The Scottish rink made 92 per cent of its shots and dominated its matchup on Thursday against Canada’s Team Jordon McDonald, winning 4-2 at the P&H Masters. The team's record is 3-0 at the second stop on the Grand Slam of Curling, with the latest win clinching a playoff spot.
Team Mouat stole a single point in each of the first three ends after playing nearly perfect rocks to force McDonald into high-pressure shots.
While two-time Olympic silver medal-winner Mouat and the front-end pair of Hammy McMillan Jr. and Bobby Lammie played great, the real difference maker was the newest member of the team, Robin Brydone.
Every end that McDonald’s Manitoba-based team would set something positive up with the first four shots, Brydone eliminated the threat. He made all 16 shots he played during the game.
One of his more impressive shots came in the fourth end when he made a great double without jamming, leaving his team sitting three. Another was in the seventh end when Brydone made a double peel.
After missing the playoffs at the first Slam of the season with a 1-3 record, it was clear this team just needed some more reps together to shake off the rust, but more importantly, work to build the connection between Brydone and Mouat.
It seems the team is finding its rhythm.
Thursday’s results (Full scores and standings)
Draw 9
Wrana 7, Fujisawa 3
Sturmay 8, Park 3
Kitazawa 8, Gray-Withers 5
Reese-Hansen 7, Kobayashi 3
Draw 10
Y. Schwaller 6, Hlushak 2
Hasselborg 7, Gim 6 (SO)
Casper 7, Yamaguchi 5
Dunstone 6, Van Amsterdam 3
Draw 11
Bottcher 5, Spiller 3
Homan 5, Lloyd 3
Mouat 4, McDonald 2
X. Schwaller 10, Nihira 2
Draw 12
Hoesli 6, Waddell 3
Hardie 5, Koe 4
Einarson 5, Paetz 4 (SO)
Epping 9, Jacobs 3
Ups and downs of curling
Going from winning the first Grand Slam of the season to being the second team eliminated at the P&H Masters wasn’t something anyone expected for Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson.
Even though Einarson did come back to beat Switzerland’s Team Alina Paetz 5-4 in a shootout, thanks to a great shot by the skip in the eighth end with her last to get one point, it still eliminated the reigning Scotties champs from the playoff race. In order to stay alive, they needed to win in regulation.
During the first Slam, the squad made a lot of shots while having great communication. But over the course of this week, excluding Einarson's shot in the eighth end, it just felt like the team wasn’t able to string together a good game, or even a great end.
The encouraging part, though? The communication was still there, which points to this just being one of those weeks where you can do everything right, but still miss the majority of shots.
Jacobs’ leadership shows in frustrating week
After a run to the semifinals in the first Grand Slam of the season for the reigning Olympic gold medallists, the P&H Masters hasn’t gone according to plan for Team Brad Jacobs.
The Alberta-based team barely beat Italy’s Team Stefano Spiller in a shootout on the first day before a shocking loss against McDonald in its second game.
Things reached a boiling point for third Marc Kennedy on Thursday against John Epping. After giving up four in the first end to Epping, Kennedy glided down the ice after missing the called shot with his last stone in the second end and was greeted by Jacobs, who said “Ah, good shot Marc, perfect weight,” on mics picked up by the broadcast.
The skipper also held his arm out for a fist bump, but Kennedy slid right, just saying “yep.”
Jacobs immediately responded, “You OK? Who gives a (expletive) Marc. Honest to god, let's just try to make some shots. If we lose, we lose,” while also proceeding to get that fist bump from Kennedy.
While the team didn’t win the game, and was officially eliminated from the playoffs, Jacobs showed why he's so good at picking up his teammates when they’re feeling down.
Another heartbreaker for Spiller
For the third straight game, Team Spiller could only tip his cap to its opponent, this time Canada’s Team Brendan Bottcher.
With the Italians up 4-3 in the eighth end and sitting one on the button, Spiller put a guard in what looked like the perfect spot with his last stone. Bottcher had no draw path to get shot rock, considering there were two more rocks, the closest one being his own, lined up in front of the one on the button.
The Alberta-based skip knew the only shot he could attempt was the long double runback on Spiller’s guard that was almost staggered with another one. Bottcher threw a bullet down the ice and barely squeaked by the first guard to nail the shot for two and the win.
The win gave Bottcher’s team six points on the week, putting them in a good spot to make the playoffs. For Spiller, the loss ended any chance of making the playoffs.
Even though there may be a zero in the win column for the young Italian skip, his team has proven it is right there and could be be winning a lot of these close games against the top teams moving forward.
The P&H Masters will be available on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ starting with Draw 14 at 12 p.m. ET / 10 a.m. PCT. Sportsnet will air three draws Friday. Sportsnet+ and CBC will carry the Saturday quarterfinals, while CBC will air the semifinals on Saturday evening. Championship Sunday will be on Sportsnet.
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