Randy Bryden, Atina Ford Johnston leading Canadian rinks into world senior curling playoffs
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Randy Bryden's Regina-based team, representing Canada, won its fifth straight round-robin game Wednesday and qualified for the world senior men's curling championship quarter-finals in Fredericton.
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Atina Ford Johnston, who is from Gray and grew up curling in Regina before moving to Alberta, is skipping the Canadian senior women's champions, who have also qualified for the playoffs in Fredericton.
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Skipping a rink that includes teammates Troy Robinson, Russ Bryden (Randy's brother) and Chris Semenchuck, Bryden defeated Ireland's Bill Gray 9-4 in seven ends Wednesday to clinch its playoff berth.
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'We were curling the same time as Atina,' said Randy Bryden, who saw the women's team beat New Zealand 13-1.
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'We've got lots of fans here and so does Atina. So all the Canadian fans were out at the same time, wearing red hoodies and cheering for us. Atina looked really tough out there.'
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Bryden's team had a final round-robin game slated for Thursday afternoon against Bob Bomas of the Netherlands before first-round playoffs were scheduled to begin Thursday night.
'Germany looks tough and we beat England, another good team,' said Bryden. 'A medal would be great but it's gonna be a tough battle.'
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Russ and Randy Bryden were teammates on a rink that won a Canadian mixed championship in 1996. Randy's son, Josh Bryden, skipped the University of Regina men's rink to last year's USports championship and qualified for the recent FISU Games in Italy, where the team placed fourth.
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Thirty-one countries were represented in the men's event, including Nigeria, Israel, Spain and the Philippines. They were split into five pools (four of six teams; one of seven teams), with the top two finishers in each plus two third-place wildcards qualifying for the playoffs. Canada's seven-team pool also included Portugal and Belgium, countries that also aren't known as curling hotbeds.
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'It's a neat thing after the games,' said Bryden. 'We meet the other teams and they share their stories, what they've gone through to play. They play because they love the game. The team we just played, all their guys were in their 60s and one guy was 76.'
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