
Scotland – Czech Republic 9-3
Session 20
Scotland – New Zealand 10-4
Saturday 8 April
Qualification Games
Norway – Italy 4-8
Canada – Sweden 9-1
Semi Finals
Scotland – Italy 9-8 (EE)
Switzerland – Canada
Sunday 9 April
Bronze medal game 16.00
Switzerland – Italy 5-7
Gold medal game 21.00
Scotland – Canada
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Michael Goodfellow (Team Coach)
Ross Paterson (Coach)
Nigel Holl (Team Leader)
Images: WCF/Steve Seixeiro & Celine Stucki
#curling #WMCC2023
