Ryan, the two-time men's world champion in 1989 and 1994, defeated
Japan's Akinori Kashiwagi 11-1. The Canadians stole five points over
the first four ends and added an enormous steal of five in the fifth
end to salt the game away.
"It's really good ice," said Ryan. "It's got a nice surface to it and a nice curl.
"The rocks all have their own personalities, which is always nice."
Ryan, a Seniors sophomore who won his national championship a year ago
but lost in this year's provincial final, isn't sure he will compete
next year.
"I don't think I will," Ryan said. "With my job, it's pretty
difficult. Maybe out of British Columbia, the schedule might be better
and I have some friends there."
Ryan was referring to his 1994 world champion teammates, headed by Rick Folk.
"Two of them have been playing Seniors for a few years now," said Ryan.
One sheet over, Germany's Klaus Unterlaub handled Denmark's Allan
Plough by a 7-2 count. Sweden and Germany sit in second place at 5-1,
and Unterlaub meets Canada on Thursday.
"We are pretty confident," said Unterlaub, who is appearing in his sixth World Seniors.
"The only problem is the illness. We only have one man who does not have it."
A stomach flu bug has run rampant through the Senior Men's and Women's event, as well as the adjacent World Mixed Doubles Championship.
"We don't know if it's food poisoning or a virus," said Unterlaub.
In other pool action, Wales defeated Estonia 8-5 and Switzerland thumped Russia 10-2.
The second 9-team men's pool sees Finland out in front at 6-0
following a tight 5-3 victory over Italy. Skip Mauno Nummila let out
another scream of victory after drawing the foor-foot circle for the
victory, a sound which has become quite common at the venue. The
excitable Nummila is competing in his fifth World Seniors and has
never qualified for the playoffs.
Scotland and the United States lurk one game behind Finland at 5-1.
The Scots defeated Ireland 9-4 while the Americans were in the fourth
end of their match with Norway and leading 9-0 when the three-man
Norwegian squad withdrew due to illness.
In the other pool match, New Zealand outscored Iceland 9-5.
The Finnish Curling Association is posting live results online of both
Championships. The World Mixed Doubles results are available at:
www.curling.fi/en/competitions/leagues/2688 and the World Seniors can be viewed at: www.curling.fi/en/competitions/leagues/2687
In addition, results are mirrored on the World Curling Federation website at: http://results.worldcurling.org
The host websites for the Championships are: www.wmdcc2008.com (World Mixed Doubles) and: www.wscc2008.com (World Seniors).
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