Germany and Scotland men to play for gold

With places in the gold medal game on the line, the men’s semi-finals saw Germany face Norway and Scotland play Switzerland.

Germany versus Norway

Germany were leading the game by 2-1 after two ends. In the third, Norway skip Magnus Ramsfjell was attempting to draw for one, but missed and gave up a steal of four to give Germany a 6-1 lead.

Germany were leading by 7-2 at the break. Norway blanked the sixth and seventh end, and were hoping to blank the eighth as well. However, Magnus Ramsfjell’s attempted double take-out didn’t turn out as he planned it, and Norway gave up a steal of one. After this, Norway conceded the game, 8-2, and Germany secured a place in the final.

German skip Marc Muskatewitz said after the game, “Yes, really looking forward [to the final] and tomorrow we go all in on the ice.”

Scotland versus Switzerland

The other semi-final saw Switzerland take on defending champions Scotland. The Scots started strong and led, 4-2, going into the break. The game continued to be back-and-forth but by the tenth end, the Scots led by 8-5.

Switzerland’s fourth player Benoit Schwarz-van Berkel then played a hit on a Scottish stone to score three points and tie the game at 8-8, forcing an extra end.

In that extra end, Scotland’s skip Bruce Mouat played a double take-out to score two points and win the game by 10-8. He said after the game, “[the final] should be a really good game, Germany have been playing amazing all season, so let’s go.”

This will be a fifth gold medal final appearance by Scotland’s Mouat and his team, who have won all four previous European titles they have played for.

Scotland celebrate their semi-final win © World Curling / James Roberts

The bronze medal game will be played on Friday 22 November at 19:00. The gold medal final will take place on Saturday 23 November at 15:00. Times are EET (Eastern European Time) which is Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) +2 hours.