One gold, one silver and a lifetime of memories — not a bad way for Canada’s teams to spend their final day at the 2025 World Senior Championships Saturday in Fredericton.
Randy Bryden’s Regina team stretched Canada’s World Senior men’s gold-medal streak to six with a 10-7 win over Scotland’s Team Tom Brewster, while in the women’s final, it was Scotland’s Team Jackie Lockhart prevailing 10-2 over Atina Ford Johnston’s Canadian team representing clubs in Okotoks, Calgary and Sherwood Park, Alta.
“It feels good,” said Bryden with a wide smile. “A dream come true.”
The men’s final didn’t start ideally for Bryden, vice-skip Troy Robinson, second (Randy’s brother) Russ Bryden, lead Chris Semenchuck and alternate Glen Hill; Randy Bryden had a hit to potentially score a deuce, but his shooter rolled out to gift a steal of three to the Scots.
“I just told the guys, ‘Hey, it’s OK, we’ve got lots of time, we’re not going to panic here and go right after them,’ ” said Bryden. “But then, we had chances to go be aggressive (in the second end), and we did.”
They did, indeed, and it resulted in the best possible response as Bryden made a precision tap to score a game-tying three and level the ship.
“Getting three, well, it was a big relief to say, OK, let’s start again,” said Bryden.
Scotland came back with deuces in the third and sixth ends, but each time, Team Canada responded with threes in the following ends, and led 9-7 coming home. Brewster had a tough shot to score two and force an extra end but couldn’t connect, setting off the Canadian celebration.
“Super excited…What a great ending!” said Russ Bryden. “I’m very proud. There’s a lot of pressure when you’ve got the Canadian flag on your back. It’s a privilege and a pleasure to play wearing that Maple Leaf, and boy, I’m sure happy that we turned out as it was.”
In addition to being Canada’s sixth straight World Senior Men’s title, it was the 15th time in the 22-year history of the event that Canada has taken the gold. Canada has played in every World Senior Men’s gold-medal game.
In the bronze-medal game, Team Mike Farbelow of the United States stole the winning point in the eighth end for a 6-5 triumph over Team Tomi Rantamaki of Finland.
The women’s final, meanwhile, was a tight game early on. Ford Johnston, backed up by vice-skip Shannon Morris, second Sheri Pickering, lead Cori Morris, alternate/coach Lesley McEwan, was able to force the Scots to a single in the first end, and drew to the four-foot for a single in the second.
In the third, Ford Johnston’s double-takeout attempt jammed and allowed Lockhart to draw for two.
The game turned in the fourth when Ford Johnston was heavy on her draw to the four-foot for a single, allowing Scotland to steal three.
Scotland then stole four more an end later and earned the concession after six ends.
“We just couldn’t seem to make things work,” said Ford Johnston. “I know (Scotland) had those rocks in the quarterfinal, too, so they knew this ice and we hadn’t curled on this sheet and so we were kind of guessing. But that’s neither here nor there because we just had to play a little bit better and we didn’t, so that’s OK. We’re pretty happy.”
It was the fourth time Canada has won silver at the World Senior Women’s to go along with a leading 15 gold medals. It was Scotland’s fourth World Senior Women’s title, the second most in the event’s history.
“Who would have thought we’d ever be in a World Senior Championship?” said Ford Johnston. “We actually don’t curl together; we curl only in playdowns together otherwise we’re in separate curling clubs and separate leagues. We practised more together than we’ve ever practised and look what we accomplished, so we’re pretty happy with what we did. It would have been nice to finish it off a little closer than that, but that’s OK; Scotland has a fantastic team so they deserve it.”
In the bronze-medal game, Dale Sinclair (who lives in St. Thomas, Ont.) skipped Ireland to a 6-4 victory over Japan’s Team Miyako Yoshimura.
The French version of this story will be posted as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/?lang=fr.
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