It wasn’t the start to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts that Montreal’s Allison Ross had hoped for.

Ross and her rink from the Glenmore curling club in Dollard des Ormeaux lost their first two games at the prestigious tournament Saturday, being held this year at the Maurice Richard Arena in the east end.

In their first game of the tournament, the Quebec team faced team New Brunswick, skipped by Andrea Crawford.

Ross’ fifth-end hammer was just off-line and New Brunswick stole a point to take a 2-0 lead.

Ross found herself in trouble by the seventh end, trailing 3-0 and trying to draw close to the button and limit the damage.

But she didn’t get close enough and New Brunswick stole three points en route to a 6-1 win.

Ross found her draw weight in her evening match against Heather Strong of Newfoundland and Labrador, but fell short when the Newfoundland skip pulled off a raised angle takeout on the final shot.

Her team lost 5-4 to end the day with an 0-2 record.

"I was reading the ice better," said Ross. "It's a disappointing loss, but Heather made an amazing shot. The Quebec side curled only 64 per cent as a group, the lowest of the day.

You want to leave the other team a hard shot, and she made it."

This year marks Ross’ second trip to the tournament, and her team is hoping to improve on a disappointing three-and-eight record from a year ago.

Ross said while playing at home may faze some athletes, for her it’s positive.

“I think being (the) hometown (team) actually is less pressure for me. I love the crowd, I like the people there, I like looking up into the crowd and seeing familiar faces,” she said.

Ross will square off against defending champions Team Canada Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m., and then will face the team from Prince Edward Island at 7 p.m.

The matches will be televised on TSN and RDS2.

--with files from The Canadian Press

Saturday's results

First Draw

Alberta 7 Yukon/NWT 5

B.C. 7 P.E.I. 4 (extra end)

New Brunswick 6 Quebec 1

Newfoundland & Labrador 8 Nova Scotia 5

Second Draw

Alberta 8 B.C. 6 (extra end)

Canada 8 Manitoba 3

Newfoundland & Labrador 5 Quebec 4

Saskatchewan 8 Ontario 5