Kerry Galusha is going back to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts.

It's an opening line that has been written time and again when reporting on the NWT's best women's skip but it bears repeating.

For the 14th time, Galusha will hold the broom for the territory at the Canadian women's curling championship as she and her team of Megan Koehler, Shona Barbour and Whitehorse's Sarah Koltun swept the board and finished atop the standings in the double round-robin bonspiel, winning all six of their games to punch a ticket to Penticton, B.C., for the big show later this month.

Galusha said she knows her rink is always the favourite whenever they show up for territorials, but this year she actually had to play to win SA国际影视传媒� she won last year's territorials by acclamation as no one else entered.

SA国际影视传媒淚'm super happy that three other teams from Inuvik entered,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淲e got six competitive games, something we didn't have last year and that was good. It's easy for the opposition to say that they couldn't beat us but they entered and that's good.SA国际影视传媒�
Galusha and company were rarely troubled during any of their half-dozen contests but their closest game of the weekend came against Tyanna Bain of Inuvik, the junior girls team on its way to the New Holland Canadian Juniors this weekend. It was the opening draw for both teams and Galusha won 6-2.

SA国际影视传媒淲e got up two, then three, then four,SA国际影视传媒� said Galusha. SA国际影视传媒淲e played a hitting game so we weren't too worried. We turned the crank a bit in our second game against them to show them what certain situations are like but they played really well. They have some work to do but they won two games and they'll do fine at nationals.SA国际影视传媒�

With the title secured, Galusha and her team spent part of the final game mentoring Bain's outfit.

SA国际影视传媒淢y girls were just trying to teach them a bit better sweeping technique to help them out,SA国际影视传媒� said Galusha.

It was the first time Team Galusha had been together in about a month and while Galusha said everyone played well enough, there's always a few kinks that need to be ironed out.

SA国际影视传媒淲e sat down afterward and talked about the technical goals we want to reach,SA国际影视传媒� she said. SA国际影视传媒淥ne of the things we did really well was communication and that's something we've struggled with in past years. It's all about fixing the technical side and that will come together.SA国际影视传媒�

With the spot in Penticton confirmed, the team is now playing the waiting game to see who it will face. This year's Scotties will be the first to feature pool play and Galusha will be in one of two to play the round-robin. Because some provincial playdowns haven't been completed yet, Galusha's opponents aren't yet known.

SA国际影视传媒淚t's all based on the Canadian Team Ranking System,SA国际影视传媒� said Galusha. SA国际影视传媒淥nce everything is finalized, we'll be ranked and the pools will be completed.SA国际影视传媒�

No matter who Galusha plays, the goal remains the same: make the championship round. The top four from each pool will advance to that portion of the draw with the teams crossing over to play the other four teams from the opposite pool. From there, the top four teams after that will advance to the playoffs for the big prize.

SA国际影视传媒淲e're going with the plan of playing at least 11 games (seven round-robin and four championship round),SA国际影视传媒� said Galusha. SA国际影视传媒淲e have a solid team and we're ready for it all.SA国际影视传媒�

The Scotties gets underway on Jan. 27.