HIGH ACHIEVERS: Record-setting skip Bryan Cochrane wins sixth Ontario men’s senior curling championship

By Martin Cleary

Sometime next week, skip Bryan Cochrane will reach a mini milestone in his accomplished 55-year curling career.

At 68, the longtime and still highly motivated Russell Curling Club member will skip his 100th game this season, when his team competes at the Canadian masters championship in Grand Prairie, AB.

“I’ve curled more games than normal this season. I’m at 96,” Cochrane said this week in a phone interview.

More than half of those games have been high-level confrontations at Canadian and Ontario championships as well as three Ottawa-area bonspiels.

And during his successful 2025-26 season of high-performance curling, Cochrane has won an unprecedented three Ontario titles, a medal at a Canadian championship, qualified for two more nationals and achieved two major milestones.

When the Russell Curling Club rink of Cochrane, third J.P. Lachance, second Jeff Clark and lead D.J. Parent won the Ontario men’s senior (50+ years) curling championship on perfect ice at the Oakville Curling Club, Cochrane captured his record-breaking sixth provincial men’s senior crown.

Previously, he shared top spot for most Ontario men’s senior championships by a skip at five with Rideau Curling Club’s Howard Rajala (2013-2024), Toronto’s Bob Turcotte (1996-2007) and Toronto’s Jim Sharples (1989-1999).

By winning the Ontario men’s senior title, Cochrane earned his third provincial championship of the 2025-26 season. He became the first skip to win the Ontario men’s senior, Ontario men’s masters (60+) and Ontario club championship in one season.

Cochrane made those accomplishments by likely being the oldest player on the ice for the eight-team Ontario men’s senior championship.

“It wasn’t really a goal,” Cochrane said about winning a sixth Ontario men’s senior title, “because I have a new team. I had hoped to play well and do well. It’s always fun to win. As you get older, the nerves are on edge. But this is special because it’s a new team.

“I thought, if the ice would be good, we had a chance. We haven’t been a team long and it takes time to gel. We only had 20 games together before provincials.”

Lachance joined Cochrane’s men’s senior team for the 2024-25 season and Clark and Parent were added to the front end this season.

“I had a shaky start (first game) and didn’t play well and in the second game we were lucky to win,” he added. “But then we went on a roll. We didn’t expect to win (the championship), but when you get into the playoffs anything can happen.”

Cochrane finished first in the round-robin with a 6-1 record and automatically qualified for the gold-medal final. His players also had the perk of selecting which eight stones they wanted to use in the championship game.

In the final, Cochrane defeated Cory Heggestad of Stroud 6-3. Cochrane used the hammer for one point in the first end and stole one in the second for an early 2-0 advantage. But Heggestad responded with a game-tying pair of points in the third.

The back-and-forth final saw Cochrane earn two in the fifth, but Heggestad stayed close with one in the sixth. But Cochrane finished the match the way it started with a single point, using the hammer in the seventh end and stealing one in the eighth to end the game.

“I know the icemaker (at the Oakville Curling Club). He has been around a long time. The ice was fabulous. It was fast for (all) games. The stones would curl four to five feet on both sides. Sometimes you go to provincials and the ice is dicey and that limits what you can do,” Cochrane explained.

“I looked forward to going to the Ontario seniors. I had fun. I had draw weight early and had it all week. I could make shots from anywhere. I find when you go (to championships) and the ice isn’t good, it evens up the field. But if the ice is good, the best teams come to the top. It’s more predictable.”

As Ontario champions, Cochrane and his teammates will advance to the Canadian men’s senior championship in early December in Saskatoon. If Cochrane can record another gold-medal effort, he will qualify for the 2027 world championships in April. In his first two worlds, his rink was the champion in 2019 and silver medallist in 2017.

In November in Winnipeg, Cochrane experienced the Canadian curling club championship and was thrilled to earn the bronze medal as it was an entire family affair for his Russell Curling Club squad.

Cochrane’s team was comprised of his sons Ryan at third and Jamie at second and brother-in-law Paul Nooyen at lead. Pierre Harvey was the team alternate. In recent years, Cochrane has been helping his sons make the transition to curling from hockey.

“I never thought I could do that (curl with his sons). It was special. They were thrilled just to get to provincials,” said Cochrane, whose competitive schedule also saw him win bonspiels in Kemptville and Russell and place second on the B side in Carp.

At the Ontario curling club provincials, the Cochrane family won its round-robin pool with a 3-1 record, defeated Noel Herron of the Royal Kingston Curling Club 4-3 in nine ends in the semifinal and Steven Oldford of Milton 5-3 in the final.

Bryan Cochrane was reluctant to move into the masters category (60+ years old), but took the big step and guided his rink of third Lachance, second John Wilson and lead Ken Sullivan to the Ontario championship in December.

After a first-place finish in the round robin at 6-1, Cochrane qualified for the final and defeated Bill Craig of Milton 5-2.

The Cochrane rink, which will include Ken Wilson as the alternate, will represent Ontario at the seven-day Canadian men’s masters championship beginning Monday in Grand Prairie.