SHERWOOD PARK, Alta. — Reigning world junior champ Bruce Mouat has charged into a tiebreaker spot at the Humpty’s Champions Cup in his Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling series debut.
Following a 0-2 start in round-robin play, the 21-year-old from Edinburgh, Scotland, earned his second straight victory with a convincing 7-2 win over American John Shuster during Friday morning’s draw to clinch a spot.
After giving up a steal of one in the first, Mouat took two in the second and never looked back. Mouat swiped a point in three, held Shuster to a single in four, scored another deuce in five and put the pressure on in six to steal two and bring out the handshakes.
“The steal wasn’t ideal but we started off the game quite well,” Mouat said. “It was just they got one buried in the eight-foot and we struggled to get out. After that we knew we had a good end in the first end so we just kept on going with that. Then we got two and stole the one so we got control from there.”
Mouat lost his first two games versus Rogers Grand Slam Cup winner Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., and Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers. He faced Niklas Edin of Sweden on Thursday morning and stunned the two-time men’s world champion by stealing in the final end to win 6-5.
It’s been an eye-opening experience for Mouat, but he said it’s all good.
“We started with Gushue and Carruthers so when you come off world juniors to come and play those two teams it’s an amazing feeling,” Mouat said. “It was cool and then managed to get a win off Niklas is really good. We never played him but we’ve been at a lot of competitions in Europe so it was good to actually play him. We then played Shuster, watched him at the worlds, so it was really cool to see all of these teams here and play against them.”
Team Mouat are now playing the waiting game for whom their opponent will be pending the results of the remaining round-robin draws.
“We’ll just wait and see who we play,” Mouat said. “Whoever we play we know we’re going to be up against it so we’re just going to enjoy ourselves, which we’ve done so far. Just have a good time.”
Shuster, the world bronze medallist, heads home with a 0-4 record.
GSOC Champions Cup: Scores | Standings | TV Schedule | Watch Online
In the women’s division, Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson climbed to a 3-0 record with a 6-4 victory over Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton (2-2). Einarson will move straight through to the playoffs with Lawton heading for the tiebreaker.
Edmonton’s Val Sweeting (3-1) is also off to the playoffs picking up her third consecutive win defeating Jacqueline Harrison 6-2. Harrison, of Mississauga, Ont., dropped to a 1-2 record with one game to go.
NOTES: The Humpty’s Champions Cup is the seventh and final event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at the Sherwood Park Arena Sports Centre. … The event is the second of two new tournaments added to the schedule this year along with the Tour Challenge, which kicked off the season in September. … Teams had to win an event over the course of the season in order to qualify for the Humpty’s Champions Cup. … The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling returns for the 2016-17 season starting with the Masters, Oct. 25-30, in Okotoks, Alta.
