TEAM BRYCE ARE THE 2022 SCOTTISH MIXED CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Team Bryce (Cameron Bryce, Lisa Davie, Scott Hyslop, Robyn Munro) who clinched the 2022 Scottish Curling Mixed title at Curl Edinburgh. The Border side went unbeaten in the round robin to secure a direct spot in the final where they comprehensively beat Team Craik by seven points to two.
While a perfect 4-0 record in the round robin took Team Bryce straight to the final, runners-up Team Craik were set to face off with third-placed Team Strawhorn for the remaining spot. For Team Morton (Grant Hardie, Rhiann Stagg, Billy Morton, Barbara Morton) and Team Dakers (Robin McCall, Holly Davis, Chris Morris, Rachel Dakers) it was curtains after the round robin.
Holding hammer, Team Craik (James Craik, Fay Henderson, Angus Bryce, Laura Watt, Emma Barr) opened the scoring in the semi-final with a single point. However, Team Strawhorn (Jack Strawhorn, Robyn Mitchell, Kaleb Johnstone, Amy Mitchell) swiftly took the upper hand and led 3-1 at the break. It was all Team Craik in the second half though who followed a three-points score up with steals of two and one respectively that earned them a 7-3 win after seven ends and a place in the final.
Their undefeated run meant Team Bryce started the final with hammer but only managed to score a single point in the first end. The sides were fairly evenly matched and traded good shots, but an error by Team Craik in the second end gave Team Bryce a chance to steal two and build an early advantage. The Forfar outfit eventually did get on the board in End 3, albeit with only a point. They were subsequently forced into damage limitation mode in the fourth end when skip James Craik drew the four foot against three, but Cameron Bryce managed to nudge his opponents’ stone to score two and stretch the lead to 5-1 at the break. Team Craik were in trouble once more in End 5 and again had their skip draw against three, this time to score a single that did little to cut their deficit. When a comfortable- and confident-looking Team Bryce recorded two points in the sixth end, fist bumps were exchanged early with the final standings reading 7-2. This is the third time Cameron Bryce has skipped a team to victory at the Scottish Mixed Championship.
‘This competition went smoothly for this new team,’ the delighted skip, whose line-up had only come together a mere week before the tournament, said after the final. Looking forward to the upcoming World Mixed’ at Curl Aberdeen (15-22 October 2022) Cameron commented: ‘I am really looking forward to this Worlds as I got bronze in 2016 and our team are looking to do better than that. It is a good event and Aberdeen is a great venue where I have done well before, so I’m looking forward to getting up there in October.’
