VICTORIA, February 24, 2009 (CCA)— Chalk one up for the Northwest Territories/Yukon at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
Kerry Galusha’s Yellowknife foursome — third Dawn Moses, second Shona Barbour and lead Heather McCagg-Nystrom — pulled off the biggest upset of the week at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, shocking defending Canadian and world champion Jennifer Jones and Team Canada 10-8 in the 11th draw on Tuesday night.
Galusha called it the biggest win of her career.
“By far. I’ve never beaten Team Canada before,” said Galusha. “I don’t think we’ve ever had close games with Team Canada. They’re the best team in the world. I’m friends with all of them and they’re such great curlers and I hope they win this.”
Galusha led 9-8 without last rock in the 10th end, but saw a big Team Canada end building until she made a gorgeous in-off to sit frozen for shot rock in the four-foot, and Jones couldn’t remove it.
“That last end, I was like, crap, they’re totally set up for two; how am I going to get out of this?” said a laughing Galusha.
The Territories improved to 2-5 with the win, while Team Canada dropped to 5-2, tied for second place with Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche and behind leading Marla Mallett of B.C. (6-1), who had a bye in Draw 11.
Quebec capped a two-win day with a 7-5 win over Nova Scotia’s Nancy McConnery. Quebec opened with a first-end deuce, and took control by scoring three in the fifth end. Nova Scotia dropped to 1-6 with the loss.
New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly, meanwhile, turned her game around by scoring five in the ninth end en route to a 10-7 win over Manitoba’s Barb Spencer. Manitoba had just scored three in the eighth end to take a two-point lead into the ninth end, but a series of missed shots led to New Brunswick’s big score. New Brunswick improved to 3-4, while Manitoba dropped to 2-5.
In the other evening game, P.E.I.’s Robyn MacPhee made an open hit to score two in the 10th end for a 7-6 triumph over Alberta’s Cheryl Bernard. Alberta had stolen one in the ninth end to take the lead, but MacPhee, who throws last rock while her sister Rebecca Jean calls the game, had a terrific double takeout with her first rock of the 10th to set the stage for her game-winner. The result left both teams with 4-3 records.
Saskatchewan’s Stefanie Lawton (4-3), Newfoundland/Labrador’s Heather Strong (3-4) and Ontario’s Krista McCarville (3-4) also had byes in Draw 11.
Play at the Scotties continues on Wednesday, with draws slated for 12:30 p.m. (all times Atlantic), 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., with the morning draw also available on TSN.ca. As well, archived footage from earlier draws is available from TSN.ca.
P.E.I. plays Manitoba in the early draw, and Ontario in the late.