FREDERICTON -- A week of domination has ended in the best way possible: Randy Bryden and his Regina Callie rink are the World Senior Men’s Curling champions.
Bryden and his Team Canada foursome of third Troy Robinson, second Russ Bryden, lead Chris Semenchuck and alternate Glen Hill capped an undefeated week with a 10-7 win over Scotland’s Tom Brewster in the gold medal game on Saturday morning.
The title game proved to be anything but easy, as the teams exchanged big ends from start to finish.
Brewster -- who came into the contest with five appearances at the men’s world championship and the silver medal in the 2014 Olympics under his belt -- got off to a great start, stealing three in the first end.
That wasn’t unusual for Bryden though, as teams had picked up points on Canada without the hammer in the opening frame on a few occasions during the week, and he’d respond quickly with three of his own in the second to tie things up.
Scotland followed with a pair in the third, after which Bryden took his first lead of the game with another three ender in the fourth for a 6-5 edge. Brewster then blanked the fifth and took a pair in the sixth to go up by one with two ends to go.
That set the stage for the pivotal seventh end, where Canada would score three for a 9-7 lead and control of the contest coming home. Brewster would be unable to pull off a raise takeout on a Bryden counter in the four foot on his final shot in the eighth end, Bryden would steal one, and the world championship was his.
Here’s how that moment looked:
It was an outstanding week from start to finish for Bryden and crew in Fredericton, as after going to an extra end to defeat Belgium in their first game, they dominated the rest of the round robin and would finish with a 6-0 record.
Thanks to that placing and their solid showing in the Draw Shot Challenge throughout the week, Canada advanced straight to the quarter-finals where they took a 6-5 win over Germany’s Andy Kapp. Next up were the semifinals, where things were slightly more comfortable in a 6-3 win over Finland’s Tomi Rantamaki.
The United States’ Mike Farbelow stole one in the eighth to defeat Finland for bronze.
Canada has appeared in the final every year since the tournament’s inception in 2002 and has now won the last six world senior men’s championships.
Okotoks, Alta.’s Atina Ford Johnston -- who grew up curling in Regina -- didn’t have as much luck in her gold medal game, giving up nine points in the middle three ends to drop a 10-2 decision to Scotland’s Jackie Lockhart.
Ireland’s Dale Sinclair defeated Japan’s Miyako Yoshimura 6-4 to win the senior women’s bronze medal.
