So Kerry Galusha has hit a milestone very few people have done at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. And she won on top of that, to boot.
Galusha played in her 150th career game at the Canadian womens curling championship in Kamloops, B.C., on Saturday afternoon and led her rink of Jo-Ann Rizzo, Margot Flemming, Sarah Koltun, Megan Koehler and coach Shona Barbour over New Brunswicks Andrea Kelly by a score of 6-4 to open her account on a winning note.
Shes now eighth all-time in terms of games played and this is her 16th official appearance at the Scotties. Her two times as an alternate in 1998 and 2002, along with her two entries in the now-canned pre-qualification tournament dont count as official appearances. If they had, she would sit on 20 and would be second all-time behind Nova Scotias Colleen Jones at 21.
Speaking to media following the game on Saturday, Galusha said last year was a dream year, but shes expecting more bumps this time around.
This year will be tougher, she said. The whole field is tougher. But were excited to play and see what we can do. Were underdogs still but if we come out and make the right shots at the right time and stick together as a team, you never know what can happen.
On Saturday, she said shes assembled a good team around her.
Its really worked for us so Im hoping we can build, she said.
Galusha and company were set to regroup for Sunday, where they have a doubleheader against Ontarios Rachel Homan and Meghan Walter of Manitoba, whos playing as Wild Card 3 this week.