 Yellowknife's Kerry Galusha (photo: Andrew Klaver, Curling Canada) has always been good at giving the favourites a battle throughout her Scotties career. After making a hard push in the women's ranks the last five years, Galusha's competitive team broke up in the offseason with players going in different directions. Sarah Koltun was starting her medical residency in Kamloops, now playing with Corryn Brown, while Margot Flemming moved south to Alberta and joined up with Calgary's Kayla Skrlik, both competing in this year's Scotties in Thunder Bay. With the team disbanding, Jo-Ann Rizzo re-focused on senior competition. For what many saw as a retirement at the time, Galusha took the opportunity to compete alongside her daughter Sydney (15), a budding star in Yellowknife, and her junior teammate Ella Skauge (16) to fulfill the dream of many parents. Galusha recruited former teammates Megan Koehler and Shona Barbour to compete this season as a five-player team. The team played one event in preparation for the Scotties playdowns, reaching the semifinals at the Alberta Curling Series event in Beaumont in December. However, this year's Scotties will be Galusha's last as a player, announcing her retirement at the start of the week. "This sport has given me so much over the years, and I'm incredibly grateful for every moment," Kerry said. "It has been an honour to represent the Northwest Territories, to compete alongside amazing teammates, and to be part of this incredible curling community. While this chapter is ending, the friendships, the battles on the ice, and the memories will always stay with me." While the last five seasons marked the height of Galusha's competitiveness at the Scotties and on Tour through the season, she's long been a thorn in the sides of top Canadian teams at the Scotties. This year's Scotties, with a pair of teenagers on the front end, is no different for Galusha, having split their first four games. We saw this against Kerri Einarson on Tuesday, where Galusha prevailed 9-6 over the #6-ranked team on the World Curling rankings, while Galusha entered the week ranked at #118. Galusha lost their opening games, 8-4, to Manitoba's Kate Cameron and 12-3 to Quebec's Laurie St-Georges, winning their third game 14-8 over Bayly Scoffin of the Yukon. Galusha returns to the ice on Tuesday evening against Nova Scotia's Christina Black, one of the contenders, though with the hot hand and her experience, we can't write off this team yet. Galusha has matches against Manitoba's Kaitlyn Lawes, Newfoundland and Labrador's Brooke Godsland, and Ontario's Danielle Inglis remaining, so the road will not be easy. How much fun would it be to see this team in contention for the playoffs at the end of the week? |
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Saskatchwan's Rylan Kleiter grabbed the title of the Curling Stadium Speedy Creek Shootout with an 8-3 victory over Manitoba's Jordan McDonald.
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