12 years on from masterminding Canada’s last Olympic curling gold, skip Brad Jacobs broke British hearts once again, defeating Bruce Mouat’s rink 9-6 in an edgy final to condemn GB to being bridesmaids once again.
24 years to the day since Rhona Howie’s infamous ‘Stone of Destiny’, Mouat could not replicate that great escape. It was silver again for the Beijing runners-up, who despite being comfortably the best team of the last two years could not make that advantage count on Saturday night.
For Jacobs’ team of veterans – Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert were both champions on home turf in Vancouver 16 years ago – it was sweet revenge after defeat to Team Mouat in the 2023 world championships.
And it was redemption too for the much-maligned Kennedy, who has twice been accused of cheating by different opponents in the round robin, in a fiasco which threatened to overshadow the entire tournament. Kennedy was on his best behaviour under the lights on Saturday, delivering (within the rules) when it mattered, with the drama over illegal double-touching having quietened somewhat after a fractious group stage.
This was a very different game to the two sides’ round robin meeting, when GB lost 9-5 on the same sheet after a slew of uncharacteristic mistakes. They were second-best for much of the round robin, scraping into the knockouts after other results went their way, but were back to near their electric best with a semi-final win over unbeaten Switzerland, and the fans crowded into Cortina’s Curling Olympic Stadium were hoping for more of the same.
An edgy, attritional affair swung the way of Mouat’s defending world champions at the start, but Canada’s experienced crew came back in the final three ends, scoring three in the ninth to leave GB needing to score at least two – something which had been difficult to achieve in a low-scoring final thus far.
And it proved an insurmountable deficit, leaving GB on the verge of tears – and with another four years to wait before another chance at redemption.
An emotional Mouat said: “I am just a bit in shock. We felt like we were probably the better team there.”
Grant Hardie, the vice-skip and third, said: “We wanted to win it for each other. The pain from four years ago was that much, we thought let’s go and give it another go. We gave ourselves the chance. So much good work to try and redeem ourselves but unfortunately we’ve not got there again.”
Since heartbreak in Beijing four years ago Mouat’s team have won two world titles, another two European crowns, and amassed eight of their record 12 Grand Slam titles. They have been dominant but the one thing they lacked was being on the winning side of an Olympic final, with the memories of 2022 no doubt burned into their brains.
Canada skip Jacobs meanwhile presided over their 2014 Olympic gold, with current GB coaches Michael Goodfellow and Greg Drummond on the losing side that day in Sochi. (So was skip David Murdoch, who has since jumped ship to become Canada’s high performance director.)
So this was a contest between proven winners at Olympic level and the best team of the last two years: the final both sides, and many neutrals, had dreamed of.
And as many had expected, it was a tight, cagey affair, with the sense that this most momentous of finals would be decided by the slightest of mistakes here or there.
As millions sat fixated on their TV screens, Mouat’s rink, the bridesmaids of Beijing, edged in front.
GB restricted the Canadians, who had the hammer, to just one in the first end after a mistake by Jacobs. Mouat appeared so unbothered by what was going on that he nipped to the loo while Jacobs took his final shot of the end.
Jacobs failed to displace two reds in the second end and Mouat continued a confident start with a relatively simple shot for two, before clearing a house of three Canada stones to stay level in the fourth.
Canada led 4-3 at the break after the fifth end, but failed to blank the end and retain the hammer after a slightly underbaked shot by Jacobs, with GB taking a slim advantage into the sixth.
Mouat is renowned for his brilliant tactical brain and some superb shotmaking has got his team out of trouble this week. A run back triple takeout against Switzerland in the semi-final turned the game on its head, and GB carried that momentum all the way to victory.
And in the sixth end that brilliance was apparent: even the usually impassive Scot allowed himself a quiet fist bump after a superb double takeout with a tricky final shot, scoring two to lead 5-4.
But as the ends ticked by and scoring remained hard to come by, it came down to who blinked first. The analytical, clear-headed Hardie has been excellent all week but his face indicated he wasn’t happy with how a key shot fell in an edgy eighth end, and a few scrappy mistakes by GB meant they had to settle for one with the hammer.
Canada were second-best early on but their experience began to count as they pulled ahead in the ninth end. Mouat tried a thin double but could only take out one stone, and the 2014 champions took three to lead 8-6 into the final end.
Jacobs’ final stone drifted out to ensure the deficit wasn’t as bad, with Canada aiming for four, but the grimaces on cousins McMillan and Hardie’s faces said it all. Lammie slapped his brush head onto the next rink. From a position of strength, Britain were fading badly.
The pattern of play at least meant Britain had the hammer in the 10th. A lone bagpipe player – having smuggled the instrument past security – tried a jaunty tune to perk them up, but the largely GB-supporting crowd – who had been so raucous at the start – were beginning to deflate.
The house was rapidly crammed with stones, and a fine shot by Kennedy left Canada lying two up with one stone remaining.
A perfectly angled shot by Hardie cleared both the yellows but Jacobs responded in kind, leaving GB on the brink of defeat.
And with the house cleared Mouat’s final stone wasn’t enough. A broad smile broke out on Kennedy’s face as the teams shook hands. Canada leapt into each others arms while Mouat waved, a sad smile on his face, to the Tartan Army up in the stands.
The flag-waving faithful cheered them off regardless, but it was heartbreak again for Team Mouat, who remain without the one trophy they crave the most. The best team in the world, bar once every four years.
