STATELINE, Nev. — Bruce Mouat has won 12 Grand Slam of Curling men's championships, but none of the others were quite like this one.
Mouat and his Scottish squad captured the KIOTI GSOC Tahoe title Sunday after edging Canada's Team Matt Dunstone 7-6 by mere millimetres in a shootout.
After Mouat tied it up with a deuce in the eighth end, Dunstone drew first and landed 9.8 cm from the pinhole. That might have been a winner another time, but Mouat made it to the button as well and was a hair closer at 9.5 cm.
The team of Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr. completed an undefeated 7-0 run through the first international Grand Slam of Curling tournament and cashed in $42,000 from the prize purse.
"That one was incredible," Mouat said. "The tense moment at the end there, it's like even when it came to rest, we still didn't know who won. I had to ask the boys like three times — ‘Did we win? Did we win?’ — because no one was really celebrating. It was a hard-fought game for sure."
"It doesn't get any closer than that," Hardie added. "First, I think we feel really bad for Team Dunstone because they played a phenomenal game there. It was a proper final.
"They pushed us all the way and a little bit fortunate to get over the line, but just incredible to close out there and squeak it by whatever it was 0.3 of a centimetre. Just great."
Half of Mouat's 12 titles have come since the start of last season. The team set a Grand Slam record by becoming the first to win four titles in a single season during the 2024-25 campaign. Mouat also defeated Dunstone to take the CO-OP Tour Challenge last month in Nisku, Alta.,
"One was crazy at the time, so the run that we've been on over the last two years has been insane for us," Mouat said. "We're absolutely buzzing to kind of be getting close to the great names that are on this trophy and the likes of the best players in our sport. We're insanely gracious and grateful to be able to come and play the Slams."
Sunday was the latest chapter between the two skips who graduated from the 2016 World Junior Curling Championships. Mouat claimed the gold medal in that event, with Dunstone bringing home bronze.
Mouat won the last stone draw shot challenge to secure the hammer to start. That proved pivotal as Mouat converted for a deuce in the first. Both skips made a mockery of a tiny port, with Mouat making it through a second time to hit and stick for two.
Dunstone responded with a pair in the second, though. Mouat couldn't clear the double, allowing Dunstone to hit the exposed shot rock, with some great brushing from E.J. and Ryan Harnden, plus Colton Lott behind the tee line, to tie it up.
After singles back and forth, it was a rare whiff from Mouat as his peel attempt to blank the fifth just kissed Dunstone's rock to give up a steal and a 4-3 lead.
Mouat hit off and in to remove Dunstone's shot rock in the sixth, but he couldn't move the second one far enough to score more than a single to tie it back up.
Dunstone dislodged Mouat's shot rock to score two points and retake the lead in seven, but a miss on his last in eighth that left his shot rock exposed allowed Mouat to hit for two and force the thrilling shootout.
"We've obviously been in there for a bit of a hot run and things were coming easy, but this week it's been a right, very good battle," Hardie said. "Last night against (Yannick) Schwaller (in the semifinals), those boys made everything, and we just found a way to get over the line in the end.
"Somewhere today, we weren't at our best but made big shots again and nearly made that phenomenal shot in six, which would have turned the game too, but dug in there after that. Just really proud of the guys to get over the line."
"We never roll over," Mouat added. "We always make sure that we're trying to put as much pressure on the other team as possible and that's what we do. Sometimes we get the miss and sometimes we don't."
The final was the lone loss of the week for Dunstone, who collected $34,000 from the prize purse. The Winnipeg-based club was playing in a third consecutive Grand Slam final, having won the AMJ Masters in September, as Dunstone earned his second career title in the series.
