There could hardly be a less appropriate tune than Drop It Like It’s Hot for the curling at the Winter Olympics.
However, US superstar Snoop Dogg breezed into Cortina and left Scot Bruce Mouat speechless when he asked him for a selfie. Rapping at the roaring game was probably not on the world champion’s bingo card this week.
“I could have fainted. I’m feeling pretty good about myself right now,” he said.
“He said he’d heard about us, which was quite crazy. We wish we’d taken a photo on our phone, but I think we were just starstruck.”
Perhaps a visit from Snoop was just what Mouat needed to restore his mojo and swagger, after admitting that partner Jen Dodds had been carrying him during the first two days of competition.
He was back at his best in wins over Sweden and Korea, results which put Team GB’s pair at the top of the round-robin standings with a flawless five-from-five record.
The top four from the 10-strong group stage advance to the semi-finals and there is a familiar look to the standings, with Team GB joined at the business end of the leaderboard by the USA and Canada, who they play on Saturday, and world champions Italy.
“I’ve got my groove back, so big thanks to Snoop,” joked Mouat.
“There has been a lot of good communication with the coaches and with Jen. I felt like I woke up in a good place and I’m glad the shots proved that. I knew I just had to stay patient and keep working on my game and it would come.
“Four years ago, it was crazy because everyone was beating everyone. This time it has gone more to what the odds might suggest. We are probably looking at making sure we get to six wins, which should guarantee a semi-final place, so we’ve got a big weekend ahead.
“The flow we had was really good and we had lots of time on the clock, so that was our best game against Korea.”
A degree in advanced mathematics can be useful for working out the permutations in curling, but if Mouat and Dodds keep winning, it will be beautifully simple.
There is one other unbeaten team in the competition and Saturday sees Mouat and Dodds take them on. Americans Korey Dropkin and Corey Thiesse will not be sleeping easily at the prospect.
Canada’s Jocelyn Peterman and Brett Gallant also await, lying third in the overall standings with three wins from four.
At last year’s World Championships in New Brunswick, the Scots narrowly beat the Canadians in the round-robin stage and the Americans in the play-offs, before losing the final to Italy’s Stefania Constantini and Amos Mosaner.
“Those two games today were probably our best performances for both of us,” said Dodds.
“We said after the match with Czechia, which was too nervy, that we wanted to build and there were a couple of things we wanted to work on. We came out and executed exactly what we wanted to do.”
