Alberta's Kayla Skrlik gets first Scotties win with 9-4 victory over Nunavut

Kayla Skrlik's Alberta team was all smiles after defeating Nunavut Monday morning at the Scotties. (Photo: Twitter@Team_Skrlik)

Team Skrlik got its first win of the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts Monday when they defeated Team Nunavut 9-4.

After Nunavut scored twice to pull to within 6-4 after six, Alberta put the game out of reach with a three spot in the ninth end.

The victory improves Team Alberta's record to 1-2. They previously lost 11-9 Saturday night in an extra end to Saskatchewan and 8-5 to Wild Card #1 Friday night.

Afterward, Alberta skip Kayla Skrlik was all smiles as she spoke to TSN about the win.

"It felt great to be on a positive note, to end the game [on top]," Skrlik said. "I feel like we've been close in all our games, and we're just not quite getting there, so it was nice to get over the hump a little bit."

Skrlik said some of the missed shots in the first two games could be attributed to learning the ice of the Kamloops rink.

"We did a big de-brief, just to make sure that we had the ice handled, going into our next games, and we felt confident going out this morning," she said.

Despite the bumpy start to the Scotties, Skrlik said there's a few valuable lessons they can take away from the experience.

"Stay calm," she said. "We're always in it. If you're down four, you're still in the game, so stay calm on going on."

Alberta's next match is Mondayy at 7:30 p.m., when they play Quebec.