A ding-dong battle with the USA’s 2018 Olympic champions ended with Scotland’s Team Mouat forcing an error with the final stone of the match which gave them a 10-8 win and into a share of third spot in the standings at the BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship in Ottawa.
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan began the meeting with Team Shuster in impressive fashion, registering twos at the first and third ends to move into a commanding looking 4-1 lead before the Scottish skip’s first significant error was heavily punished.
Mouat had a takeout opportunity to lie four with his final delivery of the fourth end, but it touched the guard and opened up a chance which opposite number John Shuster seized to produce a triple take-out and claim a three to level the match. 
That shifted the momentum of the match and Mouat found himself in deep trouble, up against five counting American stones as he prepared to deliver the final stone before the midway break.
Typically he found a way to limit the damage, squeezing past a guard and ricocheting his way between two stones that were guarding the four foot to come close to taking the shot, but the Scots were relieved to concede just one as they took the chance to re-group.
They duly did so, reclaiming the lead after a perfectly judged Mouat hit and roll with his first stone set up their two, but they were back in trouble when the Americans matched that two at the next end, then stole at the eighth to move into an 8-6 lead.
Precision play throughout the ninth end meant that the Scottish skip had a straightforward task to draw for two to level the scores heading into the decisive final end.
They looked to have little chance of producing a steal as, with the Americans clearing efficiently, Mouat could do nothing but guard his lonely looking stone that was sitting inside the eight foot ring at the back of the house with the first of his deliveries.
When Shuster removed that the Scots called a timeout and after consulting with coach Michael Goodfellow, opted to draw to the edge of the four foot to minimise the scoring area for Shuster and he was caught out by the speed of the ice, his stone running past both Scottish counters.
“We had a great start to the game, really enjoying the ice conditions and playing really well,” said Mouat.
“We had a wee slip up at the fourth end to let them back into the game and we struggled to dominate again like we had at the start of the game.
“It’s just one of those games that can be like that. They’re obviously former Olympic champions, so they’re very experienced and know their stuff. 
“We had a good discussion at the fifth end when we found ourselves one down, came out to try and get our two which is exactly what we did.
“We had a shot for three, but decided to play it safe and make sure we scored our simple two.
“Having to put them under pressure at the last end benefitted us, I think.
“We made him play a tough shot to win and fortunately for us we got that miss and another win on the board, so we feel like we’re in a really good spot on four wins and one loss so far and we’ve got a tough game tonight so it would be really good to win that.”
The victory improved their record to four wins with just a single loss, knowing that as they headed into their second match of the day against second placed Switzerland - which was due to get underway at midnight UK time - a victory would see them overtake their opponents in the standings.
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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 – 00.00
Scotland – Switzerland
Wednesday 5 April
Session 12 14.00
Scotland – Japan
Session 14 00.00
Scotland – Korea
Thursday 6 April
Session 16 19.00
Scotland – Norway
Session 17 00.00
Scotland – Canada
Friday 7 April
Session 19 19.00
Scotland – Czech Republic
Session 20 00.00
Scotland – New Zealand
Saturday 8 April
Qualification Games 14.00
Semi Finals 00.00
Sunday 9 April
Bronze medal game 16.00
Gold medal game 21.00
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 Celine Stucki and Steve Seixeiro.
#curling #WMCC2023
