Kerry Galusha

Kerry Galusha (born Kerry Koe on November 3, 1977 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories) is a Canadian curler. She currently skips her team out of the Yellowknife Curling Club in Yellowknife.[1]

Kerry Galusha
Curler
Born
Kerry Koe

(1977-11-03) November 3, 1977
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
Team
Curling clubYellowknife CC,
Yellowknife, NT
SkipKerry Galusha
ThirdJo-Ann Rizzo
SecondMargot Flemming
LeadShona Barbour
Career
Member Association Northwest Territories
Hearts appearances17 (1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020)
Top CTRS ranking29th (2018–19)

Career

Juniors

Galusha's first national experience was at the 1992 Canadian Junior Curling Championships. She was the fifth player for Janet Sian. The team would finish in eleventh place with a 2-9 record.[2]

She would return to the junior championships again in 1993, this time playing third stones for Tara Hamer. The team would finish in tenth place with a 2-9 record.[3] The team would return again in 1994, finishing with a 5-6 record.[4]

By 1995 Galusha was returning to her fourth junior championship, her final year with Hamer. The team would end up finishing round robin with a 3-8 record.[5] In 1996 Galusha would return to the juniors once more, this time she would be skipping her own team. The team would finish round robin with a 5-7 record.[6]

Galusha would make her final junior appearance at the 1998 Canadian Juniors and again would fail to make the playoffs, finishing round robin with a 2-10 record.[7]

1998–2002

Galusha would make her first Scotties appearance at the 1998 Scott Tournament of Hearts as an alternate for Kelly Kaylo. The team would finish round robin with a 5-6 record, missing the playoffs.[8]

The 2001 Scott Tournament of Hearts, was the first time Galusha would represent the Territories as a skip. Her team finished last place, with a round robin record of 2-9.[9] Galusha would return a year later to the 2002 Scott Tournament of Hearts, as a fifth player for Monigue Gagnier. The team finished round robin with a 4-7 record.[10]

2005–2009

It wasn't until 2005 that Galusha would return to the Scotties, this would be the start of five consecutive years representing the Territories. At the 2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts Galusha would make a slight change, throwing third rocks while skipping the game. The 4th rock thrower was Monigue Gagnier, and the team would finish round robin with a 4-7 record.[11]

At the 2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts, Gagnier continued throwing fourth stones, and the team finished round robin with a 2-9 record.[12] Galusha would also participate in the 2006 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, as a third for her brother Jamie. The team would finish round robin with a 6-5 record.[13]

Galusha would also find difficulties at the 2007 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, her team would again finish round robin with a 2-9 record.[14]

Galusha would come into more difficulties at the 2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The team would lose their first six games and following draw nine, Galusha would move from throwing third rocks, to lead rocks. The change did not help, as the team lost three more games before winning their first. They would finish round robin with a 1-10 record.[15]

In 2009 Galusha's team made history at the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, when they beat the defending champions Team Canada Jennifer Jones. This was the first time a team from the Northwest Territories defeated the defending champions in a Scotties tournament. It was the second time in the history of the Scotties a team from the Northwest Territories/Yukon defeated the defending champion during round robin play. The first was at the 1987 Scott Tournament of Hearts, when the Yukon's Shelly Aucoin defeated Marilyn Darte. During the 5th end break of the final coverage, a video of Galusha, and her brother Jamie, was shown talking about how big the victory over the defending champions was for the Territories. This victory over team Canada earn the Galusha team the 2009 Sport North Team of the Year Award.[16] That year Galusha's team finished 4-7.[17]

2011–2014

In 2011 Galusha once again won the 2011 Northwest Territories/Yukon Scotties Tournament of Hearts Territorial championship, finishing 5-1. She would go on to represent the Yukon/Northwest Territories at the 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, where her team finished round robin with a 3-8 record.[18]

Galusha and her team found early success during the 2011/2012 season. During the World Curling Tour, they defeated defending Canadian champion Amber Holland, and Olympic Silver Medalist Cheryl Bernard, and for the first time qualified for the playoffs during a tour event. They advanced to the playoffs at the 2011 Boundary Ford Curling Classic, however they would lose the quarterfinal to Edmonton's Tiffany Odegard. Her team qualified for the 2012 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. At the 2012 event, Galusha would start off well, winning the 2012 Ford Hot Shots, and starting off with a 2-1 record in the first three games. After catching the flu, which was heavily circulating amongst all teams, Galusha would miss two games, one of which found second Wendy Miller sitting out with the flu, leaving three players on the ice. The team could not recover from Galusha's absence and would finish round robin with a 4-7 record. Although the team finished with a disappointing record, it would mark a second occasion for Galusha defeating the defending champions, Team Canada (Amber Holland) during round robin. Marking the fourth time in history, a team from the Territories would achieve this. They would also defeat the eventual champions, Team Alberta's Heather Nedohin. The team returned to the Scotties once again in 2013. At the 2013 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, they would finish with a 2-9 record, but once again defeated the defending champion along the way, when they beat Nedohin for the second straight year. For the first time in ten years, Galusha lost in the territorial playdowns, losing 6-4 to the Yukon's Sarah Koltun in the playoff at the 2014 NWT/Yukon Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

