Scotland’s Team Whyte demonstrated their resilience as they recovered from the disappointment of a cruel semi-final loss to beat the host nation 11-6 in the bronze medal match and finish their first ever LGT World Men’s Curling Championship campaign on a high.
Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Craig Waddell, Euan Kyle and Duncan McFadzean had been left devastated by the previous day’s loss to Canada, having led for more than half of the match.
However, having been statistically the top performing team in the round-robin section they showed they had fully recovered as they opened with a three against the USA’s Team Shuster in the third-place play-off.
Their resolve was again tested when the Americans stole to level the match at the halfway stage and when the sixth end was blanked the outcome looked to be in the balance. 
However, the Scots then scored a two at the next end and when it looked as if their opponents were set to level the match again, a superb hit and roll across most of the width of the house by Whyte drew the error from former Olympic Champion skip John Shuster as they scored just one.
It spoke to the standards Whyte sets himself that he initially looked disappointed with what proved to be a key shot, but with the Americans forced to take risks at the next, the pressure was maintained, ultimately leaving Whyte a takeout to score four with his final stone and he made no mistake.
“When it finished it looked like they had a shot for two and I thought I’d delivered almost perfectly, so that was a little bit disappointing,” Whyte said of that crucial shot at the eighth.
“However, they only scored one, which was the main thing and it was great that it had done enough to stop them scoring two, so it was nice that it was enough to keep the momentum going our way.”
He also modestly credited his teammates for doing the majority of the work in securing the victory.
“The other three set me up at pretty much every end and I had a couple that didn’t quite go my way and didn’t play as well as I was hoping I would, but the boys kept doing their thing and left me enough chances to get over the line, so, it feels great to have won that bronze medal,” said Whyte.
He admitted that the win was all the more satisfying because of the way they recovered from the nature of the loss to Canada.
“Last night was a bit of a tough one, but we regrouped and bounced back having decided as a team that we really didn’t want to come away from this Championship with nothing,“ said Whyte.
“Our fans had travelled way too far to see us play this well and not get anything, so it feels great to come out and put in a big performance today.”
The challenge had also been intensified by facing the host nation’s representatives who were bidding to give two of their team, Chris Plys and Colin Hufman, a winning send off, both having announced that they are retiring from the sport at the end of this season.
“It meant a lot to the Americans as well to try to get that medal with the announcements of players retiring and things like that, so we knew we had to go out and do a job because they would be pumped up and it felt great to come out on the right side,” Whyte noted.
Their focus had, however, principally been on getting some reward at the end of a week that had brought a long-awaited opportunity in allowing them to demonstrate Scotland’s strength in depth as they continue to challenge compatriots Team Mouat, last year’s World Champions, who will once again finish this season ranked number one in the sport.
“We started out playing the top teams that we ended up playing in the play-offs, which was a difficult start, but to come out and then put in the week we did was very impressive to get to the semi-finals and still come away with a medal after a disappointment in that semi-final,” was Whyte’s assessment.
“It shows we are a strong unit and ready to give it our all at any point and it was nice to get our first chance at this as the playing team.
“That experience is going to be huge going forward and hopefully that carries on and allows us to get more opportunities to go out there and be Team Scotland and do the nation proud.”
In the gold medal match Swedish skip Niklas Edin claimed his eighth world championship title after he and his team mates beat Canada 9-6.
Please click here for more information about the LGT World Men’s Curling Championships in Ogden, USA (27 March – 4 April)
Watch all games on the Curling Channel
Day One – 27 March
Scotland – Sweden 5 - 6
Scotland – Japan 5 - 7
Day Two – 28 March
Scotland – Canada 8-3
Scotland – USA 6-4
Day Three – 29 March
Scotland – Poland 7-2
Day Four – 30 March
Scotland – Italy 9-3
Day Five – 31 March
Scotland – Korea 7-2
Scotland – Germany 10-4
Day Six – 1 April
Scotland – China 9-3
Scotland – Norway 7-5
Day Seven – 2 April
Scotland – Switzerland 7-5
Scotland – Czechia 8-2
Day Eight – 3 April
Semi final
Scotland – Canada 7-9
Day Nine – 4 April
Bronze medal game
Scotland – USA 11-6
Gold medal game
Sweden – Canada 9-6
Images: Team Whyte 