Mouat Still Undefeated in Winning Euro Super Series
Home teams have celebrated success amid high-class international companies in both events at the Euro Super Series (ESS) in Stirling's National Curling Academy. Photo: British Curling
For former World Champions Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, and Hammy McMillan, victory in the men's event was a continuation of the form that had seen them get their season off to a flying start by becoming the first Scots ever to win the Baden Masters in Switzerland the previous weekend.
As they had done in the semi-final in Baden, the team that had finished the past two seasons ranked second in the world had to overcome their closest domestic rivals, world number five ranked Team Whyte, this time in the decisive match.
Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle had gone into the ESS final with the hammer, having finished as top seeds based on the draw shot challenge after matching Mouat's men by going unbeaten through the round-robin stages.
The encounter was as tight as expected throughout, Team Mouat grabbing the initiative with a steal at the third end after the first two had been blanked, but the match remained in the balance until they stole again at the sixth where Whyte suffered an unfortunate 'pick-up' as the first of his stones struck some debris on the ice, affecting its path.
Team Whyte's quality and resolve were evidenced as they battled back from that to claim the only two of the match and level the scores at the next, but that gave Mouat the advantage of the final stone at the last, and that proved decisive.
"It was a very tight game," said Mouat, following his team's successful title defence.
"We had to turn the hammer pretty early on and it took four ends to get that, but the big steal in the third end set us up with a wee bit more control of the game.
"We were obviously struggling without the hammer in the first couple of ends and managed to get some doubles to get out of it, so it was a big turn-around from the boys, and we're very proud of how we stuck together all weekend."
The victory maintained their perfect start to the season that has seen them claim 14 wins in 14 matches, emulating the astonishing run that saw them announce themselves to the global game in their first season together seven years ago.Â
"We've been playing really well at the start of this season, and we're really happy with where we're at," said Mouat.
"We're not going to rest on the fact that we've been playing well, though. We're going to put in a lot of work next week to try to iron out a few of the kinks that we're seeing, but there's not a lot because we are playing very well.
"It's a long season, and we've got to do a lot of good things this year to get where we want to be next and in two years time, so we're going to be focused on coming back next week and training hard again.
"Things are definitely on track. The breakthrough year in 2017 was one of the highlights of my career, just really enjoyable.
"The Olympic season was obviously very enjoyable as well, but this season is very important to us.
"We know there's a lot of really good Scottish talent coming through, and we have to keep on proving that we're still able to win major championships.
"To win Baden and to win the ESS on two weekends was exactly how we wanted to start the season, and we're very proud of how we've been doing it.
"We've been very clinical, and a lot of hard work over the summer has led to that, and we're very happy with where we're at."
Replays of the ESS games are available on Curling Stadium Europe:Â https://curlingstadiumeurope.com
For former World Champions Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, and Hammy McMillan, victory in the men's event was a continuation of the form that had seen them get their season off to a flying start by becoming the first Scots ever to win the Baden Masters in Switzerland the previous weekend.
As they had done in the semi-final in Baden, the team that had finished the past two seasons ranked second in the world had to overcome their closest domestic rivals, world number five ranked Team Whyte, this time in the decisive match.
Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle had gone into the ESS final with the hammer, having finished as top seeds based on the draw shot challenge after matching Mouat's men by going unbeaten through the round-robin stages.
The encounter was as tight as expected throughout, Team Mouat grabbing the initiative with a steal at the third end after the first two had been blanked, but the match remained in the balance until they stole again at the sixth where Whyte suffered an unfortunate 'pick-up' as the first of his stones struck some debris on the ice, affecting its path.
Team Whyte's quality and resolve were evidenced as they battled back from that to claim the only two of the match and level the scores at the next, but that gave Mouat the advantage of the final stone at the last, and that proved decisive.
"It was a very tight game," said Mouat, following his team's successful title defence.
"We had to turn the hammer pretty early on and it took four ends to get that, but the big steal in the third end set us up with a wee bit more control of the game.
"We were obviously struggling without the hammer in the first couple of ends and managed to get some doubles to get out of it, so it was a big turn-around from the boys, and we're very proud of how we stuck together all weekend."
The victory maintained their perfect start to the season that has seen them claim 14 wins in 14 matches, emulating the astonishing run that saw them announce themselves to the global game in their first season together seven years ago.Â
"We've been playing really well at the start of this season, and we're really happy with where we're at," said Mouat.
"We're not going to rest on the fact that we've been playing well, though. We're going to put in a lot of work next week to try to iron out a few of the kinks that we're seeing, but there's not a lot because we are playing very well.
"It's a long season, and we've got to do a lot of good things this year to get where we want to be next and in two years time, so we're going to be focused on coming back next week and training hard again.
"Things are definitely on track. The breakthrough year in 2017 was one of the highlights of my career, just really enjoyable.
"The Olympic season was obviously very enjoyable as well, but this season is very important to us.
"We know there's a lot of really good Scottish talent coming through, and we have to keep on proving that we're still able to win major championships.
"To win Baden and to win the ESS on two weekends was exactly how we wanted to start the season, and we're very proud of how we've been doing it.
"We've been very clinical, and a lot of hard work over the summer has led to that, and we're very happy with where we're at."
Replays of the ESS games are available on Curling Stadium Europe:Â https://curlingstadiumeurope.com