2015-present

Beginning in 2015, the Northwest Territories gained a separate entry from the Yukon at the national championship. Galusha won the 2015 Northwest Territories Scotties Tournament of Hearts over Ann McKellar-Gillis, and represented the Northwest Territories at the 2015 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. There, the team had to play in a pre-qualifying tournament that was necessitated by having both territories (and the addition of Northern Ontario) have a direct entry to the Scotties. While she beat the Yukon in the tournament, she lost both of her matches against Northern Ontario's Tracy Horgan, failing to qualify for the main tournament.

Galusha beat Hay River's Judy Goucher in the final of the 2016 Northwest Territories Scotties Tournament of Hearts, and represented the NWT at the 2016 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. She once again could not get out of the prequalifying tournament, losing to British Columbia's Karla Thompson rink in the prequalifier final.

In 2017, Galusha's team was not challenged for the Northwest Territories title, and received a direct entry to the 2017 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. This time, she would make it out of the prequalifying tournament, after beating New Brunswick's Melissa Adams in the final. In the main event, Galusha led the Northwest Territories team to a respectable 5-6 record.

For the 2017-18 season, Galusha added the Yukon's Sarah Koltun to her team at third. The team went undefeated at the 2018 Northwest Territories Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The format at the national 2018 Scotties Tournament of Hearts had changed again, putting 16 teams into two pools of eight teams. Galusha led the NWT to a 1-6 record in her pool, only beating the Yukon. This put her into the 13th place game against Prince Edward Island's Robyn MacPhee rink, which she beat.

Beginning with the 2018-19 season, the Galusha rink added former Canadian Junior champion Brittany Tran to the team at second. The team won their first World Curling Tour event, the 2018 Royal LePage Women's Fall Classic. Galusha easily won the 2019 Northwest Territories Scotties Tournament of Hearts, winning all three of her games in a best of five series against the Tyanna Bain junior rink from Inuvik. At the 2019 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, the Galusha rink had a strong start, winning three of their first four games, before losing three straight, and were eliminated after pool play with a 3-4 record.

The Galusha rink added experienced player Jo-Ann Rizzo the following season. In their first event of the 2019-20 season, Team Galusha went 1-3 at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard. They followed this up with a quarterfinal finish at the 2019 AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic. They defended their territorial title by winning the 2020 Northwest Territories Scotties Tournament of Hearts in January 2020. At the 2020 Scotties Tournament of Hearts, she led her rink to a 2-5 record, and did not advance to the championship round.

Personal life

Galusha is the sister of Canadian curler Kevin Koe, who skips a team out of Alberta, and twin sister of curler Jamie Koe, who skips a team out of the Northwest Territories. She works for the Government of the Northwest Territories as a finance officer for the Department of Justice. She is married and has a daughter, Sydney.[19]

Grand Slam record
Key
C Champion
F Lost in Final
SF Lost in Semifinal
QF Lost in Quarterfinals
R16 Lost in the round of 16
Q Did not advance to playoffs
T2 Played in Tier 2 event
DNP Did not participate in event
N/A Not a Grand Slam event that season
Event 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15
Autumn Gold Q DNP DNP Q Q Q Q DNP Q

References
  1. "World Curling Tour: Player Profile". World Curling Tour. Archived from the original on 2012-03-23.
  2. "1992 Pepsi Junior Women Curling Championship" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  3. "1993 Pepsi Junior Women Curling Championship" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  4. "1994 Pepsi Junior Women Curling Championship" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  5. "1995 Canadian Junior Women Curling Championship" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  6. "1996 Canadian Junior Women Curling Championship" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-09. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  7. "1998 Kärcher Junior Women Curling Championship" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-11. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  8. "1998 Scott Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  9. "2001 Scott Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  10. "2002 Scott Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  11. "2005 Scott Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  12. "2006 Scott Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  13. "2006 Canadian Mixed Curling Championship" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association.
  14. "2007 Scotties Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  15. "2008 Scotties Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-19. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  16. "HeartChart: February 19,2011" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association.
  17. "2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  18. "2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts" (PDF). Canadian Curling Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
  19. 2017 STOH Media Guide
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