Great Britain secure second place on rankings after fourth win at Olympic Winter Games

Great Britain played Germany in Sunday morning’s sixth men’s round-robin session and secured their fourth win to sit in second on the rankings.

The Brits took immediate control in the first end when skip Bruce Mouat played a take-out on a German stone to score two points.

Bruce Mouat, Great Britain © World Curling / Celine Stucki

After blanking the second end, the Germans responded in the third, when their skip Marc Muskatewitz also played a take-out for two points, levelling the game at 2-2. Great Britain responded in the fourth end when Mouat played a tap-back on a German stone, to score two more and take a 4-2 lead.

In the fifth, Muskatewitz’s draw attempt could not get inside a British stone sitting just short of the button, and he handed Great Britain a steal of one and a 5-2 lead at the break.

Grant Hardie, Great Britain © World Curling / Celine Stucki

Germany then blanked the sixth end, but gave up another steal of two in the seventh, when Muskatewitz had a complete miss on a double take-out attempt. This improved the British lead to 7-2.

Germany responded in the eighth end with a double take-out for two. Great Britain led at 7-4 in the ninth and added another two points with a draw by Mouat, leaving Germany to concede with a final score of 9-4 to Great Britain.

This win for the British quartet leaves them in a clear second place on the rankings, on four wins and one loss, behind unbeaten leaders Switzerland who were not scheduled to play in this session.

Bobby Lammie, Great Britain © World Curling / Celine Stucki

After the game, Mouat said, “We’re feeling pretty good. It’s been a really good couple of days for us — we’ve bounced back after that disappointing game against Italy. I think we’re playing really well, we’re creating a lot of chances, we’re starting off games really strong which is putting us in good positions and we’re managing to hold on to it really well.”

“We started off the game really strong. The two was really important — it gives you that jump and it becomes a nine-end game with the two-lead advantage.”

More generally, he added, “I’m really enjoying myself, the arena is so cool, the fans have been excellent, the atmosphere within the arena has been so much fun to play in front of. Obviously within the round robin the excitement is starting to build and we’re starting to see a lot of teams beat each other, so it’s going to be interesting to see the next couple of days.”

There have been passionate crowds in the audience, but despite the noise, Mouat said, “Staying focused is the simple part for us. We’ve played in enough tournaments at this point to know if we focus on ourselves that’s when we play the best.”

United States of America — one of the youngest teams in the men’s event — faced defending champions Sweden in this session.

The Americans had the first breakthrough in the fourth end when good team build-up play let their skip Daniel Casper draw for three points and a 4-2 lead.

Luc Violette, United States of America © World Curling / Celine Stucki

After this, Sweden could not really get back on terms, and a single steal in the seventh and a score of two in the ninth were enough to give the Americans an 8-5 win that keeps them within range of the semi-finals. With just one win so far, Sweden are hanging on by a thread.

After the game, Casper said, “It was a good game, we just keep focussing on what we can control, which is how we treat each other, how we speak to each other, how we read the ice and you know the shots will come with that. I think we just had grit — I made a couple mistakes myself but they picked me up. I missed one, which was an easy force, and they had to draw for two. But just the way we bounced back, we just kept on chugging along.”

Speaking about the exciting atmosphere in the arena, he said, “To me, the noise and everything, I embrace it, I want it, I love to hear it. It’s part of my routine, I don’t really think of it as something I have to tune out, it’s something that I’m waiting for.”

Ben Richardson, United States of America © World Curling / Celine Stucki

There was only one other game in this session, between hosts Italy and Norway. The teams were level at 1-1 as they played the fourth end. In this end, Norway’s Magnus Ramsfjell cleared out an Italian stone to score three points and take a 4-1 lead. However, in the fifth, Italy’s skip Joel Retornaz played a double take-out to score four points and take a 5-4 lead into the break.

After nine ends, Italy held a 7-6 lead but, in the tenth, Ramsfjell played a double take-out to score four points and win the game by 10-7.