N.W.T. ends Cinderella run at Scotties with 6th place finish
Kerry Galusha may have run the gamut of emotions this week, but the N.W.T. curler has plenty to smile about as her team's run at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts comes to an end.
After playing through a pre-qualifying tournament just to make the tournament's main draw, the Yellowknife-based team — including lead Sharon Cormier, second Danielle Derry, and third Megan Koehler — put together a Cinderella performance that left them sitting at 3 wins and 1 loss and near the top of the standings early in the week.
The team eventually finished the tournament with 5 wins and 6 losses and in a tie for 6th place — Galusha's best-ever finish in 14 Scotties appearances.
"It's been a long week," said Galusha after the team's final game Friday morning, a loss to playoff-bound Northern Ontario. "We played 16 games, that's a lot of competitive games, from the North. I'm a little tired, mentally. But it was a really great week."
The loss to Northern Ontario caps a week in which the Northwest Territories found themselves in playoff contention throughout much of the week. They were finally eliminated from contention Thursday night following wins by Quebec and Northern Ontario.
The surprise rise to prominence followed a nail-biting 5-3 win in the prequalifying tournament over Team New Brunswick.
Galusha's rink has lost in the pre-qualifying tournament the last two years — the format is set to be scrapped for the 2018 Scotties — and Galusha admitted the prospect of a third straight year without playing in the main draw "took a lot of emotion out of me.
"It's been really cruel to us, the pre-qualifying round. And I was a little scared we were going to lose the third year in a row," she said. "I was a pure basket case the first couple games. So that was where mentally, I really lost it. And I had to hold it together. And then when we won, we still had to curl."
'Whirlwind' week
With the pre-qualifier demons finally set aside, Team Galusha moved on to the main draw of the tournament. Two days in, they found themselves with a 3-1 record and sitting near the stop of the standings, an experience Galusha says was "awesome."
"It was kind of a whirlwind," she said. "I can't even explain it. Our coach always said: 'be a playoff contender, believe it. Just do it.' And that's what we did."
The success led to an outpouring of support for the N.W.T. rink. Messages of support poured in from both the Northwest Territories and across the country.
"It was insane. We were getting messages from our friends, family, people we didn't even know. The messages never stopped. Even when we lost games, we were still getting messages," said Galusha. "Just people admiring our true grit and our fight.
"Everywhere we went, I was recognized, no matter where I was. It was really nice to have the fans on our side."
Team N.W.T. may not be moving on to the playoffs, but Galusha is hoping her team's performance in the Scotties inspires female curlers in the territory to push for greater heights. Her team was the only one in the territory to sign up for Scotties playdowns, she said, and "hopefully this will inspire people to get back into it."
Galusha wasn't ready to say whether she would attempt to qualify for the tournament next year, but there is plenty of curling in her future: she'll return home from St. Catharines, Ont., tomorrow to coach her seven-year-old daughter in her first-ever bonspiel. Next month, she'll be a spectator at the Tim Horton's Brier, cheering on her brothers, Jamie Koe, who is skipping the Northwest Territories rink, and Kevin Koe, the defending champion representing Canada.
But for now?
"I need to go shopping," she said, with a laugh.
