The 2022 calendar year portion of Team Galusha’s season has come to an end.
Kerry Galusha, Margot Flemming and Sarah Koltun wrapped things up in Brantford, Ont., at the Stu Sells Brantford Nissan Classic on Sunday evening with a 5-2 loss to Tori Zemmelink of Ontario in the quarter-final. It was a game where Galusha said the opportunities were there, but the shots just didn’t come when they had to.
“We played well enough and we had lots of chances, but we just didn’t make the right shots at the right time,” she said. “The ice was tricky — it played straight all weekend and we struggled with that. We were hoping to get to the semifinals, but we had an OK weekend.”
If you’re noticing someone missing, you would be right. Jo-Ann Rizzo, who normally throws fourth stones for the ladies, wasn’t on the ice. She’s in Nova Scotia representing Ontario with her senior women’s team at the Everest Canadian Seniors Curling Championships. The lineup change meant Koltun took care of the final rocks, while Galusha, who throws lead stones, threw three each end, while Flemming did the same.
“Playing with three all weekend changed the team dynamic,” said Galusha.
Team Galusha finished first in pool play with a record of two wins and one loss, the lone defeat coming to Hollie Duncan of Toronto on Sunday, 8-3. The ladies beat Heather Heggestad of Ontario in their opening game on Saturday by the same 8-3 scoreline, followed by a 10-5 win over Breanna Rozon of Ontario later in the day.
The first-place finish meant they didn’t have to play in what was known as the wild-card round. The five group winners each advanced directly to the playoffs, while the next best six teams dueled it out for the remaining three playoff places.
Galusha said it was a format she had never seen before, but she’s glad she avoided the wild card.
“We weren’t playing well at that point and after losing to Duncan, not playing that wild-card game was great,” she said. “It was nice because it meant we only ended up playing four games; we played seven in our last tournament in Red Deer (Alta.).”
This was the last tournament for the ladies in 2022. They’ll pick things up in January when they travel to Inuvik for the NWT Women’s Curling Championship. The winner from that will move on to represent the territory at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Kamloops, B.C., in February.