Olympic Women’s Champion Jen Dodds and World Champion Men’s skip Bruce Mouat carried the momentum from an excellent opening day into day two as they maintained their 100 per cent record through three games at the World Mixed Doubles Championship in Fredericton.
After opening up with a comfortable win over the Netherlands, the Scottish pair, who claimed this title in 2021, were pushed harder in their second game on day one against China, but the way they negotiated that challenge served to reinforce their belief. 
”It was probably a wee bit trickier for us than the first game,” said Dodds.
“We were on an end sheet and one of the sides was a little straighter, so it just took us a wee while to figure that out, but once we committed to taking less ice we got back in control of it and we were really strong towards the later half of the game.
“We just built on our momentum of keeping our draw weight within that range, keeping control of the four foot and the top eight which let us clinch the game.”
That 8-5 win set them up for their only game of the second day of competition as they took on Denmark, who had suffered narrow losses to two of the most experienced teams in the competition, Sweden and Canada, in their previous matches.
“A one game day is always pretty nice, but we knew it was going to be a tough game against Denmark,” said Dodds.
“They came off two losses on day one, but they had been up against very good opponents and they were very tight games, so we knew they would want to come out firing.”
Starting with last stone advantage, after winning the draw shot challenge, the Scots only managed to score one at the opening end, but responded in kind to force the Danes at the next.
From that point they steadily pulled away, scoring twos at the third, fifth and seventh ends, while restricting their opponents to one at the fourth and sixth before running them out of stones at the eighth and final end in registering a 7-3 win.
“We felt like we played pretty well and she made a great shot in the first end to force us to take one when we were probably looking good for a two before she made that hit and roll, but after that it felt like we were in control for most of it,” Dodds said of that encounter with the Danes.
“Again, we were really sharp on the ice today in practice. 
“We did notice that one side was a wee bit straighter and we really committed to that after seeing that, also taking the learnings from the China game and I think we just really controlled the four foot again and back eight, back line taps, we did a great job on them today.”
Having made the sort of start they were hoping for, they know they must maintain their standards as they prepare to meet Finland and Korea on the third day of competition, but are also looking to maintain a relaxed mindset.
“You’re not going to have an easy game at a World Championships any more,“ said Dodds.
“Finland just came off another win and Korea as well are two great players, so we will need to have our A games and performance like we had against Denmark today to beat them.
“Every win is crucial here, so we just have to stick with our processes and hopefully let the wins come.
“We’re really enjoying the ice out there.
“You can make all the shots out there for fun and we’re just enjoying ourselves out there.
“Part of what we do is to have fun out here.
“We’ve always said we play our best when we’re enjoying it, which doesn’t mean we are not taking it seriously.
“We are very determined to win games, but just having that relaxed intensity on the ice is great for us and we find out communication is better when we have that relaxed style and that’s been showing here this week, that we can have a laugh, but we are also playing well at the same time and that’s the definition of our team really.”
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 -2pm (BST)
Scotland – Finland
Session 9 – 10pm (BST)
Scotland – Korea
Tuesday 29 April
Session 11 – 6pm (BST)
Scotland – Italy
Wednesday 30 April
Session 13 – 2pm (BST)
Scotland – Sweden
Session 15 10pm (BST)
Scotland – Germany
Thursday 1 May
Session 17- 6pm (BST)
Scotland – Canada
Friday 2 May
2pm - Qualification Games
10pm - Relegation Games
10pm - Semi Finals
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
