U of R skip Bryden follows family tradition as elite-level curler
Josh Bryden, whose family name is well-known in Saskatchewan curling circles, skipped the University of Regina men's rink to a U Sports championship earlier this month in Fredericton.
Bryden and teammates Adam Bukurak, Carter Williamson and Ryan Grabarczyk scored five in the eighth end against Dalhousie, which got two back in the ninth before shaking hands to concede an 8-5 defeat.
“My dad won provincial seniors the same weekend,” said Josh Bryden, whose father Randy and uncle Russ were on a Regina-based squad, along with Troy Robinson and Chris Semenchuck, that won the Saskatchewan men's event March 17 in Melfort.
“It was a good weekend for our family.”
Randy and Russ Bryden were also teammates on the 1996 Canadian mixed championship squad that was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2014. Their sister, Renelle, skipped women's teams that qualified for provincial playdowns and major bonspiels.
Their dad (and Josh's grandfather), Gary, skipped the 1998 Canadian senior men's champions. Gary's rink, a 2006 hall inductee, also won a Tankard in 1984 and represented Saskatchewan at the Brier.
“I pretty much grew up curling and watching Dad play, so I guess I was meant for it,” said Josh, who recalled playing youth league games in public school and advancing to high-school competition at Campbell Collegiate, where he first started playing with longtime third Bukurak.
“To build our team you've gotta see who's going to the U of R and get some guys you've heard of. The current year is kind of a small group, so you start looking for people you play against. With Ryan Grabarczyk, we played against him lots. (Fifth) Ayden Whittmire joined the club and he's a great guy, so he's on the team. Adam and Carter, we curl together competitively, outside the university, Tuesday nights in Kronau and Wednesday nights our club team plays at the Callie in the Woodsy Super League.”
Pull together those three Regina curlers with Williamson, from Dauphin, and Lethbridge's Whittmire, then add venerable Jamie Schneider as the coach and voila! Regina earned its second university title and first since Chris Busby's rink won in 2009.
Schneider was named U Sport's coach of the year during the championship event.
“We play in a little bit of an older league,” said Josh Bryden. “But there's lots of great competition because all those guys are so smart skipping-wise. They know the game inside and out because they've been doing it so long, so they can out-think you. But that really teaches us.”
The university team played in the Regina Men's Bonspiel before heading to the Canada West championships Jan. 19-21 in Edmonton, where they earned the final nationals qualifying berth by placing second. In Fredericton they also earned the last playoff spot with a 4-3 record before defeating Alberta and Dalhousie, higher-ranked teams that had beaten them in the round robin.
“It was tricky,” said Bryden. “We were kinda figuring things out with the ice, but we kept getting better each game. Our goal was to put us in a spot to allow us to win and that was really anywhere in the playoffs. Once we got there we played really well on the Saturday (beating Alberta in the semifinal) and right through.”
The team has qualified to represent Canada at the eight-team FISU championships in January in Italy. There are more bonspiels to play this season before the school year ends. Then there's off-season training for Italy.
“The ice in Regina goes into the clubs at the end of August or early September,” said Bryden, who expects his team to reunite next season and challenge again for a Canada West and U Sports title.
“We'll see what we're doing over the summer, if we're training and going to the gym. When the ice goes in it'll be right back at it.”