After negotiating their round-robin campaign with a perfect record, Team Mouat found another gear as they overpowered hosts Norway 9-3 in their semi-final to set up a meeting with defending champions Sweden in the decider at the Le Gruyere AOP European Curling Championships in Lillehammer.
The Scottish quartet of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan had taken time to impose themselves on Steffan Walstad’s Norwegian rink in completing that 9-0 run in the round-robin the previous day, but in the semi-final it was a different story as they took full advantage of holding the hammer to score a three at the opening end when Bruce Mouat finished the end with a perfectly executed double. 
Put under enormous pressure, facing three Scottish counters as he delivered his last stone, Walstad produced a high class hit and roll to avoid going further behind at the second end and Mouat then narrowly missed a chance to extend the lead at the next when his attempted double take out did not shift one of the Norwegian stones quite far enough to score two.
However, placed under further pressure at the fourth, Walstad’s final stone sailed past the house, gifting the Scots what looked, even at that early stage, an unassailable 6-1 advantage and so it proved.
“That was very smooth and it didn’t feel like we had any hiccups at all,” said Mouat.
“We were a bit frustrated in the game against Norway yesterday because we weren’t making everything, but today we just felt like it was our’s for the win and we played maybe our best game so far this week, which puts us in a very good place going into the final.”
The title match will continue what is becoming a growing rivalry with Sweden’s Team Edin who have won a record number of World and European titles and came out on top when they met in the World Championship final earlier this year, but had to give best to Mouat’s men both when they met in the final on the Scots’ only previous appearance at the Europeans and in the first match of the round-robin this time around. 
That loss in the World Championship final was a rare setback in 2021 for Team Mouat, who have, in the course of the year, won four tournaments in Canada, the hotbed of curling, including three of the richest tournaments in the sport on the Grand Slam circuit, whereas their victory in the 2018 European Championship was the only time the Swedes have failed to take the title in the past eight years.
“We’re having a great week here and with 10 wins and zero losses we’re feeling really good going into tomorrow’s final against Niklas,” said Mouat.
“It is nice to have a good run heading into that game and obviously we had a good game against them in the first match of the round-robin game. We know they’ll give us a good run for our money, but we’re playing well so we’re very confident.
“Although it’s only our second European campaign, the fact that we’ve had quite a lot of Championship experience as a team has really held us in good stead this week, where we’re doing everything really clinically and being very efficient with what we’re doing.”
He noted, too, that going the distance in this event has already provided ideal preparation for their main goal of the season. 
“The big aim is the Olympics which are coming around pretty soon and to be playing like this, just a couple of months ahead of that is very exciting for us, but it doesn’t always happen like that, so we need to work to make sure we’re maintaining this performance level heading into the Olympics,” Mouat observed.
“If we’re playing in Beijing the way we’re playing right now we’ll be putting ourselves in a really good position to be playing in play-offs which is very exciting.
“I think that having this Championship experience a couple of months before the Olympics is going to be vital for us to make sure we’re in the right mode, so this has been really good timing.”
#curling #ECC2021
Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Ross Whyte (alternate)
PHOTO: WCF / STEVE SEIXEIRO 
Schedule and Results
Saturday 20 November
W Scotland v Russia 7-4
M Scotland v Sweden 6-2
W Scotland v Denmark 8-2
Sunday 21 November
M Scotland v Finland 6-2
W Scotland v Sweden 8-5
M Scotland v Italy 7-2
Monday 22 November
W Scotland v Germany 9-5
M Scotland v Netherlands 9-2
W Scotland v Estonia 10-3
M Scotland v Germany 10-5
Tuesday 23 November
W Scotland v Italy 7-8
M Scotland v Denmark 9-8
W Scotland v Czech Republic 9-1 
Wednesday 24 November
M Scotland v Switzerland 7-1
W Scotland v Switzerland 7-2
M Scotland v Czech Republic10-5
Thursday 25 November
W Scotland v Turkey 9-4
M Scotland v Norway 8-3
W Semi Final Sweden v Russia 5-4
W Semi Final Scotland v Germany 7-4
Friday 26 November
M Semi Final Sweden v Italy 6-3
M Semi Final Scotland v Norway 9-3
W Bronze medal game 5pm Germany v Russia
Saturday 27 November
M Bronze medal game 8am Norway v Italy
W Gold medal game 11.30am Scotland v Sweden
M Gold medal game 4pm Scotland v Sweden
