VICTORIA, February 22, 2009 — The home-province hopefuls are making an early run at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's curling championship.

Marla Mallett's team from the Vancouver Curling Club completed a perfect 3-0 opening weekend Sunday night in Draw 5 at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre with an 8-7 win over Ontario's Krista McCarville.

Mallett, backed up by third Grace MacInnes, second Diane Gushulak and lead Jacalyn Brown, put on an impressive show in the back half of the game against Ontario, scoring deuces in the fifth and seventh ends, and putting a decisive three on the board in the ninth, while limiting Ontario to singles in the seventh and ninth ends.

"It feels great," said Mallett. "Does it surprise me? No. We got a little lucky in our first game against (Saskatchewan's Stefanie) Lawton (when B.C. stole the win in the 10th end), but luck is part of the game. And we've played well our other games."

And while some other teams have struggled with grasping the intricacies of the ice, Mallett has had no such issues.

"You know what? I'm not having any concerns with the ice," she said. "(Head icemaker) B.J. (Gagnon) makes great ice, the surface if good. And you've got to play on it, you don't have any choice. So you have to learn to love it."

B.C. heads into play Monday in a three-way tie for top spot at the Scotties, logjammed with Team Canada's Jennifer Jones and Quebec's Marie-France Larouche, who had a bye Sunday night.

Team Canada completed a dominating opening weekend with a 12-5 win over Manitoba's Barb Spencer. Manitoba took a lead in the fourth end by scoring three, but Canada responded with three of its own, then proceeded to steal one in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

"We can always be better," said Team Canada vice-skip Cathy Overton-Clapham. "I really don't know how everybody else is playing, but we can always get better, and that's our goal — to get better with every game. We're all on the same page and having fun."

In other Draw 5 games, Alberta's Cheryl Bernard won her second straight, turning back Nova Scotia's Nancy McConnery 6-4. Alberta (2-1) opened the game with a deuce and never trailed again in handing the Bluenosers their second defeat to go with one win.

Also, Newfoundland/Labrador's Heather Strong picked up her first win of the '09 Scotties and added to the miseries of Saskatchewan's Stefanie Lawton in the process. Strong scored five in the eighth end and wound up a 10-7 winner to improve to 1-2, while Saskatchewan dropped to 0-3.

P.E.I.'s Rebecca Jean MacPhee (2-1), New Brunswick's Andrea Kelly (1-2) and Kerry Galusha of the Northwest Territories/Yukon (0-3) also had byes in the evening draw.

Play at the Scotties continues on Monday, with draws are scheduled for 11:30 a.m., 4 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.; all draws will be televised live by TSN, with the morning draw also available on TSN.ca.