One of the world’s best curling teams of the moment has won the Scottish Mercure Perth Masters title for the second consecutive year.

The Canadian Mike McEwen and his curling team are a force to be reckoned with on the ice and certainly presented a tough challenge for the players at the first international competition of the year.

Out of a field of 32 teams more than half were Scottish and thrived on the world class standard of play and rising to the challenge.

But, McEwen raised the bar too high for there to be any other true contender for the title.

The closest threat came from fellow countryman and 2006 Olympic champion Brad Gushue in the semi-final which was a tight contest where both sides played with such precision that pressure mounted with each side waiting to pounce on any error made.

A triple take-out from McEwen’s team in the seventh end gave him an advantage which he duly capitalised on to win.

McEwen’s fight for the title in the final turned out to be more one-sided than expected.

Play from the European Champion Ulsrud fell short of the level set by the Canadians who eventually closed the game at 6-3 in six ends.

Mike said: “It was too bad that the final was a little of an anti-climax.

“We were throwing and playing well and it tended to be that after we made a good shot Thomas and his team would miss a shot that normally they would easily make,

The Canadian skip said that the Perth competition had become one of his team’s favourite trips of the year – probably made sweeter by their 100% success rate. He said: “Hopefully the schedule works out to let us come back. We really like it here from the atmosphere of being in a strong curling country, to the golf and the cobble stoned streets.”

McEwen and his team now have their sights set on qualifying for the Canadian national championships and then the Olympics in 2014.

IN DETAIL

Scots benefit from world class curling in Perth