CANDADIAN WOMEN TAKE BRONZE AT FISU GAMES; MEN FINISH FOURTH
Ultimately, it wasn’t the colour they wanted, but Canada’s women’s team at the FISU World University Games in Torino, Italy are happy to return home with some hardware, nonetheless.
After dropping the semifinal to a hot Japan team, the squad from the University of Alberta – skipped by Serena Gray-Withers – found themselves battling for bronze.
“Japan played exceptionally well in the semifinal,” said Gray-Withers. “Every time we started to gain some momentum, the Japanese skip [Yuina Miura] would make an excellent shot to take the end away from us.”
While the 6-5 loss was a tough pill to swallow for the Canadians, there was still a medal on the line Wednesday morning vs. Norway.
“We are gritty and determined,” said Gray-Withers of her Panda teammates Catherine Clifford, Briana Cullen, and Zoe Cinnamon. “We were still focused on bringing home a medal.”
The bronze-medal match was all Canada. Leading 3-1 in the fourth end, Gray-Withers put the nail in the coffin with a triple-runback takeout for three, and a five-point lead.
“We bounced back really strongly,” said Clifford. “We had the performance we wanted to in a big game.”
The U of A Pandas (supported by coach Rob Krepps, alternate Gracelyn Richards, and team leader Helen Radford) cemented the bronze medal with a conservative second half, finishing with a 7-3 result.
-“We’re so excited to bring a medal home to Canada,” said Clifford. “We put together a strong performance all week… I know the girls and I can head home to Canada knowing we put out heart into every game and represented Canada to the best of our abilities.”
The men’s team from the Univeristy of Regina was also battling for a bronze medal in their match versus Switzerland.
The Swiss built an early lead, stealing their way to a 4-0 lead after four ends. The Canadians – Josh Bryden, Adam Bukurak, Carter Williamson, and Ayden Wittmire (along with bench coach Ryan Grabarczyk and head coach Jamie Schneider) – tried to gain some momentum in the second half but couldn’t get much going, leading to a 6-1 final.
“Our last two games we didn’t play nearly as well as we could have,” said skip Bryden.”So it’s a bit disappointing knowing we could have done better, and we had more to offer. I guess sometimes it’s just not your day and not meant to be.”
He continued, “I’m still super proud of the team for how far we have come over the last few years – placing fourth in the world is a pretty neat accomplishment.”
Gold medals will be awarded on Wednesday. In the women’s event, Japan will face South Korea, while the U.S.A. will take on Norway on the men’s side.
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