Scotland’s Team Mouat eased their way through the third day of action at the Le Gryuere European Curling Championships with victories over the Czech Republic and Turkey maintaining their unbeaten record with just four round-robin matches remaining in Ostersund. 
On the face of it, both matches followed similar patterns as the Scots established 5-1 leads after three ends in each of them, but skip Bruce Mouat felt there was a distinct difference to the shape of the two matches as he and teammates Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan ran up 11-6 and 10-4 wins.
He felt they had struggled to make the necessary adjustments in the meeting with the Czechs after the curling stones had undergone routine mid-event treatment following the previous day’s matches, but that did not prevent him from producing a contender for shot of the tournament.
It was a case of now you see them, now you don’t with the Czechs lying two in a crowded house after their skip Lukas Klima had delivered his final stone, with a third stone also lying just outside the four foot.
However, Mouat then conjured up a piece of magic to work out, then execute an exceptional shot to remove all three Czech stones, while leaving four Scottish ones in the house to put his side in control and even although they conceded a three at the next they were never under serious pressure from that point.
Their route to taking early control against Turkiye was more orthodox, as they registered a two at the first, then gradually out-manoeuvred their opponents to claim a three at the third and they clinched the match in just seven ends.
“It was a really good day,” said Mouat.
“The four against the Czechs was a bit out of nowhere. We were just lucky to have that shot. All the angles lined up nicely for us and it was really good to get that kind of jump on the game.
“We struggled a wee bit because they had rubbed the rocks the night before, so I missed a few line calls because stones were curling a wee bit more, but we managed to sharpen up against the Turkish team which was probably our most clinical game of this Europeans so far.”
Having gone through last year’s championships unbeaten, he is pleased with the way they have set about their defence so far, but acknowledged that some of their major challenges still lie ahead before they can think about the knockout stages. 
“It’s really good to be on 100 per cent halfway through the round-robin stage and we’re starting to set our sights on a play-off spot, but we’ve got two tough games against Norway and Denmark tomorrow that we’re going to have to play pretty well to get through,” said Mouat.
“We’ve still got to play some good curling and we’re looking forward to getting back on the ice tomorrow morning.”
Their victories sandwiched a fine victory for Scotland’s women, who are also defending the title won by compatriots Team Muirhead last year, as Team Morrison got back to winning ways by defeating hosts and 2018 Olympic champions Team Hasselborg 7-5 in their first match of the day.
The European Championships qualify teams for next year’s World Curling Championships with the women’s event (LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023) also taking place in Sweden in March (18-26 March) and the men’s event (BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship) in Ottawa in April (1-9 April).
Men’s teams: Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain (replacing Russia), Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Women’s teams: Denmark, Germany, Hungary (replacing Russia), Italy, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
BobbyLammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Coach: Michael Goodfellow
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Gina Aitken
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
Hailey Duff (alternate)
Coach: Nancy Smith
WCF European Champs
Schedule:
Friday 18 November 
Women – session 1
Scotland v Turkiye 9-6
Saturday 19 November
Men – session 1
Scotland v Germany 6-4 (EE)
Women – session 2
Scotland v Latvia 7-4
Men - session 2
Scotland v Spain 10-4
Sunday 20 November
Women – session 3
Scotland v Italy 4-10
Men – session 3
Scotland v Sweden 8-7
Women – session 4
Scotland v Denmark 6-11
Monday 21 November
Men – session 4
Scotland v Czech Republic 11-6
Women – session 5
Scotland v Sweden 7-5
Men – session 5
Scotland v Turkiye 10-4
Women – session 6 – 20.00/19.00 GMT
Scotland v Germany
Tuesday 22 November
Men session 6 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Denmark
Women session 7 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Switzerland (broadcast game)*
Men session 7 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Norway
Wednesday 23 November
Women session 8 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Hungary
Men session 8 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Switzerland (broadcast game)*
Women session 9 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Norway
Thursday 24 November
Men session 9 – 08.00/07.00 GMT
Scotland v Italy
Women semi final 1 – 12.00/11.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Women semi final 2 – 16.00/15.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Men semi final 1- 20.00/19.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Friday 25 November
Men semi final 2 – 09.00/08.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Women bronze medal game – 14.00/13.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men bronze medal game – 19.00/18.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Saturday 26 November
Women gold medal game 09.00/08.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men gold medal game 13.00/12.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Images: WCF / Ansis Ventins & Celine Stucki
