FREDERICTON -- Regina’s Randy Bryden is going for gold at the World Senior Men’s Curling Championship.
Bryden and his Team Canada foursome of third Troy Robinson, second Russ Bryden and lead Chris Semenchuk found themselves in another battle in their semifinal meeting with Finland’s Tomi Rantamaki but would take a 6-3 victory to advance to the title game on Saturday morning in Fredericton.
Canada got off to a good start in the contest, picking up a single point in the first end and after Rantamaki blanked the second, would go up 2-0 with a steal of one in the third. Finland picked up a deuce in the fourth end to tie things up, but Bryden would get that right back in the first end he had the hammer, scoring two for a 4-2 edge.
The teams then exchanged single points the next two ends before Canada stole one in the eighth to secure the victory.
Bryden will now face Scotland in the gold medal game after Tom Brewster, third Frazer Hare, second Robbie Stevenson and lead Don Frame rolled to a 10-1 victory over the United States’ Mike Farbelow in the other semifinal.
That contest was close until the sixth end, when Brewster scored three to take a 6-1 lead. A steal of four the next end would bring things to an early finish.
Bryden qualified for the playoff round after putting together a perfect 6-0 record in the round robin and then continued his undefeated run by downing Germany’s Andy Kapp 6-5 in the semifinal on Friday morning.
Scotland put together a 4-1 record and was the second qualifier out of Group D behind Germany. Brewster has been on a roll since, though, taking a 10-2 win over England’s Ken Horton in their qualification meeting and then defeating Switzerland’s Dieter Wueest 8-3 in their quarter-final.
Canada has appeared in the final every year since the tournament’s inception in 2002 and has won the last five world senior men’s championships.
The gold medal game is set for 7 a.m. Saskatchewan time on Saturday, and you can follow along with all the action by clicking right here.
