A blistering start to their quarter-final meeting with their fellow former winners from the USA saw Scotland’s Jen Dodds and Bruce Mouat power into the medal matches at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Canada.
Starting with last stone advantage after finishing second in their qualifying pool while Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin had finished third in theirs, the Scottish pair made it count as they set up the opportunity for a big opening end.
Playing the final stone, Dodds had the option of drawing for three or making a more difficult take-out of the only American stone in the house, which was half protected by a guard and it was a measure of her confidence that she opted for the more telling blow which put the 2021 World Champions 4-0 in front.
“It was a really good first end and we got into really good positions early and got Korey to make some tough shots, so managed to get some misses which gave us a good start,” said Mouat.
“Jen then made an amazing shot to get the four and it really set the tone for the game.”
Their advantage was reinforced when they forced the Americans to take a single at the next, but the 2023 champions showed their fighting qualities to steal at the third, reducing the Scottish lead to two points.
That was short-lived, though, a two at the next re-establishing full control for Dodds and Mouat and they managed the scoreboard expertly from that point in running out 7-5 winners.
“We knew we were still going to have to battle hard because it is difficult to defend in mixed doubles, but we played really good ends when they had the hammer to reduce their scoring,” Mouat continued.
“I over-swept one of Jen’s to give up one of the steals and the other steal at the sixth end was a kind of tactical move from us, so it wasn’t a bad game at all.”
Having won matches in a variety of different ways in first earning their place in the knockout stages, then winning this first play-off match, 2022 Olympic women’s gold medallist and newly crowned World Mens Championship winning skip Moaut, now face Australian mixed doubles specialists Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt in the semi-finals and can head into the match with confidence.
“We are playing well,” said Mouat.
“The last three days have been some of our best games so far, building momentum nicely and hopefully we will play just as well in the medal games now.
“We have played the Australians quite a few times and we know that they really concentrate on mixed doubles and they are a really good team so we are expecting a really tough game, but we’re excited to get on the ice again.”
The semi finals take place at 10pm (BST) and will be streamed live on The Curling Channel.
Schedule:
Saturday 26 April
Session 1
Scotland – Netherlands 10-3
Session 3 –
Scotland – China 8-5
Sunday 27 April
Session 5 –
Scotland – Denmark 7-3
Monday 28 April
Session 7
Scotland – Finland 9-2
Session 9 – 10pm
Scotland – Korea 7-10
Tuesday 29 April
Session 11
Scotland – Italy 4-7
Wednesday 30 April
Session 13
Scotland – Sweden 7-6
Session 15 10pm (BST)
Scotland – Germany 7-1
Thursday 1 May
Session 17
Scotland – Canada 8-7 (EE)
Friday 2 May
Qualification Games
Scotland – USA 7-5
Estonia – Canada 7-5
10pm - Semi Finals
Scotland – Australia
Italy – Estonia
Saturday 3 May
1.30pm - Bronze Medal Game
6.00pm - Gold Medal Game
Watch streamed games on The Curling Channel
Team Scotland
Jen Dodds
Bruce Mouat
Ross Paterson – Team Coach
Greg Drummond – Olympic Head Coach
Images: Rob Blanchard Photography