Canadian teams set for playoffs at 2025 World Senior Curling Championships

It’s been perfection so far for the two Canadian entries at the 2025 World Senior Championships but the real work will begin on Friday at Willie O’Ree Place in Fredericton, N.B.

Team Randy Bryden of Regina and Team Atina Ford Johnston’s Alberta team won their round-robin finales Thursday afternoon and will carry unbeaten records into their quarterfinal matchups on Friday.

They’ll be attempting to replicate the Canadian gold-medal sweep of last year on Oestersund, Sweden, where Team Paul Flemming of Halifax and Team Susan Froud of Alliston, Ont., topped their respective podiums.

Bryden, vice-skip Troy Robinson, second Russ Bryden, lead Chris Semenchuck and alternate Glen Hill were 14-2 winners Thursday over Team Bob Bomas of the Netherlands (2-4) and will carry a 6-0 record into the playoffs.

At noon (all times Eastern) Friday they’ll take on the winner of a qualification-round matchup between Germany’s Andy Kapp (5-0) and Poland’s Team Damian Herman (3-2).

Canada is seeded fourth in the playoffs, based on its Last-Shot Draw totals, while Germany is fifth and Poland is the bottom seed of the 12 playoff teams.

“I think we have another gear,” said Robinson, who watched the last couple ends from the coaching table to give Hill some playing time. “If we can just turn it up one more gear, I think we’ll be able to at least put our best foot forward and give ’er a good shot, for sure.”

For the second straight day, Canada surrendered a stolen point in the first, but Team Bryden dominated the rest of the way, taking four in the second end and adding consecutive steals of four, one and two to pull away.

Team Bryden is making its debut wearing Canadian uniforms, and winning at the Canadian Seniors five months ago in Moncton has given the team the confidence to know it can succeed at the world level, said Robinson. 

“We battled in men’s for a long time, and never quite got to a (Brier),” he said. “Getting to the seniors a couple times and then making it to that final, and playing well in that last game, I think it gives us confidence for this going forward. But we know it’s super tough now — these final eight teams, they all look really good, and now it’s sudden death, single knockout. We’re going to play a really good team on our next game, so it’s going to be a battle.”

The Canadian women, representing clubs in Okotoks, Calgary and Sherwood Park, had a tougher time to defeat Hong Kong’s Team Ling-Yue Hung, which finished the event 0-5. 

The teams were tied 5-5 through six ends before Ford Johnston, vice-skip Shannon Morris, second Sheri Pickering, lead Cori Morris and alternate/coach Lesley McEwan rallied with a deuce in the seventh end and a stolen point in the eighth for an 8-5 victory.

“That skip, wow, did she make everything,” said Ford Johnston of her Hong Kong counterpart. “Every draw to the pin, she made it. She saved a lot of shots and kept them really close on the scoreboard, which is awesome.”

Canada, 5-0, will be seeded second going into the eight-team women’s playoffs, and will take on Sweden’s seventh-seeded Team Camilla Noreen (3-2) at 8 a.m. Friday.

Canada defeated Sweden 6-3 in round-robin play on Monday, and having a grinding game against Hong Kong was good preparation for the playoffs, said Ford Johnston.

“That’s why we’re here, is to play those tough games,” she said. “And (Hong Kong) made me think quite a bit, which was really, really good. Hopefully that helps us going into the playoffs. I always actually like to see a little dip in performance partway through the week, because then I like to see us climb that mountain again. Hopefully that’ll happen starting tomorrow morning.”

The men’s and women’s semifinals will be Friday at 6:30 p.m., with the winners playing for gold and the losers going for bronze Saturday at 9 a.m.

There is no streaming coverage planned for the World Senior Championships. For the latest scores, draw and list of teams, CLICK HERE.

The French version of this story will be posted as soon as possible at www.curling.ca/?lang=fr.