Team Galusha is on the home stretch of the 2023 portion of its season and they’re finishing in some rather strong fashion.
Kerry Galusha and her rink of Jo-Ann Rizzo, Sarah Koltun and Margot Flemming were in Brantford, Ont., last weekend for the Stu Sells Brantford Nissan Classic and got all the way to the final, but fell just short in the end. They ended up dropping a 6-4 decision to Ontario’s Courtney Auld on Monday evening, but still collected $3,000 for their efforts and some valuable ranking points.
Galusha said the ladies were hoping to peak at their last event in Red Deer, Alta., but that didn’t go he way they had hoped.
“We lost all of our games in Red Deer, so we were really hoping to come out strong in Brantford,” she said. “This was our best weekend of the season so far.”
Galusha and company were among 24 teams in the triple-knockout event, meaning every rink had three chances to get to the playoffs. The Yellowknife rink did it in the minimum requisite number of contests, winning three straight games over Stephanie Senneker of the U.S., Krysta Burns of Ontario and Katelyn Wasylkiw of Ontario to move into the money round.
They began the playoffs with an 8-4 win over Ontario’s Isabelle Ladouceur in the quarter-final, and followed that up by beating Ontario’s Chelsea Brandwood in the semifinals, 9-3.
Galusha had the hammer to open the final and scored a single in the first end to take an early 1-0 lead. A blank in the second preceded Auld scoring a single with the hammer in the third to tie the game. Galusha scored one more in the fourth to go back out in front at the mid-game break, but Auld would score a deuce in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead.
The big moment was the sixth end as Auld stole three to take a 6-2 lead. Galusha got two of those back in the seventh to cut the deficit to 6-4, but Auld ran Galusha out of rocks in the eighth to win it all.
“We just weren’t sharp enough in the final,” said Galusha. “We got outcurled, but we played really well all weekend. We’re happy with getting to the final”
There was no rest for the weary as Galusha and company are in Swift Current, Sask., this weekend for the Nutrien Ag Solutions Western Showdown, which offers up a $50,000 purse. The line-up for this cashspiel is rather lofty as six of the world’s top 10 women’s squads are in action, including Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni, the no. 1 ranked women’s rink on the planet right now.
“A lot of them are preparing for the next (Grand Slam) event in Saskatoon next week,” said Galusha. “I’m just hoping we’ll be able to carry the momentum we had from last weekend into this one and we’ll see what we can do.”
They started off in the best way possible Thursday morning with an 8-2 win over Kate Cameron of Manitoba. They were set to play Eun-ji Gim of South Korea on Thursday evening, followed by two more games tomorrow against Jolene Campbell of Manitoba and Michelle Englot of Saskatchewan.