TEAM MOUAT AND TEAM MORRISON TO REPRESENT SCOTLAND AT 2022 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Mouat (Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan, Kyle Waddell) and Team Morrison (Rebecca Morrison, Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair, Sophie Jackson, Hailey Duff) will be flying the Saltire at the upcoming Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships as Scotland look to defend both the men’s and women’s titles at the Oestersund Arena in Sweden.
Team Mouat’s Olympic silver medallists are targeting a hat-trick of victories on three appearances at the Europeans. The event will see them continue their rivalry with the host nation’s representatives, Olympic and six-time world champions Team Edin, and despite a challenging start to the season, skip Bruce Mouat believes his men are capable of repeating the successes they achieved on their only previous tournament appearances, in Tallinn on their international championship debut in 2018 and again last year in Lillehammer.
‘The European Champs have been very kind to us on the last two occasions and we are looking to replicate the results from both those previous trips,’ he said. ‘Things started to shape up pretty nicely for us again at the last Slam and we were playing some good curling. We are excited to see what we can do at the Europeans.’
Having been the outstanding team on the prestigious Canadian Grand Slam circuit in 2021-22 – becoming the first Scots to win The Pintys Cup as the top performers across all events – Team Mouat have been below full strength at the first two slam events this season. A broken hand suffered by Bobby Lammie prevented him from sweeping and forced some line-up reshuffles. However, he is now back to fitness and the team has called up highly experienced support in the shape of 2018 Olympian Kyle Waddell who joins them as alternate for the first time.
‘It feels like the team is pretty much back to normal with Bobby able to sweep again in training and we are excited to see what we can do as a foursome back in our usual positions,’ said Mouat. ‘We are also excited to welcome Kyle to the team for his first time with us as our fifth player. We’re really excited to see what he brings as he has heaps of experience, as an Olympian and also a European medallist, so we are really excited to work with him and see what we can do. Hopefully we’ll get another good performance and I am sure he will bring a lot to the team.’
In this first season of a new Olympic cycle it will also be the first Europeans appearance in a coaching capacity for Michael Goodfellow, two time world champion and 2014 Sochi Olympic silver medallist. ‘It should be a refreshing start for us in this cycle with a new coach and fifth player leading towards Milan. There are still things we are working on and we want to start having the performances that I know Team Mouat are used to when we go to these championships. It is very exciting to be in Sweden for the Europeans,’ said Mouat.
In saying so, as the only skip to have denied Niklas Edin the title in the past nine years, Mouat expects the backing of a home support will ensure the Swede to be all the more motivated to get the better of his men at a European Championships for the first time. ‘The boys and I have rarely ventured into Sweden, so with Edin being the home team it will be a tough ask for us to go and win it. But that is definitely our goal and the aim at our first major of the quadrennial and hopefully we can put down a bit of a marker for what we are hoping to do in the next four years,’ he said.
Last season’s event was the first time Scotland’s men and women won the Europeans in the same year, but it is a new line-up that will attempt to defend the women’s title as Rebecca Morrison skips Gina Aitken, Sophie Jackson and Sophie Sinclair at the tournament. ‘We are very excited that we have been selected as a team for this European Championships,’ said Morrison. ‘This is the first time for three of us going out there and it is always an honour to represent Scotland on the international stage. We can’t wait to get out there and get some good wins on the board and hopefully qualify Scotland for the World Championships that will also take place here in Sweden.’
‘Since our last event representing Scotland we have played in competitions across Europe and Canada with a win in Leduc, so we will take a lot of confidence from that and feel we have progressed so much over the last six months. We can’t wait to show that to everyone.’
They will be supported by one member of the title winning rink; Hailey Duff, who went on to win an Olympic gold medal last season, makes the trip as their alternate. ‘We know Hailey well and I am sure she will do a great job in supporting the team as the fifth player,’ said Morrison.
The European Championships qualify teams for next year’s World Curling Championships with the women’s event also taking place in Sweden in March and the men’s event in Ottawa in April. Scotland’s women start their campaign on the opening day against Turkey, while Scotland’s men take on Germany and Spain on their first day of action.
Team MouatBruce MouatGrant HardieBobby LammieHammy McMillanKyle Waddell (alternate)Coach: Michael GoodfellowTeam MorrisonRebecca MorrisonGina AitkenSophie SinclairSophie JacksonHailey Duff (alternate)Coach: Nancy Smith
