Scotland’s Team Mouat moved clear at the top of the standings at the Le Gruyere AOL European Curling Championships with two commanding performances on the second day of action in Lillehammer.
As they had done in setting up their opening day win against Sweden, they won the pre-match last stone draw against Finland in their morning match to ensure that they had the advantage of playing the final stone at the opening end.
While they failed to take full advantage of that this time around, scoring only one, they then stole at the second to gain the upper hand early on.
After a blanked third end they then stole two more shots at the fourth to move into a 4-0 lead and were never threatened from that point as they went on to win 6-2 after eight of the scheduled 10 ends.
“Against Finland we controlled the game pretty well,” said skip Bruce Mouat.
“The ice was a bit tricky at first, but we managed to get a few steals on the board and then got our heads up and it was nice to get a wee bit of a shorter game again.”
Their evening encounter was with familiar opposition in Italy’s Team Retornaz and although they conceded last stone advantage at the opening end, they again quickly gained control.
After forcing their opponents to a single at the first they ran up a three at the second and steals at the next two meant that even after the Italians claimed a second shot at the fifth end, they went into the halfway break with a 5-2 lead.
That was extended with further steals at the next two ends, to bring about another welcome early finish, with the Scots 7-2 ahead after seven ends.
“We’re quite used to playing Italy at major championships and they’re always going to be quite tough for us, but we managed to get away with another quite convincing win,” said Mouat.
The skip is hugely encouraged by their form in the early stages of the event, but said they are fully aware of the need to maintain their standards throughout as they prepare for another two-game day against the Netherlands and Germany.
“The boys and I are playing pretty well and we’re quite happy with how we’re throwing it, so long may that continue,” he said.
“Now we’ve got another two games tomorrow against teams who are regularly on the World Championship and European Championship circuit.
“If we keep on performing the way we are it’s looking promising for us, but we’ve still got to have good performances to beat these teams.”
#curling #ECC2021
Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Ross Whyte (alternate)
PHOTOS: WCF / CELINE STUCKI 
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 7am
M Scotland v Netherlands 11am
W Scotland v Estonia 3pm
M Scotland v Germany 7pm
Tuesday 23 November
W Scotland v Italy 8am
M Scotland v Denmark 1pm
W Scotland v Czech Republic 6pm
Wednesday 24 November
M Scotland v Switzerland 8am
W Scotland v Switzerland 1pm
M Scotland v Czech Republic 6pm
Thursday 25 November
W Scotland v Turkey 7am
M Scotland v Norway 11am
W Semi Final 2 v 3 3pm
W Semi Final 1 v 4 7pm
Friday 26 November
M Semi Final 2 v 3 8am
M Semi Final 1 v 4 12.30pm
W Bronze medal game 5pm
Saturday 27 November
M Bronze medal game 8am
W Gold medal game 11.30am
M Gold medal game 4pm
