THE CANADIAN PRESS
VICTORIA — Territories skip Kerry Galusha can’t recall the last time she played a close game against Team Canada at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.
She won’t have trouble remembering the answer to that question anymore.
Galusha’s Yellowknife rink staged the biggest upset of the Canadian women’s curling championship Tuesday night, downing Jennifer Jones 10-8 in Draw 11 action in front of an electric crowd of 2,448 at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The victory not only sent shockwaves through the pro-Territories crowd, it also contributed to what has become a truly muddled leaderboard.
B.C.’s Marla Mallett is alone on top at 6-1 following a pair of victories Tuesday. Jones fell into a tie for second at 5-2 with Quebec’s Marie-France Larouche, while three other teams — P.E.I.’s Rebecca Jean McPhee, Alberta’s Cheryl Bernard and the resurgent Stefanie Lawton of Saskatchewan — are close behind at 4-3.
But for one night, the standings took a backseat to one of the biggest wins in the history of Territories curling.
"It felt so good," said an ecstatic Galusha. "I’ve never beaten Team Canada, ever. We’ve had some close games here or there, but never like that."
Galusha is the first Territories skip to earn a victory over Team Canada since the 1987 national championship in Lethbridge, Alta., when Shelley Aucoin of Whitehorse beat Marilyn Darte 8-4. The Territories hadn’t even played a 10-end game against the defending champs since 2005.
Galusha kept pace with Jones from the outset, building leads of 4-1 and 6-4 before Canada rallied. Jones gave her Winnipeg rink the lead with a single in the eighth end before Galusha took two in the ninth to build a 9-8 advantage.
Facing multiple Canada stones in the house in the 10th, Galusha, who is 22 weeks pregnant, executed a perfect play off her own stone to edge out Jones for shot rock.
"That last end, I was like, ‘crap, they’re totally set up for two, how am I going to get out of this?"’ said Galusha, who improved to 2-5. "I only had one shot, and that was the in-off.
"I’ve been struggling with my hits all weeks. With my pregnancy, my belly’s starting to get in the way with my hits."
Jones attempted to bump one of her own rocks into the Territories’ stone with her final shot, but she was wide right.
"I had a tricky shot for the win, but it was there, and we missed it," said Jones. "We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be today."
Jones began her day with a 7-6 loss to Lawton, who is finally showing the form that made her one of the pre-tournament favourites.
"We’re catching on to the ice and making great shots out there," said Lawton, who beat Galusha 10-6 in Draw 10. "Every game is getting stronger, and that’s what we want to build on.
"We know we can still improve, but we definitely feel good."
Things looked bleak for Lawton against Jones after she gave up a steal of two in the eighth end to fall behind 6-4. A well-played ninth end yielded two points, and Lawton executed a perfect 10th-end strategy, protecting a shot deep in the rings with multiple guards.
Jones was forced to attempt a difficult runback for her single point, but the Canada stone settled about an inch short, handing Saskatchewan the win.
Lawton’s second game Tuesday was dicey for the first eight ends, with Galusha hanging in against the 2000 Canadian junior champion. But Lawton took three points with the hammer in the ninth, and Galusha opted for the handshake.
Larouche moved back into contention following a two-loss Monday.
She opened with a 10-8, 11-end win over Ontario’s Krista McCarville (3-4). The Quebec foursome started that game slowly — trailing 5-1 at one point — but roared back to tie the game with three in the 10th end.
Larouche then left McCarville with a difficult double-raise for a single in the 11th, and the Ontario skip couldn’t execute.
.Quebec improved to 5-2 with a 7-5 victory over Nova Scotia’s Nancy McConnery (1-6) in the evening draw. Larouche blew the game open with three points in the fifth end, then fended off repeated Nova Scotia comeback attempts.
"We just tried to look at the games we played (Monday), and figure out what went wrong," said Larouche. "For today, that was just throwing well and trying to be in the right place. We’re almost where we want to be."
MacPhee vaulted into a tie for fourth place with a dramatic 7-6 win over Bernard, erasing the sting of a 9-3 afternoon loss to Newfoundland and Labrador’s Heather Strong (3-4).
After rallying to tie the game on three different occasions, Bernard took her first lead with a steal of one in the ninth. But MacPhee played the 10th end perfectly, setting up a draw to the four-foot for the two-point clincher.
Earlier Tuesday, Mallett’s rink put together two more solid games to remain at the top of the standings.
The Vancouver foursome throttled Manitoba’s Barb Spencer 12-4 in morning action, putting the game away with three in the third end, and added a five-spot in the fifth for good measure. Draw 10 was much tougher, with Mallett needing a hit for two in the 10th to beat New Brunswick’s Andrea Kelly 7-5.
Mallett said she isn’t feeling any additional stress as the overall leader.
"Every game, there’s pressure," said Mallett. "You have to bring your best to the ice every time you come out, or you’re going to get beat. The field is just too good."
The other Draw 11 game saw Kelly (3-4) get past Spencer 10-7 on the strength of a five-point ninth end.