Bruce Mouat claimed victory for his team in dramatic fashion at the first ever Grand Slam of Curling (GSOC) event to be held outside of Canada as his draw to the button pulled up millimetres closer than rival skip Matt Dunstone’s had moments earlier on the Tahoe ice to win the first ever title shoot-out.
The tense encounter could previously have seen either team emerge triumphant in the Kioti GSOC Tahoe, Mouat narrowly failing to pull off an audacious attempt at a triple take-out to score a potentially decisive four at the sixth end, while Dunstone’s opportunity to put the match beyond his opposite number at the last end by deflecting off his own shot stone to take-out the only Scottish stone in the house, hit the wrong side of the target. 
That left Mouat with a straightforward open take-out to score the two which levelled the scores at 6-6 and took the match into uncharted territory, with that single stone shoot-out having replaced the traditional extra end for the first time in a Grand Slam final.
Dunstone made his attempt first and his shot reached the button, but pulled up just short of covering the pin at the absolute centre of the scoring zone.
Mouat then took his turn and as his stone ran onto the button Hammy McMillan, who along with Bobby Lammie had expertly guided it down the ice while vice skip Grant Hardie called the line, punched the air in premature celebration, only to curtail that as he realised it may be running marginally too far.
That brought a laser measurement into play and, after a moment’s confusion, it was confirmed that the stone had drawn up just in time.
“It’s pretty special for us to achieve this,” a relieved Mouat said afterwards.
“There are so many things that happened for the first time here and we are very lucky to be on the fortunate side of the millimetre on this occasion.
“There was literally 0.3 centimetres in it to decide the winner, so it’s pretty crazy to think that’s the margin we won by. 
“It felt a little strange playing a draw shot to decide the winner by a draw shot, but that’s the rules they’ve made.”
It was the second successive Grand Slam final contested between Mouat and the current top Canadian team who had previously beaten another Scottish quartet, Team Whyte, in the final of the first of this season’s five Grand Slam tournaments back in September.
That was a lone Canadian success amidst a run of dominance that has seen Scottish teams contest all of the last eight Grand Slam finals, with Mouat winning six of those and Whyte one, but it had looked for most of the second half of this encounter as if Dunstone held the upper hand after they stole at the fifth to move ahead for the first time.
However, the Scots were rewarded for their resilience as they fought to the end, ultimately managing to make Dunstone’s potential match winner as difficult as possible and Mouat was proud of the way they dug in.
“The big thing is that the team never rolled over and died to just let them win,” he said.
“We were able to make Matt play a tough shot just to get to that draw shot and I’m glad we got away with our 12th Slam victory.”
It is a title haul that has exploded in the last two years with Team Mouat contesting seven of the 10 Grand Slam finals played in the calendar years of 2024 and 2025 and winning them all.
With their skip aged just 31 and entering his prime years in the sport, that takes them within reach of the totals achieved in their careers by the only men who have skipped more teams to Grand Slam wins.
Kevin Martin, widely considered the greatest Canadian skip of all time, leads the way with 18, while Glenn Howard - who won four World Championships in different decades - has won 16 Slams and Mouat’s long-time rival Brad Gushue, who has announced that this will be his last season, has 15.
“We’re excited to continue climbing the Slam rankings,” said Mouat.
“There are some amazing names on that list, so we’re obviously in great company.”
The Tahoe event also demonstrated the growing strength of the Scottish men’s game, with Teams Whyte and Waddell also reaching the quarter-finals, while in the women’s competition Team Morrison, who will defend Team GB’s Winter Olympic title in Milan-Cortina early next year, contested their first Tier One Grand Slam event of the season.
Mouat, Hardie, Lammie and McMillan now have some time to celebrate this latest win, before preparing for the European Championships later this month where they will look to continue another run of success, having reached the final on all five occasions they have entered the competition, winning four of them.
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Images: Anil Mungal -TCG
