CANADIANS TO PLAY FOR FISU BRONZE

BOTH CANADIAN TEAMS LOSE SEMIFINALS AT FISU WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES

Canada will have to wait two more years, at least, before another FISU World University Games gold medal.  

With two teams in the hunt for gold on Tuesday, hopes were dashed by the evening as both the men from the University of Regina and the women from the University of Alberta lost their semifinal matchups – albeit in different fashions. 

The men – Josh Bryden, Adam Bukurak, Carter Williamson, and Ayden Wittmire  – stumbled out of the gates against the United States and trailed 8-0 after three ends.  

“Yeah, we had a really tough start to the game,” said skip Bryden. “We started to battle back but ran out of time.” 

Although a strong Canadian second half brought the game within four, it was too little, too late. The Americans won 8-4. 

“We started playing well the last few ends so gained some confidence for tomorrow,” said Bryden. “There’s lots of lessons to be learned from that game. It was a very bad beat and we know we could have played so much better… It’s over so now it’s focusing on winning our last one. Key to regroup for tomorrow is to just play loose and play like we can.” 

The Canadians will face Switzerland in the bronze medal game, while the Americans will take on Norway for gold. 

The women’s game was a much closer affair. While it was tied after four, Japan scored two in the fifth end. With the last shot of the sixth, Canadian skip Serena Gray-Withers nearly made a precise draw-tap for two, but it just over-curled, and Canada was forced to settle for one.  

Japan added two in the seventh to take a three-point lead to the eighth. Gray-Withers had a nearly-impossible hit and stick for three with the last rock, but over-curled again and scored two, making the final score 6-5 for Japan. 

The Canadian women – Gray-Withers, Catherine Clifford, Briana Cullen, and Zoe Cinnamon – will face Norway for the bronze medal.  Japan meanwhile will take on South Korea for the gold medal.