ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Bruce Mouat scored another hat trick in the Grand Slam of Curling.
Mouat and his Scottish squad earned a third consecutive men’s title in the series after defeating Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs 5-3 during Sunday’s final at the KIOTI National.
It’s also the ninth Grand Slam championship for Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr., who finished the tournament with a 6-1 record to cash in $38,000 from the prize purse.
Team Mouat won three straight Slams in 2021 after sweeping the Champions Cup and Players’ Championship in the Calgary bubble then defeated Jacobs, coincidentally enough, to take the Masters the following season in Oakville, Ont.
Mouat also took sole possession of fourth place on the all-time men’s skip title wins list as he was previously tied with Wayne Middaugh. Kevin Martin (18), Brad Gushue (15) and Glenn Howard (14) are the only curlers who have won more as a skip than Mouat.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion Jacobs, who entered the final with an unblemished record, opened with the hammer but couldn’t convert and was limited to a single in the first.
Jacobs forced Mouat to draw for one point in the second to tie it up and played the waiting game blanking back-to-back ends. Mouat split up the house to prevent a third straight blank in the fifth as Jacobs drew for a single with his shooter hitting the brakes just in time at the back of the eight-foot circle.
After Jacobs attempted an in-off in six that didn’t work out, Mouat capitalized with a draw for the game’s first deuce to jump ahead for the first time in the game and take a 3-2 lead.
Mouat made any double attempt impossible in seven by hitting and rolling to the other side of the house as Jacobs hit and stuck around for the tying single.
That gave Mouat the hammer coming home and an open hit to tack two points on the scoreboard sealed the championship.
Mouat won the HearingLife Tour Challenge in October and the Co-op Canadian Open last month, defeating the other Brad — Gushue that is — during both finals.
It was the first Grand Slam final for Jacobs since joining third Marc Kennedy, second Brett Gallant and lead Ben Hebert. Jacobs departed Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers at the end of last season and linked up with the Calgary-based trio after they parted ways with skip Brendan Bottcher.
Team Jacobs banked $34,000 from the prize purse for going undefeated through round-robin play and finishing runner-up.
Despite eliminating the hometown hero Gushue in the quarterfinals, and getting the Mary Brown’s Centre crowd riled up, Jacobs had nothing but praise during his pre-game interview on Sportsnet, saying it was “one of the coolest experiences for us ever” and “we need more curling fans like you all across the world.”
Earlier Sunday, Canada’s Team Rachel Homan defeated Sweden’s Team Anna Hasselborg 6-5 to win the KIOTI National women’s title. It was a record-extending 17th Grand Slam of Curling women’s championship for Homan.
UP NEXT
The Grand Slam of Curling resumes in the new year with the WFG Masters, Jan. 14-19, at the Sleeman Centre in Guelph, Ont.
