NISKU, Alta. — It was a “Stirling derby” played at a neutral site as Team Ross Whyte and Team James Craik faced off during Draw 6 of the Co-op Canadian Open at the Silent Ice Center.
The two Scottish squads have met many times back home and their friendly rivalry now continues on this side of the pond in the Grand Slam of Curling.
Whyte, who defeated Craik in the Scottish Curling Championships final last season, emerged victorious this time with a 5-2 victory.
“It’s brilliant to see them progressing as a team,” Whyte said. “They’re getting better every year. We always know when we’re coming out here and see them on our side of the draw, it’s going to be a tough game and we’re going to have to go out there and play well. It’s always fun. We’re good pals but when we get out on the ice, it’s a good competition.”
Although Whyte didn’t start with the hammer, he opened the scoring with a single steal in the second as Craik had to make a draw against three counters and came up just short of shot rock.
After Craik regrouped and drew for a single point in the third, Whyte made the most of his first opportunity with the hammer and capped a strong end with a draw to score three points.
“It was very key,” Whyte said. “It was a well-played end by us. We set our stones in the right spots and thankfully, we got a miss here and there and led to us having a draw for three, which was a big breaking point in the game.”
Craik hit for another lone point in the fifth, but Whyte matched with a single in the seventh and ran his opponent out of rocks in the eighth end.
“We don’t mind rocks in play,” Whyte said. “We’re a team that likes points on the board — well, preferably in our way — but we don’t mind if it’s a high-scoring game. We’re very comfortable with lots of rocks in play and hopefully, in the right spots for us.”
Whyte moved up to a 2-0 round-robin record alongside fellow Scottish club Team Bruce Mouat, who beat Team Rylan Kleiter of Saskatoon 8-1.
Mouat is back in the grove after capturing his seventh Grand Slam title last month at the HearingLife Tour Challenge.
‘It feels good,” Mouat said. “The boys and I haven’t played a lot together since the last Slam, so it’s nice to get back onto the ice together and have things flowing similar to what they were before.”
Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr. have been keeping busy on the ice, just not in men’s play.
“Myself, Bobby and Grant were playing mixed doubles,” Mouat said. “We had a week-long trip in Switzerland where we played two events and then Hammy was back training at the NCA (National Curling Academy) in Scotland. We hadn’t really seen Hammy that much, but we’d all been throwing at least, so that was important.
“Then we came back last week and managed to have a good week, a solid block of training. Things started to flow again, which was nice.”
Elsewhere in Draw 6, Team Joël Retornaz of Italy doubled up on Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers 8-4 and Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin scored five points in the sixth end during an 8-6 win over Switzerland’s Team Michael Brunner.
Retornaz and Edin remain undefeated at 2-0. Carruthers, Brunner, Kleiter and Craik have all dropped to 0-2 and must win their next games to stay in playoff contention.
UP NEXT
Two more draws are on tap Wednesday as round-robin play continues with Draw 7 at 6 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. MT.
Coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ begins Thursday at 2 p.m. ET / noon MT.
NOTES
The Co-op Canadian Open is the second Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening. The top eight teams advance to the playoffs. If necessary, one tiebreaker draw will be played Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with both finals on tap Sunday.