MOOSE JAW -- It was a game that for all intents and purposes looked like Canada was destined to lose in the 10th end at the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship.
Scotland’s Bruce Mouat appeared to have things set up to hold Canada’s Brad Jacobs to a single point in the final frame, and that would have resulted in a 5-4 win for the tournament’s top seeds in front of a packed Temple Gardens Centre in Moose Jaw,
But then Mouat drew to the button with his final shot, and a buzz immediately started to go through the crowd.
That shot gave Jacobs a chance at the runback triple for a miracle shot for three and the outright win -- and wouldn’t you know it, he came within a couple of inches of pulling it off. In fact, at the point of impact a huge cheer went through the crowd because it looked as if that’s exactly what had happened. But in the end, it would be two and the teams were off to an extra end.
There, Mouat played the kind of smart game he’s known for and would have a hit and stick for one and the 6-5 win.
“Yeah, it was just a lot of fun,” Mouat said of the incredible finish to a contest he held control of much of the way. “It's kind of what we live for. We play for these games, it's a lot of fun. The crowd was amazing, we had a lot of support ourselves. It was a lot of fun just to be on the ice and to play some good shots.”
Things were close as expected between the two unbeaten teams, as Canada took one in the first, Scotland racked up three in the second and Canada got a deuce right back for the 3-3 tie through three.
Mouat then put together a string of blanks over the next four ends before Jacobs held him to one in the eighth, and Scotland would then steal in the ninth to go ahead 5-3 and set up the incredible finish.
“It was very close, I don't think you could get any closer,” Jacobs said of how things turned out on his final shot. “The shot was probably there to stick that shooter back for three and get all three of theirs going, so anytime you have a shot to win the game it’s great. You'd hope that it's a little easier than a run triple but we still we made it but just couldn't hold the shooter. Still an exciting shot and it was nice to force an extra end and keep those guys on their toes.”
As one might expect, Jacobs would have liked to have had a much different situation heading into the final end, but he felt a tough start -- and especially Scotlands second-end three spot -- was a big difference.
“I think that we struggled early with the ice conditions,” Jacobs said. “We saw a little bit more curl out there, which is really nice by the way. It's been it's been pretty straight and fast and today we saw a little bit more curl and we also saw the brooms doing a little bit more work, especially on helping rocks curl so we'll learn from that.
“We didn't have the greatest first five but we had a really strong second half and I think that as long as we can carry that into tomorrow we'll be in a good headspace.”
The win leaves Mouat as the last undefeated team in the draw at 4-0, and he hopes to have another chance to play Canada later in the tournament -- which would mean the playoffs and an even crazier atmosphere at Temple Gardens Centre.
“We're hoping to be here at the end of the weekend, so if we have another situation like that and get to play against the Canadians again, then it's going to be a lot of fun,” he said.
Other results Monday afternoon saw Switzerland (Yannick Schwaller) hand China (Xiaoming Xu) their first loss with a 7-5 win, while Sweden (Niklas Edin) won their third in a row with a 6-3 victory over Korea (Hyojun Kim) and Norway (Magnus Ramsfjell) defeated the United States (Korey Dropkin) 8-6.
Standings after Draw 7 are as follows:
Scotland (Mouat) 4-0
Canada (Jacobs) 3-1
Switzerland (Schwaller) 3-1
China (Xu) 3-1
Norway (Ramsfjell) 3-1
Sweden (Edin) 3-1
Czechia (Klima) 2-2
Italy (Retornaz) 2-2
United States (Dropkin) 2-2
Germany (Muskatewtiz) 1-3
Austria (Genner) 0-4
Japan (Yamaguchi) 0-4
Korea (Kim) 0-5
For a the complete schedule and up-to-the-minute scores from the BKT World Men’s Curling Championship,be sure to check out www.worldcurling.org.
