Having cruised through the round-robin with just one defeat – against Switzerland after their qualification was already confirmed – the last-four loss to the Swedes, and particularly the manner of it, would have been chastening to the GB duo
Two-time world junior bronze medallist and BBC Sport pundit Logan Gray suspects Dodds and Mouat might not have fully recovered from that by the time they returned to the ice fewer than 24 hours later.
“It’s always the hardest thing to do, get yourself back up and go again in the bronze game,” he said. “I think there was a bit of a hangover there in the first few ends.
“The Olympics only comes once every four years and, no matter what’s happened in the round robin, it’s a brand new competition in the play-offs. The pressure goes up tenfold, and that can create little cracks here and there in communication, leadership, tactical decisions.
“You end up trying to overcomplicate things, overcorrect shots, and it’s just a perfect storm. I think that’s what we’ve seen these past two days.”
The challenge for the two of them now is recovering for their respective team competitions.
Mouat is back on the ice with his men’s rink – who are gold-medal favourites – against China on Wednesday, while Dodds at least gets a day off before her women’s team face the Chinese on Thursday (both 18:05 GMT).
Four-time Olympian and former world champion and BBC Sport pundit Jackie Lockhart hopes that having suffered mixed disappointment before might actually help them this time in Italy.
“It’s a terrible thing to say, but it’s good for them in a way that they’ve been there before and come back to win medals,” she said.
“They’re professional athletes and they have to know how to park it. They’ll be able to cry about this in a few months but it is done for now and there’s something else in front of them.”
